For the second time this year, we enjoyed the surrounds and facilities of Blue Heron Lodge near the Whangarei Heads. The weather was very good to us. Warm northwesterlies gave us a balmy 22'C max. It only rained at night so we were able to complete all our tramps without getting wet. On the Saturday we split into two groups- hard and easy. The hard group consisted of Ali, Phil, Hunter, Ian, Shane and Paul Campbell. We did the Te Whara (Bream Head) track in five hours. We met several people doing the Te Araroa Trail. They seemed to be very keen to talk about their experiences and were most interesting. The easy group did the track across Mt Aubrey and down to the adjacent bays to look at the remains of historic buildings. At night we all enjoyed a wonderful barbeque put on by Gary and Margaret, greatly assisted by generous volunteers. The venue was very adequately fitted out for such an occasion. On Sunday morning, after our fabulous breakfast, we all went for a walk around Urquhart's and Smuggler's Bay. We enjoyed the very pleasant surroundings and war time fortifications. After lunch at McLeod Bay Café we all headed back to Auckland.