So our view on the unexpected B&B it was very good. The owner is Alan Von tunzelman(n) He is a very interesting man and could trace his family back to 1200s They have a coat of arms in Estonia. His great great grandfather worked for Zsar Nicholas and their family got banished, eventually fleeing to Scotland long story…His grandfather came to New Zealand to Stewart Island. Another long story ….As a young man his grandfather was the first person to land in Antarctica, because as the shore boat came to land he jumped out to steady it. The exact point is named after him. Alan has had an interesting life too, we spent a long time chatting to him each day as you can imagine. We got on very well with him and he said we were special visitors to his house!

We soon got to Auckland and made our way to Clevedon. It had been raining but began to clear. We headed for the bird coast opposite Coromandel and were not disappointed. There were so many birds to see. We have never seen so many kingfishers as we did today. We were able to spend a long time in a regional coastal park. We had the whole place to ourselves no one else was around.

Now we are in our hotel at the airport. No photos today the wifi is not good sorry

I will add them later from Pasedena when we get there on Saturday. Xxx