On our way home....

It was a bright, sunny day when we left Miranda early this morning in our van...

After returning the van we were shuttled to the airport and would you believe it started to rain. That's our luggage being loaded onto our plane.

Happiness is when Pete and I have three seats between the two of us...

Flying in over Sydney, above is Drummoyne and the Iron Cove bridge and below was taken above Stanmore looking towards the city. How do I know this? Well, amazingly using the iPhone (6) to take the photos it still gave the locations despite being up in a plane AND the phone being on flight mode. I was very impressed. Sydney did look marvellous from the air.

Whangamata harbour, which is on the inlet next to Whangamata Beach, with views to the hills behind.

Beautiful Whangamata Beach, said to be the best surf beach in New Zealand.

The tide was out, Pete and I walked for ages along the wet sand just soaking up the beauty of this place.

I like this photo because this is exactly what it was like on most days , winding road with the yellow signs, cows on the green hill and rows of trees.

Our next stop was another gorgeous beach, Whiritoa.

Pete kindly stopped the van on the side of the road so that I could take this photo. So often we would see the cluster of little calves in a pasture, I just really wanted to have a photo of them.

Waihi Beach , another great surf beach but what thrilled me were the shells...look at them all and look at the colours.

The town of Waihi is a gold mining town and we were able to view the mining pit which is almost in the centre of the town. This was operating until April this year when approximately two million tonnes of rock slipped from the north wall of the open pit. The engineers are still assessing the situation and the future of the pit. I'd never seen a mining pit before so found it all very interesting.

Anzac Bay one of the beaches at Bowentown which is south of Waihi Beach. We are up on the 128ha headland reserve that harbours the secluded beaches and historic sites . The view was terrific.

Karangahake Gorge, another place that is rich in mining history. The river that flows through the gorge was very pretty, Pete and I spent a while  walking the walkways along the river and one of the tunnels (which was one kilometre long).

Ray's Rest , a stop for free camping if you are in a self contained vehicle. We didn't stay the night here but just wanted to see the other side of the Firth of Thames (the Coromandel Peninsula is on the other side).  The whole coastline, they call the Seabird Coast is home to thousands of migrating birds from the northern hemisphere and there are only a few stops where you can get close to the water and wet lands. Below is another, near Miranda there is the Pukorokoro Shorebird Centre...our last stop for the day and the trip.