The weekend!
Posted by Sarah O'Neill , Tuesday, 17 May 2011 00:36
On Saturday we drove back down to Whangarai and stayed at the same cam
psite. Luckily this time the weather was much kinder to us! Ben insisted since it was Saturday and our last weekend before Fiji, we should get a McDonalds, so we did! Then we went to the waterfall on the outskirt of the city which was one of the prettiest ones we have 
been to that you can get quite close to. You can stand right at the top of it, and then walk down to the bottom. It is a poplar place to swim in the summer, but it was a bit cold even for Ben! He did however, climb over all the rocks and make his way towards the waterfall, planning on going behind it, but he was unable to go any further. Then we drove to the waterfront of the town, parked the car and walked along by all the little shops by the harbour. It was so sunny and lovely, a little like the Barbican. We bought some cider and went back to sit in the sunshine at the campsite, I read my book while Ben played on the computer, what a lovely way to spend the afternoon!
On Sunday we had arranged to go for lunch at the Gillan's, a family we went on summer holidays with for years before they moved out to NZ nearly six years ago. They were doing a lovely family roast, as Olivia's fiance Rupert was going back to the Naval base later that day. 
Obviously Julie and Gordon were there, and so were Alex and his wife Sarah, and Olivia and Rupert, it was just Avril missing who's away at Uni in Wellington and loving it! We had a really lovely time catching up, eating a yummy meal and then going out for a walk around Devonport (a suburb of Auckland) where they live! It's right by the sea, and right opposite the city centre, so has great views. We went back for a cup of tea and a cuddle with all the kittens! They are fostering lots (about 8 I think) kittens, and they are super cute! They also have a very well behaved dog who was lovely, and two cats they bought with them from England! Ben had taken an antihisthamene and was fine which is good news for Oscar, Carol and Mikes new cat back home! We didn't leave until about 6.30pm, managed to find the campsite we had booked which was in a great position for canyoning the next day, and the airport on Wednesday. Had an early night ready for our last big adventure of NZ!
It seems that maybe no McD's in Fiji. How will you cope Ben?! X