"Japenese rental-car, last seen heading North!"

There is something mildly unsettling about dragging your rental car up a steep incline in second gear, while you try and enjoy the scenery around you!

Having picked up "Bertha" in Auckland I elected to drive and we headed North, stopping at Wangehrei before arriving in Paihia mid-afternoon on Tuesday. Richie did a very good job as my navigator and we really pushed the car to its limits as we took the major roads leaving Auckland behind.

We were soon to aquaint ourselves with a rather interesting animal -one that we have certainly not planned for. Yep, you guessed it: the Kiwi truck driver! Very interesting this particular species, as it is a little more aggressive than its English cousin. Whether it was our cars distinct lack of horsepower but these things can shift and overtaking them provided us with all sorts of challenges. We also discovered that after pursuing them for a while they seem to give up and pull over to let people by. Baffling.

Arriving at our hostel, "The Pickled Parrot", we were given our "accomodation". I haven't taken a picture of it yet but will do. I wouldn't say its the size of prison cell - actually, its somewhat smaller!!

We dumped our gear and then went out to view the bay and the shops. Richie suggested that we catch this speedboat tour called the "Excitor". I have to say aftee a little trepedation I agreed (no change there, eh!).

We spent an 90 minutes on the water and it was great fun. The rep that sold us the tickets was from Bristol so he gave us seats right at the front of the boat. Not sure if this was exactly a good idea as we felt every wave!! Richie and I exited the vessel wtih rather sore bums let me tell you!

Well, must go as lunch calls. We're leaving Paihia tomorrow and heading South to Tauranga.