Monday 9 March onwards

all I seem to do is apologise for not keeping the blog up to date.  Some nights it is so slow and I lose everything. It is currently Friday 13 March so I will bring you up to date.
Monday 09 March
Weather again not very good so I decided to head up to WAITOMO CAVES arrived late afternoon by which time the weather had improved.  The local tourist information bureau told me there was a general store beside the campsite (36kms round trip from the nearest town) but this was not the case.
Dined on pot noodle, cheese on toast and an apple, this is living. Nice forest walk before dinner..on the flat for a change.
Tuesday 10 March
Took the three cave tour to view the underground rivers and gloworms who inhabit the ceiling of the caves.  Each of the caves was completely different...great day, even when on a boat undergoround in complete darkness and silence except for the gloworms and someone trumped. in an aluminium boat the noise was immense. Great evening cooking on the bbq with Germans and Dutch and of course beer.
Wednesday 11 March
Drove from WAITOMO to Whangerei which is north of Auckland
A largish town by NZ standards but with a bit of character and a spectacular and accessible  waterfall near the campsite.  Another nice night on the bbq with South africans and german farmers.
Thursday 12 March
Had a easy little drive of 87kms although nearly got killed by the stupidity of a Japanese/Korean/Chinese eejit.  NZ has a lot of three lane sections to allow overtaking slower vehicles so this eejit who had been toddling along at 50kph on the two lane road puts the foot down of the three lane section making it hard for everyone to overtake.  Poor ETTIE did not have the oomph so I didn,t bother to make the attempt and slowed to sit behind him when he slams on the brakes just as we return to the two lane section.  I managed to stop in time but the logger behind had no chance, fortunately for me there was nothing coming the other way and after some gear crunching he went past me instead of through me.  There are international gestures which are understood by the orientals.  There has been road  rage by the locals at foreign tourists...now I know why.
Final destination was Russell in the bay of islands area... Great site so staying on for two nights
Dined out on pizza to be served by a young girl from Portree who worked in the hotel I stayed at when attending cruise ships...even smaller world.
Friday 13 March
There is a tropical storm incoming but the weather is good today so decided to get the van in shape for handing back on Sunday and started packing (10 mins) ...a nice little forest walk to a remote beach then a ferry across the bay to a larger town...a nice chilling day.
Got my final two nights Sunday and Monday accommodation sorted though had to pay a premium as there are very few free rooms because of everything that is happening over the weekend...Eagles in concert, a wine festival on waiheke Island
That's all for now folks