From there we made the longest drive of the trip so far, up to Raglan on the west coast of North Island, to a motor camp beside the beach known world-wide for its surfing. Also apparently for its surfing casualties, for as we walked across the bridge linking the camp to the town we saw a pair of coastguard ski-rescue craft being launched. Just for practice apparently, but interesting to watch none-the-less, as they swirled around the water, ejecting wet-suit-clad personnel to see how good they were at climbing back via the boards secured to the stern for that purpose. After a distinctly non-vegetarian meal at the Hotel we retired for an early, and somewhat warmer, night.

Another day, same battery problem. This time the site starter did not do the trick, due probably to a lack of its own charge. So we phoned the hire company, to be told to call the AA and get them to fit a new battery. After two more phone calls and two hours of waiting, the AA agent started the van in two minutes, but was unable to help in replacing the battery, in diagnosing its faults, or even in finding it. His best effort was to recommend we trawl local garages to find a replacement battery. However it was approaching 1pm, and we had kilometres to kill. So we set off for Auckland via the direct route, a minor road of many twists and turns through pleasant scenery and almost nil traffic. Lunch was taken not quite on the move but with the engine still on rotation, on the basis that a poorly battery does not get any better.