So after the slog through the Auckland traffic (apparently the town is bursting at the seems! I was talking to a chap who said that not long ago they were encouraging £10 pommes to boost numbers. Not any more!) which was fairly horrid, we made it to Miranda camspite. Pricey  (they all, bar the DOC campsites, are) but it has a thermal pool! The evening being fairly cool, it was blissful to slide in. Especially for me as I got to cook sups while Paps took the trio in. Not a restful experience apparently as after the traffic jam, they were all a bit antsy, and had had a good session of ‘he looked at me, no she looked at ME’. Poor paps!  I went in after sups. Most pleasant. There are so many different birds here. Beautiful birdsong all day long! There was a seabird sanctuary just outside the campsite, and we visited it the next day! Paps tendons are playing up a bit so he opted for driving to the hides. E and R dived back into the car at the prospect of no walk!  O and I strolled along the shore, and spotted lots of birds. Black Swan and sky lark were the only ones I knew!  Two volunteers with their telescopes showed us all the different species. O loved it! His favourite was the NZ Dotteral. Blistering day! Baked in the car on the way to hot water beach. Highlight of the campsite was a huge blow up pillow thing! Plenty of harrying potter wand battles. Harrying Potter is the main theme for most of the games. Geoff staggered a bit at the price of this one,  but got talked into joining the ‘top 10’ group. 10% off! Having joined, we then stayed 4 nights to make getting the card worth it…..made no sense to me, but we got free spade hire! HWB is not how I remember it. Everywhere is offering spade hire, and the car park is pay and display, which we have only seen in Auckland so far! Heaving with hot water enthusiasts as well. We trot along the beach to claim a spot. O is the team leader for this, taking charge of the spade. R has a blister on his hand, so is supervising. The water seeping up is boiling hot. Up to 62°C according to the signs. O quickly work out a three pool system. Boiling pool, cold pool and mixer pool. Worked brilliantly. E had lost a bit of her bounce earlier when we were looking at a long blue jellyfish. I was just thinking to myself, that looks like a Portuguese man o war when a chap came up and warned us not to touch it. His cousin had picked it up and got stung and her arms went numb…..E lost all interest in going in the sea! I am going to check online. Though it certainly looked suspiciously like a PMOW, people were prancing round in the water and there were no warning anywhere. She was just getting her bounce back in o”s thermal spa when she inadvertently bounced into o the boiling pool. This put a definite crimp in her day, and she retired to the beach to make a sand bridge. Great day otherwise, though not much swimming as the sea is dangerous here. We spent a day on Hahei beach after an aborted trip to cathedral cove (the car park was full!) The most beautiful beach! Glorious waves, crystal clear water. Much fun had by abortedllll!  G enjoyed another sup session. Bit wave for me. We woke the troupe up early the next morning to get a spot in the cathedral cove car park. I remember this walk very well, and despite beats about being woken up, and ‘I feel like i’ve left half of myself in my sleeping bag’ (o) everyone enjoyed it. The Cove was spectacular in the morning sun. We could not walk through as the tide was up, but we could walk in. A bit scary with the waves crashing, and R and E refused to go in. E wasn’t that impressed actually. ‘Hmm. I thought it would be bigger’. Sorry to leave this beautiful spot, but onwards to matamata and the LOTR experience! DOC campsite on the way. Right by a river with a gorgeous swimming hole. The water is warmer than the sea. Geoff made a friend called Francis.  A Canadian travelling on his own. Very friendly, but a little wiffy. It transpired that he only has one t-shirt. One. Fair enough I suppose, if you want to save space, but surely it needs a wash? He came in it, slept in it, woke up and went for a three hour trek in it. Not one dip in the river! Each to their own…….