Usual morning routine, then headed south on SH1. Turned off the main road to find another LotR filming location at Waitare Forest. Drove through the small town, and onto the beach ("this beach is a road" - sign). One rapid U turn later, and we were parked on dry land & playing on the driftwood covered beach. On the way back to the car, saw a sign about the shipwreck of the Hyderbad, 1.8km south, along the beach. Lovely walk - found several nicely rounded pi...

After breakfast & schoolwork, we packed & cleaned the cabin - one of the nicest we've been in, so far! Said farewell to the owners, & headed south. Brief stop at Piriaka lookout, & later at the railway spiral, where the track gains 200m in height. Still rainy & low cloud, so all we could see was the model of the spiral, not the railway track itself. On into the National Park, and up into the mountains. Stopped at the Whakapapa Visitors Ce...

Weather, as forecast, set grey & raining - so decided to follow the advice of the park owner, hoping for better mountain spotting weather tomorrow. Agreed to stay another night, so no need to rush in the morning to get packed & on the move. Relatively late start to the day: breakfast & homework, the drove east towards Turangi. Quick stop at the Waituhi Saddle Lookout for another scenic photo, then onto the Tongariro National Trout Centre. Interes...

Early start so we could be on the road for 9am, to drive back to Otorohanga, to visit the Native Bird Park & Kiwi House. Spent a long time looking at (no photography allowed) and learning about a female greater spotted kiwi (called "the other" in Maori) who was "with egg", but un-mated. Chatted to the bird keeper for a while - very informative! Smaller, brown kiwi next door, plus a morpok (native owl). Then outside to see dozens of different species of bird...

Up early to feed kids, do schoolwork, and pack. Borrowed a cool box for Gwyn - the one piece of equipment that we were really missing! Left at 10.30, once Gwyn was back from her work-out! Attempted to drive to the rental car depot, but managed to miss the turning twice, and ended up taking 40 mins to do a 15 min journey! Gave back the equipment that had been left in the car, and failed to get the radio fixed! Drove out of Auckland, heading south on the State hi...