Saturday, April 7th 2007

Today we drove north towards Whangarei, the major city in Northland. 40 minutes into our drive we stopped in the town of Puhoi. Puhoi is a tiny village that was settled in 1860 by a group of Bohemian peasants. Along the side of the road we found a path to a waterfall in the woods. That was pretty neat to find.

Another stop lead us to an 800 year old Kauri tree. It was HUGE!

Further along the road we came across Sheepworld. Fortunately, I was able to convince Jeremy to stop the car. We learned so much about sheep shearing and we got to feed some very friendly lambs and a baby pig!

When we got to Whangarei, we ate lunch on the docks and then ventured off to Whangarei falls. The falls are known as the most photogenic in New Zealand. The drive to Whangarei was longer than expected, so we decided to head back to Auckland and save a trip further north for a weekend when we had time to enjoy all of the sites. According to our car, this was a good idea. While driving home, the "time for a break" warning light came on. Yes, for those of you who do not know, that is the light that looks like a cup of coffee. It goes off every few minutes after you have been driving for "too long". To get the warning to stop, you have to pull over and turn off the car. How crazy!