Pukekohe/Mercer

We had a lovely sleep in. Marley jumped on our bed in the wee hours of the morning, but didn't ask for breakfast until about 7.10! Yes, a sleep in! After breakfast we packed up and drove into Pukekohe. I showed Neil my old primary school and we drove down our old street. To my surprise, the house I grew up in is for sale! Was great seeing some pictures of all the improvements made to it over the last 40 odd years.
We had stacks of laundry and I was down to my last pair of undies, so off to the laundromat. $24 for wash and dry. We walked around the town cave for a bit. I showed Neil where my Dad's last florist shop used to be and pointed out some of the businesses that are still there even after all these years.
We decided to drive a few km's down to Mercer, as there is a freedom camping spot by the Waikato River. We snagged a spot just beside a wee little cove, where the dogs enjoyed a swim. We took advantage of the large areas of grass to let the dogs have a good run around. Marley, Diesel and I even explored around the yard of an old abandoned house, where Diesel got to chase a rabbit. The site was OK, but we were very disappointed in how much rubbish was around. Surprisingly, not as much road noise as we expected.Read more