Keiron and I woke up around 8.30, not bad for a first tent night. I did feel a bit sore from the hard ground.

The campsite has a well-equipped kitchen with toasters, hot water etc, so we made ourselves a nice cup of tea and had breakfast outside.

We set off to the Whangarei Falls, me being navigator as usual although you have to be a bit daft to get lost in New Zealand as all the sights and attractions are clearly marked all along the way. The falls were very pretty and we walked over and around them and took some photos.

We went back to town and took Riverside Drive, which passes the harbour and eventually winds its way along the bays of Whangarei Heads. We also stopped at the BP station for a sandwich for lunch.

On the way you pass Paura Bay, a beautifully blue bay with islands dotted around, McLeod Bay and several others. We stopped at Mt Manaia, which rises 460 metres and has rugged peaks.

We had a picnic with our BP sandwiches first (a picnic table conveniently located at the start of the trail - the New Zealanders are so well organised!) and started tackling the track, a 1.5 hour walk uphill. On the way, we had tantalising glimpses of the bays but mostly we walked through dense vegetation on a clear, well-trodden path.

When we reached the top, there was a wooden viewing platform... We were informed by a sign that Manaia is a sacred place for the Maori, where they used to bury their chiefs, so you are asked to stick to the first rocky platform. According to legend, Manaia is one of five brother mountains from Havai'i, the mythical and possibly real origin of the Maori and other Polynesian people, better known as Hawai.

Manaia and his brothers were unhappy and decided to move to Aotearoa (the Maori name for New Zealand and widely used here), but they were only given the gift of movement until sundawn. They arrived at the top of Aotearoa just before the sun came up, which is why they are where they are now.

Our peace and quiet was disturbed by a whole busload of people, so we walked back down and drove back over the spine of the peninsula. The roads were very windy, going around and over the hills.

In the evening we stopped in town then went back to the campsite for dinner and bed.