To Auckland by the back road

For the last proper walk of our holiday we stopped in the Whaharau Regional Park and walked through bush again to a ridge from which there were views over the trees to the Coromandel Peninsula. We had lunch there too.

Mindful of the lazy, unreal days of our holiday slipping away from us we stopped in Kawakawa Bay and just sat, snoozed and had an ice cream. Then we accepted the inevitable and drove into the comparative (after the peace and space of most of thevrest of the country) frenzy of Auckland to where we'd booked a night on a site (Top 10!) near the Apollo campervan depot, the Jetpark Hotel and the airport.

The population of NZ is approaching 5.5 million and  35% of them live in and around Auckland. Like London  (and, I suppose, most cities) Auckland is an amalgamation of a number of other towns. These grew up originally along the edge, and climbed the hills at the back, of the indented coastline which has created a network of large inlets and harbours, and then spread until they became one.

It was apparent as soon as we arrived at the site that we were not the only ones who have used it on the night before returning their camper van; in the kitchen was a large box full of abandoned items such as salt, pepper and cooking oil, with a sign saying 'Help Yourself'. Because we were going to the Kenworthys for dinner we now had even more food that we wouldn't use so Lawson went in search of someone who needed it. He returned saying it had been donated to a young German camper.

Showered and dressed as tidily as we could after 2 months on the road, we drove to Mount Wellington and spent a lovely evening with Leone, Trevor, their daughter Karen, her husband Peter, Millie the Shnauzer and Wilf the cat. We discovered that Leone's Great Grandfather came from Tiverton in Devon and Trevor's from Yorkshire. We also admired Leone's paintings and Trevor's work in progress - his crimson and cream, old Ford pick-up. I know; I should have had my camera with me and taken a photo. Sorry.