Passing so many sheep on our travels, we finally decided to make an effort to understand their lifestyle by visiting Sheep World. After being given a brown paper bag of food we set off before the show to aquaint ourselves with the animals. Brett made friends with a greedy goat that head butted all other animals out of the way in order to monopolize all treats. In the end two of us were needed - one to distract Greedy by holding food just out of his reach and the other to secretly feed the others.

The show itself was a bit cheesy, but impressive. Two dogs tag teamed handling the sheep and when Molly (a Greyhound/Border Collie cross) was given the signal from her master, she darted up a nearby hill and returned a minute later with an unimpressed herd of breathless sheep. As she circled them to keep them in check several rams angrily stamped their feet at her. The sheep were then turned over to Sam (a not so intelligent crossbreed) who would jump on top of the sheep in the close quarters of the pen barking continuously to usher them into their separate stalls. After his job was done, Sam returned to his perch on stage and lazily gazed on as his master showed us how to shear a very large ewe. We could hear Molly whining from behind the shed longing to round up a few more.

The best part of the day was when the lambs, kids and piglets were set free and came tearing around the corner of the barn knowing full well that they'd find bottles of milk clutched in our hot little hands. There was a frenzied confusion as the little furballs played an animal version of musical chairs, hoping that they wouldn't be the only one left without a fresh dose of milk. Even more fun was watching the human kids around us fumble with their bottles and consequently get trampled by the impatient baby animals.

The marine reserve of Goat Island was next on the agenda and we traded our bottles of milk for fins and snorkelling gear in search of fish. Goat island is about fifteen metres from the mainland so we were able to park ourselves on the beach and swim among the volcanic rocks across a narrow channel to reach it. The visibility was better than in Stingray Bay and we were able to see loads of huge snapper and other smaller more colourful fish while we stood on the rocks or in knee deep water on the beach. Once we submerged and set our sights for the island, we didn't seem to see any more fish, but stopping for a moment to tighten my fin I looked behind and there were about ten to fifteen fish stalking us!

The highlight of our water experience was snorkelling in the Poor Knight's Islands. Since we had to replace two punctured tires, we had originally decided to give it a miss to save money, but Craig and Karli would not accept this excuse and they treated us to an incredible day. With our lunch packed, we headed out from Whangerai and boarded El Tigre, our chariot to the Poor Knight's Island. While Craig and Karli explored steep underwater cliffs and caves, Brett and I stuck to the surface and watched all the action from above.

The deep blue water was gorgeous and we could see all the way to the ocean floor twenty metres below us. However, I was even more in awe when I swam into the deeper waters where all I could see was the deepest blue in every direction with rays of sun that cut through the water like a prism highlighting shadows of fish now and again. My depth perception became a bit boggled due to the clarity of the water and what I thought was a scary looking shark lurking in the distance would actually be a kingfisher only a metre away.

As we swam through the light into the darkness of a large volcanic made archway, it took a moment for our eyes to adjust to the new world in front of us. We looked back behind us and saw an array of fish swimming from the light side of the underwater cliff into the darkness towards us. At one point a gull, no doubt looking for his breakfast, dove underwater from the air and every fish quickly made a uniformed decision to dart down and left at once.

Our next stop took us to an underwater terrain where a short swim could vary from one to twenty metres in depth. We swam over rock formations that provided an endless supply of nooks and crannies to view hundreds of colourful fish practising their synchronised swimming, feasting on different exotic algae or partaking in the popular pastime of following us. We even saw a few underwater highways!

From the clear waters of the Poor Knight's Island and Sandy Bay, we made our way down to Auckland, coined the city of sails, for Craig's and Karli's last night. We headed down to the waterfront for happy hour and a few snacks before going into -5 Degrees - an ice bar. When asked where the ice bar was located, the bartender at the Waterfront Bar suggested that we hang out in his deep freeze or hop into the chilly water beside our table free of charge. But since it was Craig and Karli's last night we pulled out all the stops - only NZ$25 got you a winter coat with a fur trimmed hood, fur lined booties, and the vodka martini of your choice in a glass made completely of ice. The venue is a chilly deep freeze that has been transformed into an ice paradise complete with ice scuptures, ice tables, fur covered ice chairs and a bar made completely out of ice. We were only allowed half an hour in the chilly room to down our drinks before we had to give up our furs and go back to the heat of the city. Afterwards, our late night choice was an Irish pub called Doolins where we danced the night away to live music. And in the spirit of going all out, how could we miss the late-night trip to Denny's? Brett was a little disappointed that his favorite dish, Moons over my Hammy could not be located on the menu, but was comforted when he could finally taste the much longed for HP sauce provided with his replacement meal.

Sad to say goodbye again so soon, we left Craig and Karli feeling like a part of us was missing and their absence was especially felt in the now roomier Pulsar, our adopted car. We had a great holiday with Brett's family and since New Zealand wouldn't feel quite right without them, we booked our airline tickets to Singapore with only a week to see the few things we'd missed and to catch up with with my extended family.

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