Day 113 - March Is Here!

Only 11 days left and Chaggie will be back in England, it struck us today how close we are to the end of the trip now being 1st March. A day we thought would take forever to come has now suddenly crept up on us. We spent it well today going further up North to see what it has to offer and New Zealand never disappoints.

Woke up at 7 this morning, was a pretty rough night for Chino, Jamie and Staggie had a good one. Chino was up bright and early to the sounds of other campers waking. He used the facilities, had a wash, woke up the others and off we went. FREE NIGHT! Yet again, always go down well.

Waitangi Treaty Grounds

We stopped off by the beach this morning where we got out the camping gear and cooked sausage and bacon sandwiches, stopping off at the shops on the way. We then made a trip to 'Waitangi Treaty Grounds', Staggie got in free with his NZ Passport and made a donation before entering and taking pictures of all the history, what hit him was the fact that without this treaty he would never have been born!

We went shopping before leaving Paihia this morning, our first checkpoint of the day was 'Tauranga Bay', we stayed there for an hour or so, played some cricket, a lot of slogging. Our second checkpoint we got to in the afternoon; 'Taupo Bay'. Tauranga Bay didn't have the nicest beach, we chose not to swim there but Taupo Bay we couldn't resist, a very nice beach looking out on a Gorilla shaped rock. We stayed at Taupo Bay all afternoon, tried using a nearby camps showers but it cost $2, far too expensive for a shower (we are backpacking properly this week don't forget).

We drove to Mangonui further up North this afternoon, to the right of the Kari Kari peninsula which will be our stop tomorrow for the day. Mangonui we heard was home to a World Famous Fish and Chips shop out on the bay, we found this place and made a stop. After getting quite a big meal, Snapper, Crab Sticks, Fish Cakes and battered sausages in Jamie's case we drove to Coopers Beach where we had found a perfect free car park area right on the beach. They were certainly amazing fish and chips, we had our own ketchup etc.

After eating, we played some cars, set up the car into Jamie and Staggie's sleeping position and chilled out in there till dark, we had a bottle of wine and a few beers, was a good evening. Ended up on a heavy discussion on how World War I and II started with Staggie giving us some interesting facts around the times. Chino found a fantastic spot to sleep, under a bush looking out on the beach, could tell it would be a nice scene to wake up to.

Chaggie x