The travel log of Vic and Steve

Missing our massive days of walking in Europe, and excited about the warmer weather in Auckland a day walk in Piha was a fabulous idea.  October is spring - so it rained, was sunny and windy all within minutes on a constant cycle.  First up we took the KiteKite track to a lovely wee waterfall. We were impressed with both the track itself and the number of people walking it. The Piha end of the Waitakari's is popular with a range of day walks and entry to tramping tracks.  Some of our walk was wide & flat like the pic above. Some was clambering down to the river or crossing on rocks so good variety.  The waterfall was pretty cool.  Next we walked along the beach. It's not as expansive as Muriwai Beach but similar characteristically with looming cliffs at one end, massive waves and many rocks for fishing off. The wind and waves definitely like on the rescue show so we could see how people might be swept away.  The rocks Imogen is standing on are very cool...

Italian drivers have a reputation for crazy behaviour and on the surface of it this would seem to be true but once you join their driving system you realise it is a system and it works! I am writing this because we struggled to find blogs for Kiwi / Ozzie drivers who would be hiring a car and would be dealing with driving on the wrong side of the road plus learning Italian road rules. There is loads of content out there for US drivers or Brits who take their own cars - all of whom have different challenges to address than we do.  First up. How to choose a rental car.  After reading many many reviews and automobile club style advice we elected to hire from a global firm, Budget (operated by Avis) - and that did work well for us getting (virtually) what we ordered, limited waiting time and paying exactly what we expected to pay. We also made a decision to hire an automatic. This cost us more but we (I) felt with the need to overcome other driving challenges constan...