Muriwai Trip Saturday

The 'Rover' need another test run to check on fuel economy after tweaking, so we set set off to see how the gannets were getting on with their nesting.



The adult birds were busy gathering material for nest building - one egg was visible from where we were standing.

As usual, there were fishermen trying their luck out on the point

Doug took some nice close-ups of gannets here.

We then drove down to the beach and took a stroll along the sand. This man was having a good time whizzing up and down the beach on a kind of a sand board.

Doug was pleased with the petrol economy when we filled up at the end of the trip. Not too different from the Skyline.

Picnic with the 'Rover'.

We decided to take this rare fine day and try out a first, short trip in the Landrover. Hunua seemed a good close destination.

Doug has installed a handy handle which enables me to haul myself aloft. We haven't solved the problem of my dangling legs yet - I need a little shelf!

It took me a while to fine tune the air flow - too high tech for me! A lever that has to pull out, then over, opens a vent that allows filtered air to flow in through a mesh that keeps bugs out. Very cool! The window also took a bit of time to master. Press the button, tab will shift up and down, then you push and slide the window across, before it clicks down again.

The radio worked well - the bank of speakers across the width of the vehicle just behind our seats, was audible as long as we travelled on tarseal. I believe that this entertainment centre even has a CD player. I'm sure we will enjoy it when we go camping.

The plan was to try out the fridge/chilly-bin and the picnic table, before embarking on an overnight camp somewhere soon.

Our first stop was Hunua Falls. They looked particularly lovely when the sun came out and made a rainbow in the spray.

We then drove on to the Upper Mangatawhiri Dam. There is a palce to camp there, and lots of good tracks for mountain bikes.

After trying out our picnic table we took a walk to view the dam. You can see in the third photo that the dam is very full. It's spilling over just a little.

We enjoyed our day out.