Two nights turned into three as we found ourselves loving the five star camping experience. By now I must have rode the waterslide about 20 times and we´ve probably spent about 6 hours in the jacuzzi but we feel pretty good for it. On our last day here we hired bodyboards and took to the waves, still amazed that the autumn weather is holding out for us. Anyway, after being assaulted by the freezing waves of the Pacific Ocean (a first for both of us) we retre...

We'd planned to spend around a week in Northland, that was never going to be possible, there simply aren't enough things to see. The idea of heading to Cape Reinga at the northernmost part of the country in dreary weather really didnt appeal to us! We'd left central North Island a few days earlier without really doing it justice and rather than being grumpy about it in the rain we decided to set off back down and put it right. It was a 6hr drive back to Rotorua ...

A place that constantly smells of rotten eggs isn't everyones idea of a great location but Rotorua is New Zealand's biggest tourist attraction. The smell definitely lives up to its reputation and as soon as we stepped out of the car it became obvious that we weren't likely to stand the smell in a tent so we chickened out and got a cheap cabin instead. Rotorua is much like Queenstown in that all the sights and attractions come with a hefty price tag and our bigges...

You think by now we might be getting bored of endless sunshine and beautiful scenery, not a chance. We tore ourselves away from one beach in search of another as we drown down from Takaka to Picton from where we'd be getting the ferry to North Island in a couple of days. Queen Charlotte Drive is one of NZ's famous scenic routes, another one thats great to be a passenger for. That night we found ourselves a cosy Indian restaurant for dinner (even in the smallest o...

Were the Germans back to their old ways? Was it an airstrike? or maybe there was an escaped prisoner on the loose? These were the questions running through our head at 3am when we were awaken by the most piercing siren either of us had ever heard. Turns out it was nothing that exciting, in fact it was the alarm at the fire station ringing out to wake up the firemen and tell them to go fight a fire. Obviously beepers haven't made it to this part of the world. This...