Kia Ora boat trip and rainforest

KIA Ora!
First I must say this is an amazing country that drives my imagination wild with its outdoor wonders. The weather has been mostly good and on the cooler side which is appreciated as much of my exertions are ascending or descending hills or mountains.
Last night I stayed at a very nice campground right on the water up in the Bay of Islands north of Auckland. It was very pretty and god luck because honestly I can barely handle driving here after dark.  Florida flatlandia has not prepared me for this country!
Yesterday I took a bus from downtown to the airport and picked up my camper van.  This is a sweet little thing, like a small Toyota minivan, but the aft area has a sink and 25 gallons of water with a manual pump and a DC powered fridge on a separate battery.  It also has enough dishes and pots and pans and a kettle and a cute slide out butane stove and led lighting. The area behind the two front seats turns into a bed or a little table, and the van comes with fresh linens and pillow top and pillows as well as cleaning stuff in the galley area.  This is such a cute layout and reminds me entirely of cruising on my Catalina 22.  That is complete with the annoyance that you have to move anything to access anything.  But after so many years living on a boat it just makes me laugh and smile.  I am loving it. Anyway I went to the local grocery and bought breakfast and lunch foods with a few freedom camping dinners.
I then drove north because I wanted to see the Bay of Islands that was visited by THE Captain Cook at the time our country was having its first civil war. I stopped at a cute nature walk and was accosted by a cock looking for handouts.  The cheeky bugger was tight on my heels for 100 meters hoping for food.  The flora astounds me, with a multitude of ferns from miniscule to gigantic.  The big ferns are like palm trees. After seeing a waterfall I drove onward to Waipu caves, found after talking to helpful locals.  The array of hills and valleys make cell coverage very poor, and I was lost save for to pull over and ask directions. 
After 30 mins of I tense driving on gravel roads I found the waipu caves, and I went on a 2 hour hike up and down a mountain.  I saw some fantastic rock formations and met a wild goat. After my hike I was ready for the caves and met a Frenchman who had just spent 3 hours in there and he gave me advice.  I went in with only a led torch and crawled in about 45 mins until I felt I was way out of my league.  Let me tell you this is a cave as nature intended.  No lights, no handrails, and a multitude thousands of glow worms on the ceiling.  I frequently turned my torch off and watched the banded constellations of worms.  My camera could not capture it, so the alien galaxy I saw will only reside in my head, but it was fantastic!  And difficult too!  This was a real cave complete with mud and a small river, so I was very careful.  After my spelunking I met the same Frenchman as he was changing to cleaner clothes.  He explained that he graduated university and got a one year work and travel visa.  He had enough money to buy a camper van and a few months of spending money, after which he would work wherever and then travel.  I loved his plan, and tolh him about my boat stuff.  Anyway those caver were an awesome experience, and the best part was no chaperones, no big brother, no safety, just the land as it is without us.
After the caves I drove the Whangarei and stopped for early dinner.  I saw and Indian place and parked but found out it was closed.  I knew I had to eat and run so I hopped across the street to a Malaysian place that looked crappy.  Well I was incredibly surprised to have fantastic noodles with pork beef chicken and shrimp for 10 ndz!  Anyway after that lovely dinner I scooted north to my fortuitous discovery of a campground.
Whilst this camper is lovely, I was so happy I brought my ng bag because it was cold last night!
A beautiful sunrise woke me and I dashed out to set up my camera with the timer, laid it on a picnic bench and went back to bed.  About 45 mins later I woke up properly and I have a beautiful sunrise time lapse of this lovely country.  I cooked breakfast out of the back of my van and used the communal sink to clean up. Yesterday I told myself the definition of fun was a 5 hour walk around this bay of islands area, but when I woke up and saw the water I said 'boat trip'.  So I got out of the campground too quickly, it really was lovely, and drove the 2 miles to Pahia and got a ticket for a 4 hour ride to depart in 30 mins.  The boat ride was lovely and the area is so pretty with 150 islands.  We stopped at one and I ran up a hill and down and up another hill to take pictures, then back on the boat to go eventually underneath a hole in a big rock.  I also saw a seal, blue penguins, and dolphins and a bunch of fish!  The other island we stopped at was named 'delicious blue penguin' in mauri haha!
After leaving the boat I drove to Haruru waterfall.  I went on an hour hike along a river before turning around.  I made lunch and was pestered by a flock of chickens.  They kept on getting on the picnic table and I had to shoo them.  They were cute though especially one fancy breed.
I took off there towards the west side of the country to see the country's largest tree. The landscape is very rural and still very twisty.  It is a lot of work to drive. Anyway after an hour I stopped at a winery and bought a bottle that I am sipping as I write this.  Well OK I drank the whole thing by now but srsly it takes a long time to type on a tablet.
OK so I decided to return south via the west side of the country, and I am glad I did.  I got to a magical area, the pass of a gigantic bay to the sea.  Across the bay was a sand dune of a peninsula rising 1000' which was an awe inspiring sight.  The bay also was beautiful but obviously shallow, perhaps to walk across.  But the water is just too cold.  I hot my feet wet and moved on.
South into Waipu forest and I had entered Jurassic Park.  The Mage Ferns towered, and wide ancient Kauri trees were everywhere.  This was also a very twist bit of road, the Waipu forest.
This is a true rain forest, but it never freezes while remaining quite cool most of the year.  I stopped at a walk to see the king of the forest, biggest tree in the country, 13m in diameter, it made me say w o w when I saw it.
OK this email needs to end soon. I was done with driving so I went a gfew km south to the parks campground. I am the only one here, and there are cabins and campgrounds for about 50 people.  It is also right next to s river.  Anyway it was a lovely locale until Florida's state bird appeared.  Conveniently it is cold and they are not aggressive, but I had to seal up the van and kill the laggarts inside.  I sleep among about 100 of their carcasses, so hopefully I sleep well.
And FYI, there are no Internet's here, no cell phone, and not even FM radio. I love it.
Cheers, 
Mike