The rain came down in buckets last night, our car flags were rapping on the side of the caravan all night and made for another awful rest. The sun was shining this morning and made for a better start to the day. Mark and Janice cooked up some breakfast and we slowly got organized for our trip away from Kaihu and the Kauri Coast Top 10 Holiday Park.
Our first stop was to explore the ancient Waipoua Forest and the view the largest kauri trees in New Zealand. We stopped into the visitor centre and got information on the location of the track to the trees. There is a fee of $2 per car for security at the entrance to the track. In about 20 mins or so, we arrived at the second largest kauri tree in existence. Another track takes you to the 4 sisters where 4 kauri trees grow in close proximity to each other.
The road through the forest is very windy and takes great care and agility to maneuver around corners. It wasn't long and the landscape changed to pastures and green scenery, then over a hill to a wild and rugged coast and protected harbour village of Omapere. At the top of the hill was a rest area where we pulled into, just to capture the awesome views. The French had obviously been here before us and littered the rest area with roosters!
I bought Mark & Janice + kids a meal at the restaurant just before the foot of the hill into the village. The restaurant offered home cooked meals and Tegan needed something to do while she waited for her meal so she offered to do dishes for the lady owner. She kindly refused the help and said she was ok.
Kerikeri arrived in another 2 hours and we stopped into the first place we came to, Wagon Trails Campervan Park. We thought it was all closed up upon arrival and proceeded to move on when the owner literally scooted down on a scooter. He offered a 2fer1 deal but without a price, so we went down the road for groceries and scope out other options. We tried the Top 10 park there and asked of their rate and was told $34 for Mark's van and $24 for mine, but when she totaled the charge for Mark it was $86! I said we should move on and we did just that. Groceries and then back to Wagon Trails.
Mark got the 2fer1 deal and it was just $50 for the both of us, pretty sweet. It was dark now and I made some chicken soulvakis for Tegan and I, we watched a little TV and then off to bed in our campervan.
