The Lion Man and Bay of Islands

Me and Dad were up at 6.15am. We headed over to Camp Kitchen armed with our cups and t-bags. We were surprised to see Mam coming over about 20 minutes later. Then to our amazement, out popped Ben. Me and Dad thought we’d have hours until either of them woke up!

We all had a brew together and then went back for breakfast at the Camper. By 9am we were heading out on our first ‘Road Trip!’

Wasn’t long before we saw the Auckland Sky Line, even better than that we got to drive over the Harbour Bridge. The perfect start to the break.

Ben was driving, I was co-piloting and Mam and Dad proper chilled in the back taking in the sights. The weather wasn’t perfect but there were short bursts of sunshine.

We swapped driving after a while, my first time at driving a transit. I hadn’t used a clutch for a while, so it was tough getting used to it again. Stalled it a couple of times!! The camper was great, the views were amazing as usual.

We stopped at Whangarei for some lunch and then it was a 20 minutes drive to our destination. A surprise for Mam....... ‘The Zion Wildlife Gardens’.........’The Lion Man!’.

We paid our money and waited for Anton our guide around the Gardens. We were shown all the animals there, starting with a baboon that had been rescued and finishing with the gorgeous lions. It was the same animals that we’d saw on telly. Unfortunately Craig wasn’t there for autographs, apparently he had been suspended over one of the keepers being killed by one of the lions!

The sun was shining all afternoon and we got some great photos of the big cats, still can’t believe we were there. The guide was awesome talking to us about all the animals, we even got given a lion whisker. Anton was telling us he used to work in the Gambia and about him keeping cheetahs at home, raising them and then releasing them. He was saying that he worked on ‘The Big Cats Diary!’ and that he was there when the cheetah peed through roof of the Landrover.

After the guide we drove a short distance back to Whangarei Falls Campsite. Luckily we’d popped into a supermarket for some meat, so we could try out the gas BBQ........ our first NZ BBQ!!!!!

We’re all just chilling, stuffed watching Deal or No Deal on the telly. We’ve introduced Mam and Dad to Andrew and they love it!!

Quite an easy drive today to ease Mam and Dad into the travelling.