Our first stop for the morning was the Waitomo Glowworm Caves. We vanquished 150 steps down to the boat landing, passing by limestone formations created more than 30 million years ago. Mere was our expert guide and adeptly managed the rope pulley system in the darkness, as we glided silently through the caves with thousands of glowworms glistening above us. Beautiful way to start the day. A pic of us disembarking and one from yesteryear, 1920.

To capitalise on the sunshine… we visited the 55m Bridal Veil Falls in the Raglan area, walking through a native forest following the Pakora River until we reached the upper lookout. Wowee, magnificent vista. Droney took a nice shot too.

Drove up a winding road past the Institute of Awesome 🙂 to the Te Toto Gorge Lookout.

A short track from the carpark leads to the viewing platform which provides spectacular and uninterrupted views of the west coast, and amphitheatre where Maori gardens once thrived.

 Then a drive to the stunning Ngarunui surf beach.

Manu Bay is THE surfie beach of choice as the waves are more massive (called bombs), curl at the crest and break into a cylindrical ‘tube’ shape, allowing surfers to ‘barrel’. BUT….you have to walk over about 50m of rocks and boulders with your board to get into the water, yikes!

Met John, local photographer at his Raglan gallery and purchased 3 miniatures of the local area from him.

We loved the coffee at the “Stoned Cow Cafe’ and the fun wall art.

The new day brought with it a ‘super glue’ drama – managed to spurt the glue over some fingers/hand as I was attempting to repair a suitcase. Oh dear! Then it was quite the job googling how to get it off. Got some olive oil from the cafe close by, that worked a treat. Then some acetone from the chemist to complete the removal.

First stop the next day @ Pokeno to see Simon @ his home showroom about a scarf ….Lynne wanted to get a pressie for a friend. Very beautiful deep green scarf was successfully purchased.

Checked into accomodation @ Parua Bay and immediately drove to Whangarei Heads (forecast tomorrow is rain!). Woo hoo, along the way Parua Bay had lovely cloud formations and just got to the Heads, with the sun setting.

Got pulled over by the police for a breathalyser after dinner. The officer said ‘count to ten for me’, but my mind was telling me to blow into the device. I had never experienced a passive test where you count and the device detects the presence of alcohol. The officer said, ‘yes its also a listening test’, and we all cracked up laughing. Anyway…passed!