Music To Watch Birds By

After the washout at Goat Island, Gill and Dad headed over to the Coramandel Peninsula for a few days, where the sun shined on them and they had a lovely time. Nat and I were busy settling in to our new home, getting to know the area a little and finding a car, so we couldn't go with them, but we met up with them as they travelled back towards Auckland.

Gill's a bit of a bird watcher, so we all got together at the Miranda Shorebird Centre, which was on their route back.

There were lots of birds there, some short and fat, and some tall and skinny (you can tell I'm not a bird watcher!) and the weather was jolly nice.

We watched the birds for a while, then headed a short way up the coast to a spot called Kaiaua, reputedly home to New Zealand's best fish and chip shop (or 'fush and chups' as they call it over here!). Sadly none of us fancied fish and chips, so we popped into the pub next door and got some lovely toasted cheese sandwiches and cold beers to take away, then plonked ourselves in the sun at the beach for lunch.

We drove back to Auckland via the coastal road, which takes you through lovely spots such as Kawakawa Bay, Maraetai where we stopped for a walk along the beach, and Beachlands, but we didn't get any photos there. Oh well, I guess we'll have to take a drive out one day to sample the chippie and get some pics- it's a hard life!