January 9th

Wow! Lots to catch up on. On the fifth we bit the bullet and rented a car, we REALLY wanted to snorkel at Goat Island Marine reserve, but it is located by this remote little town called Leigh and there was no bus service anywhere near there, so it was drive or pass it up. We Drove. It took a little bit of getting used to, driving on the wrong side of the car, the wrong side of the road and through the biggest city in New Zealand right off the go, but we (Miles) did it. I have since had my fair share of time behind the wheel, and once you get the hang of the turns, the wipers versus signal light fight and the EXTREMELY twisted roads, its really not so bad.
Anyway, we made it to Goat Island on Thursday the 5th and we thought ok, camping, no problem! well it was no problem....after we had the car pulled out of a seemingly dry field that turned out to be nothing more than peat moss and mud holes! (park anywhere my ass!) park yes, move again, nope! Luckily the owner was kind enough to tow us out without much fuss. So an hour or so later we did choose a place to camp, on MUCH higher ground. So we go about unloading our stuff, the sleeping bags, the poles, the fly, the footprint..... Shit! where the hell is the tent??? OH MY GOD we left it in Canada.... Easy enough to do when all parts of the tent are green and we intended to leave the extra gear shed behind. We have the gear shed... but no tent. So we panic, we try to improvise (btw using the car as a side wall for a lean to doesn't work) then we remembered that the footprint is exactly the same size and shape as the base of the tent. We managed to set the poles up using the footprint and have the fly to use as the roof. It may not be critter proof, but it keeps the wet off (mostly). Ok so now we have an unstuck car and a usable tent. its WAY to late to go snorkeling, but we checked out the gorgeous beach and decided we'd get an early start Friday morning. So we wandered around for the evening enjoying the scenery and figuring out where to rent any gear we would need for the next day.
Friday: we were in the water and taking photos by eight AM. This is after traveling into the very small town of Leigh, pronounced (LEE). We found out that there is no cash machine in town, very few places that take credit and all places accept EFTPOS, whatever the hell that means. To date we have determined its pretty much like a debit card, just a really dumb name for one. So we got our rentals, thankfully from a small dive and hire shop just off the main road, we hadn't noticed but we walked into the store about an hour before they even opened. One of the workers, quite surprised, helped us out anyway and had us set for our 8 am snorkel. We got down to our entry point about 100 meters from Goat Island. Its quite the task getting those darn fins on without getting sand in them to rub your feet raw. Plus donning them in the water when the water insists on pushing you and your gear up the jagged rocks and then pulling you down said jagged rocks is not any easier. All in all the day was fun, we got into the water and after a few small, almost hyperventilating breaths we were on our discovery of anything in the clear blue waters. We have pics we will try to post here for all to see. We found lots of fish: Snapper, and many other unknown named fish, along with a small stingray. Seaweed forests, shells, sea urchins and lots more, a very successful first trip in the water. We discovered so much and it was still only 10 am. After a brief sunbath (the effects of which we are still feeling days later :s... I think we have both learned the value of sunscreen...85spf sunscreen. No joke) The sun is crazy intense here. We went back into the water for a second dip. As it was later, there were more people in the water and it was a bit cloudier with a stronger current and bigger waves. We didn't see as many fish this time around, but saw some really neat kelp beds which we took some video of. 
After our adventures at Goat Island, we took our adventures to the Kauri Museum just outside Dargaville. It was a much needed break from the sun, and the Kauri trees are true giants (the largest on record measuring 28 feet in diameter). the European settlers used the kauri wood to make almost anything. The furniture on display in the museum was beautiful. The sheer effort to fell one of these trees or to pull one from a swamp by horse, track and trolley is a feat most of us can't imagine today.
From the museum we headed to the campground just down the road where we set up our tent (no surprises this time) and had some supper. while in the camp kitchen we met a couple from Hawkes Bay, New Zealand and spent the evening visiting with them. They gave us some pointers on areas to visit in Northland, and we traded phone numbers as they invited us to stay with them should our travels lead us to the Hawkes Bay area. During our conversation we discovered that Jason was a carpenter as well, though now working as an electrician, and Christine is an elementary teacher. We may have inadvertently scared them away from Canada with some of our tales of bear encounters, large animals (ie Moose) and well the cold.
Once we bade our new friends farewell we continued north up to Cape Reinga. Unfortunately it has been raining solid since Saturday morning so seeing the beaches on the north west coast was nixed. But it cleared long enough for us to walk to the lighthouse at Cape Reinga without getting soaked. The head of the cape is where the Pacific Ocean meats the Tasman Sea, you can see the meeting of the waters as the waves start to crash out in deep waters- and they are going two different directions, its really something to see. The wind on the cape is incredible, there was one point where it nearly knocked us off our feet as we tried to make our way back up  the hill to the carpark.
Oh I forgot, to get from Dargaville up to Cape Reinga, we had to travel through a mountainous forest area. Oh my god the roads made us both sick. Miles slept through a good deal of it to save himself being sick in the car, and even driving I was getting sick. Its comparable to the road to Tofino on Vancouver Island. only somehow worse because it went on for hours and hours and the kiwi's seem to think that anything slower than 60k on hairpin turns is unacceptable... I think to drive in New Zealand (and avoid being honked at) you need to have a drop of racecar driver in your blood. or highspeed mountain goat... one of the two.
Now we have worked our way back down the East coast and stayed the night in a pretty seaside town called Manganui (we don't know how to say it either) and are working our way down to the Bay of Islands. Hopefully we will do a dive on Poor Knights Marine Reserve in the next day or two before we continue on South of Auckland. We hope to be in touch soon, computers are few and far between.
Hope everything is well at home
Cheers,
Miles and Brianna