Hey,

I lived in Whakatane for quite a while and feel I must provide a little info on the sunniest place in the whole of NZ! For a start Whakatane is not a city.. population is only 19'000 or so.

As far as WiFi goes I doubt there will be any free Internet hotspots, even though the layout of the town would be great for this. The town is basically wedged between the Whakatane river and a hill. From the top of the hill you can see most of the town.

Cheapest way to get online is probably dialup :? $10 a month for 20 hours. With Paradise.net (I use em for my highspeed connection, they're pretty good)

Stay cool 8)