We spent some time in Dargaville trying to find info/programme for the rally. There didn’t seem to be much interest there but eventually found a programme. We easily found the POP, close to the Rally of NZ route which we had jacked up earlier in the week. It was at a lifestyle property at Tangiteroria. The owners were away on holiday but they arranged for us to plug in. Very convenient. The Special Stages that we had targeted were on the Girls High School Rd about 12kms from our POP. The rally cars used this road twice, once in the morning and again in the afternoon. We were at a great spectator point, on a high bank, with a good view of about ½ km of road. This included a transition from gravel to tarmac and a 90 degree turn onto a narrow one way bridge. The WRC cars are spectacular!!! The control and skill of the world’s best drivers is unbelievable. How they can navigate the bends, bridges and surfaces at the speed they are going is amazing. Unfortunately the WRC cars go thru first so the rest of the cars are a bit of a let down by comparison. Some of the afternoon

 stage was cancelled due to a fire. Fortunately we saw all of the WRC cars twice however. We ended up in the middle of the touring stage on the way back to our POP. Back into Dargaville and a shop up before heading south to the Pahi Peninsular where we are camped at a beach on the shores of the Kaipara Harbour. It’s a nice spot so we decided to stay two nights. The weather is still a mixture of sun and rain and a cool wind. The camp guy gave us some bait so after a walk around the baches we had a fish off the wharf. (Don 2, Val yet to break her duck) Our next stop was due to be further around the Kaipara Harbour at an ARC regional park but the wind and rain were horrendous. We drove on thru Helensville to Shelly Beach. We are in a camp sheltered from the SW winds facing the harbour. As the winds and squalls are still coming thru we will stay

another night here. We had a coffee at the little café at this camp and

managed to buy some bait. There is another huge wharf here so we spent a couple of hours fishing. Val caught a fish!!! I missed out. Our next night was back out on the west coast at Murawai. The on shore wind was very strong but the camp was nicely sheltered. A very brisk walk along the beach and cliffs.

Back into Auckland city negotiating spaghetti junction and out to the OSB/Sky base at Mt Wellington to say hello to the guys before heading south. We found a farm stay/POP near Pirongia. The old couple that owned it were great and took us a tour of the property including feed some thorough breed horses. We had a nice leisurely drive thru the King Country down the Awakino gorge and on to Inglewood where we spent an enjoyable evening with Rodney and Judith. The only problem was that the Hurricanes beat the Crusaders. We are going out for lunch with Rodney, Judith, Noel and Rose (met at Club Med in 1984) and I will publish this blog today. Tomorrow we cross back to the South Island and will drive home on Tuesday. Next blog from the USA all

going well!!!!