We had a good leisurely breakfast finishing off our wedding cards and calling Piers to wish him happy birthday (for his evening!) We went and got stamps and checked the internet (phew, it was still there) and dropped off almost all of our cards - a job well done!

Next we embarked on an epic adventure to Piha via the Waipoua Forest. We stopped off at the tallest kauri tree: Tane Mahuta (Lord of the Forest), which stands at about 51m. This was very magnificent and my favourite for the area. Next up was the Te Matua Ngahere (Father of the Forest) which has the largest girth (and so is thought to be the oldest) but is left tall, and in my opinion less impressive. We also saw the "Four Sisters" which are four trees growing very close together, almost in the corners of a square. We gained some inner peace by partaking in some tree-hugging too. Super!

The roads were windy and we were all feeling a little queezy, so were glad to get out of the forest and into the plains towards Dargaville. There were some spectacular sand dunes along the way, but we didn't bother to see the Rainbow Warrior masts. They're just masts after all, even if the cheeky French did blow up the boat under them.

Soon after Dargaville we realised we had no fuel, no money, no phone credit, no phone battery, no phone signal and no where to stay for the night. Oops. I really wanted to get to Piha, so causing a little stress for Mama J we pushed on (thanks Mama J!) We got to Piha Road at dusk but unfortunately Piha Lodge (where we'd been aiming for) had no availability, but the next door neighbour suggested we try the Black Gecko place up the road. We did, and it was brilliant! $250 and with lovely new rooms with panoramic views. It wasn't in the Lonely Planet, so available and cheap! We only had $130 but we promised to pay into their account asap. We had a light dinner followed by bed for us tired road trippers.