TRAVELLING NORTH OF AUCKLAND TO WAIPU (31/07/09)
Our own reading and others advice had led us to the conclusion that hiring a car was pretty much essential for our trip around New Zealand. Here it is in all it's glory, shame about the colour although you can't complain too much for £11 per day. 
We headed north of Auckland up the east coast of the North Island. Our first stop was at Red Beach, so called because apparently the rising sun catching the sand gives it a red glow. We weren't there that early but it was still very beautiful. 
Occasionally the sun hitting the sand and fragments of shells showed us why the beach had it's name.
One of the cliffs had a large cave in it. On exploring, however, it proved to be disappointingly shallow.
What trip to New Zealand could possibly be complete without visiting Sheepworld. We knew we were going to love it even before we went in by the fact that the sheep outside had been dyed pink.
Some cynical people might suggest that Sheepworld is aimed at children but they couldn't be more wrong. 
We were suprised to see several early lambs some of which were only a few days old. They were very tame and loved having their heads scratched and their photographs taken.
As Liz walked around the paths for some reason several chickens and a large duck decided to start following her wherever she went.
The large ram responsible for all the lambs in Sheepworld.
This lamb and calf were the best of friends.
This donkey took a liking to Adam and they became best of friends too.
Attempting to spin wool the traditional way, she failed!
Twice a day there are demonstrations of sheep dogs and sheep shearing. The dogs are absolutely amazing, the one above can round up up to 700 sheep and doesn't even need to bark - he simply uses staring to intimidate them into doing what he wishes. 
After Liz had had a go at shearing a sheep we fed these lambs. They were extremely keen and greedy and kept jumping up on us to try and get more milk.
Once Adam's lamb was full it became a lot more docile and even let him give it a hug.
Heading up the coast from Sheepworld we stopped off at the amazing beaches at Mangawhai Heads. One of the great advantages of visiting in winter is that there are very few other tourists and we nearly always have the beaches to ourselves. From Mangawhai we drove to the tiny town of Waipu where we stayed the night.
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