Aukland day five Tuesday 11/10/11

During the night the wind dropped and rain ceased so we woke to a bright calm morning. Our breakfast was enhanced by a visit from two cats who calmly walked in the door and looked at us eating. Seems cats and camp sites go together as it's the second site with a resident cat visiting us in the morning. Owing to the improved weather our plans changed a bit and we went to the Waitangi treaty grounds as soon as it opened to look at a bit of history. Then the supemarket called us to stock up on drinks - non alcoholic to keep Carol hydrated. Route 1 south ignoring all the previous sideloops got us to Whangarei in an hour instead of the five the other way. Onwards and decided to visit the west coast for part of the journey and avoid the centre of Aukland. After a lunch stop we noticed a crack in the windsceen had suddenly lengthened so we phoned the owners and they said just carry on! Because of the morning visit to the treaty house we were behind schedule and decided we wouldn't make Thames by nightfall so stopped at Avondale motor park on the outskirts of Aukland for the night. Neat compact urban site but fine for our purposes. No restaurants nearby so it was either heating up chicken and rice or a trip to the fish and chip shop. Whilst I made heavy weather of topping up the sim cards Carol managed to find the fish shop and returned with a delicious package - very synful. Much discussion ensued and tomorrow's plans are to drive up the Coromandel peninsula and cross to Whitianga and maybe meet up with Coastal campers for a new windscreen and try to persuade them to drive us to the airport in a car on Friday - saves both of us three hours of diesel in the van.