Monday 19 January

We lived within half a mile of each other in Somerset, they moved to Suffolk and we moved to Cornwall. Where better to meet up than New Zealand, so much better than tackling the M25!

We had a lovely couple of hours at the wonderful home of Richard (son in law), Chelsey (daughter) and Wilson (grandson) (granddaughter absent) in the hills outside Tauranga.

Then north to the Northlands crossing over the Auckland Harbour bridge.

A long drive but we cracked it and stopped for the night outside Paparoa as we headed over towards the west coast. Freedom camping at its best—very remote with wonderful views

We were paid a visit by the local farmer on a quad bike who when we asked if he minded us staying the night said “ no, not at all and if you like you can open the gate and drive into the paddock”. He farmed 500 acres with 300 dairy cows, milked once a day. He had worked in London for a couple of years as an accountant in a real estate property company before returning to farm the family farm that his grandfather had purchased in 1923!

This was the view out of the back of the Mighty.