To Thames!

Now that we had a car and everything was a bit more accessible, we headed back to Auckland for 2 more days to do the attractions a bit further out. First stop was the Zoo! We saw plenty of animals, including Lions, and some very small penguins. The car now also has a supply of food in it so we don't have to eat out as much and should save a bit of money (hopefully). The next day we went to a planetarium, it was awful and not worth the visit so we soon decided to head off to our next destination, Thames. 

The plan for Christmas is to stay in Matarangi, which is located above Whitianga. We decided to stop half way round in a place called Thames, only because it broke the journey up a little, but I was very glad we did. Thames is an old gold-mining town with loads of character. The people are incredibly nice and its more of a village feel, even though for a while Thames had more occupants than Auckland. There was a path along the coast that we stumbled across that was absolutely covered in artwork of animals merging from one to another which was pretty cool. When we were there the Thames market was on, which felt remarkably like a small village craft fair, there was even tea and coffee being served out of the town hall. Although it was quaint the market didn't keep us occupied for long and that's when we found the Driving Creek Railway!