The Top of the Dome Lookout

Leaving Auckland and heading north in our first real day in the van, we stopped for lunch at a service station and the guy on the next table came over for a chat (folks are very friendly here!). Turns out he was from Thornbury in Bradford and has lived here for 24 years! He recommended the Top of the Dome cafe further up the highway so we stopped there and took a walk up to this lookout with spectacular views back down north island.
Towards the end of the day we arrived at the dirt track which took u inland for several miles to wild camp at Waipu Caves. There were just half a dozen folks on the site and it was idyllic. When it grew dark we put on shorts and sandals, found our head torch and descended into the cave down a slippery mudbank to the stream then waded through that deeper into the network, passing huge stalagmites and stalactites illuminated by our head torch. Finally we reached a passage and switched off the torch. The ceiling of the cavern was lit by pinpricks of light from gloworms, just fabulous, some reflected in the waters around our feet where we also spotted tiny eels, an awesome experience to end the day!