Good morning,

It took me a few minutes of sleepy waking to realise I wasn’t hearing things and there was in fact a cow outside the tent munching on grass. I poked my head out and sure thing there she was. You would think I would know that sound from a mile away. The best bit was the other cows obviously upset that she was loose and mooing loudly waking everyone. We had breakfast before heading out. Rowan asked where do you want to go? I said back. We really have a list longer than I want it to be and I want to feel free while we are walking. So we aim for Wellsford and I call my sister to let her know we are heading her way and we will organise dinner. As we got to the peninsula so late I wanted to explore it a bit more, so we headed off down the road and had a good nosy. Before we knew it we were on the waterfront in Mangonui, a nice spot with lots of shops. Then onto Hihi where I remember staying as a kid and my sister falling out of the bunk one night and smack onto the wooden floors. Rowan and I take a walk on the beach there. Then we detour down to Taupō Bay, which is still very chill and lots of old bach homes. From there we head through Kerikeri and go west to Ōkaihau to get onto highway 15. Quite a scenic route. We come across the Twin Bridges which I don’t remember, so it is all new to me. A frozen fruit flow stop at Maungatapere keeps us going. Rowan is doing most of the driving today and I play passenger. The road meets up with highway 1 in Otaika south of Whangarei. From there we head to Wellsford to the 4 square. On Clare’s deck Rowan is cooking dinner as much as he can while waiting for her to arrive home. I unpack what we need and catch some evening sun.

Thursday, on the move with a list of jobs to complete. We can’t help but go to a few op shops in Warkworth before heading to Kiwibank in Orewa. Surprisingly we get to sit down and chat straight away, no waiting or coming back for an appointment. All the options are presented to us and we get informed the interest rate is going up again tomorrow. It is good knowing our options and we will make a decision in the next few days. Off to Silverdale shops to go to Macpac & The Warehouse. Then we head back to Nanas so I can get some washing done and we can treat some of our clothes with permethrin. I take apart my Leki poles to give them a thorough clean. Now to make a plan for tomorrow morning, we have a few shops further south to go to.