Friday 23rd Oct. John has his 2 boy's over this weekend and his eldest Dan had a basketball match this evening. It was fun to watch especially as I have never been to a basket ball match before. Dans teem won as well followed by takeaway pizza and a few beers. Back at Johns Dan tried teach me how to play mine craft.

Saturday 24th Oct.
This weekend is a public holiday in New Zealand and just like the public holidays in England it's raining and forecast is rain all weekend. So with that in mind we all went ten pin bowling, another blast from the past. Not played that for years I was never any good at it and nothings changed I'm still crap. But was a good laugh followed that with a walk around Auckland Viaduct harbour. 
And back to John's for a few more beers.

Sunday 25th Oct.
Watched New Zealand beat South Africa in the World Cup Rugby semi final this morning well only just. The weather has improved and the rain has stopped. Went in to Auckland and up the Sky Tower the views were pretty good but the glass bottom lift and the glass floors were very cool. Only small areas were glass but still felt weird especially in the lift. The weirdest thing though is the lack of traffic considering its a public holiday weekend and the weather is perfect there is just no congestion the beaches were busy but not crowded, plenty of parking available.

Monday 26th Oct.
Decided its time to hit the road today, its been really great catching up with John and look forward to seeing him again before I leave New Zealand. We did one last fix to the bike this morning and that was to make some spacers up for the centre stand and fit it to the bike rather than strapping it to the bike if i need to use it to fix a puncture. Hopefully I will have none and will not need it. By twelve I was ready to leave and said my good byes to John and his two boy’s. The weather was almost perfect but a little windy. I only covered about a 150 miles but it seemed to take forever and it was a struggle trying to keep close to the speed limits, but as everyone else does I got used to it after a while. The roads were fantastic and there was a good mix of twisty mountain and twisty gravel roads. The weather took a turn and it looked like it would rain but thankfully not, I did have to stop and put another layer on as it got a bit chilly. Later I stopped off at Whangari Falls and stretched my legs and took a few pics. Back on the road the only traffic I encounter is coming the other way probably people returning from there labour day holiday but not really traffic just a few cars every now and then and also a few groups of bikers.
Found a camp site at Kerikeri and set up camp by a river.

Tuesday 27th Oct.
Had a good nights sleep listening to the sound of the river. Up early and on the road by 9 O’clock heading north to Cape Reigna, another great days riding, on the way back I turned right off the highway towards 90mile beach, I had to ride along a stream to get to the beach and by the time I got to the beach I was absolutely soaked, Still soon dried off. Road along the beach for quite away and I was getting a bit nervous not knowing where to exit, there is supposed to be a few exits but they are not easy to spot. I had covered about 20 miles when I saw a car parked in the middle of the beach no one in it but I could see his tyre tracks so followed them and thankfully found the exit. At the exit there was a camp site but very basic and as I had not stopped for any food I decided to ride. I found a petrol station and bought a some pasta and some soup and set off in search of a camp site by about 5 O’clock I was absolutely knackered, I had covered nearly 250 miles today much more than I had planned but the weather and the roads were to good not to. I found another campsite down by the beach, this one had showers and kitchens but not a lot else.
After pitching my tent I got talking to a group who were there for their annual fishing trip and had been out in their boat all day. The spent the night plying me with food, drink and conversation. Fresh Snapper, green lip muscles and an urchin they called Kina. The urchin was uncooked and they just cut it open and eat the liver. I tried it but it was disgusting. 

I have recorded some video on the GoPro but in my excitement to get riding I did not set the camera up properly so the video is not very good, I will see if I can tweek it and maybe upload it later.

Wednesday 28th Oct.
The day started out a little overcast and had I more provisions I would of stayed for another day but there is very little about, although after my lesson on foraging from Shane and his family who needs a shop, maybe i need to buy a snorkel and some goggles and go get my own food, as the water is bloody freezing i'll stick to the shops for now. So I set off with no particular place to go. As I came up the east coast I decided to set off for the west coast as soon as the road allowed. I stopped off at Kaipia(I think I spelt that correctly)  the first town I found to stock up with some food that would be easy to cook on my camp stove or in the kitchens at some of the camp sites. I had to rearrange all my gear so I could pack the food in one of the boxes so I strapped the tent to the back of the bike. As I have not been able to get any wifi since I set off from Johns I stopped at a McDonalds. That was a mistake I struggled to get connected and when I did it was next to useless. Then when I got back to the bike my tent had been stolen, well most of it as the poles and the pegs were still in the side box. Feeling a little annoyed but also smug as knowing that the scumbag that stole it will not be able to use it. I rode around town looking for a camping shop, I found a Hunting and Fishing shop that had a sale on and managed to get a tent for £50.00 not as easy to put up as mine was but its a tent. Spent the rest of the day riding fantastic roads I took a detour on a gravel road that went nowhere so had to do a u turn and have now stopped at a campsite near Bayliss Beach and YAY they have WiFi but not free, it works though sitting in the middle of the campsite watching the sun go down writing my blog while listening to a couple of germans strumming a guitar and singing, don't know what there singing but it's Ok.

Well the suns gone down now and so has the temperature so i'm off for a walk before hitting the sack.