We traipsed off to see the Waterfront in Auckland to see how it compared to Cape Town - I have to say that Cape Town has the edge (even though it is not surrounded by volcanoes) but I may be biased.... A windy and wet night sees us take leave of Clint & Heike who have as usual been brilian travelling companions. We wish them many happy hours of travelling! Ironically the owners of the Motor Home site in Takapuna are from Port Elizabeth. Often as we drive alo...

The weather was 'iffy' all the way to Auckland. The rain that the farmers desperately need so we daren't complain. Auckland is rather impressive - covers about 500 square kilometres and has the highest number of boats / yachts per capita in the world apparently. So many marina's and little harbours. We climbed Mount Eden (a volcano where you can see down the crater) for a view of the whole city - it's big! Found a stunning campsite for the night in Takapuna whi...

Arrive in Thames and looks like there will be Guiness to be had aplenty for St. Patrick's Day as this area was originally occupied by the Irish. We drive to Cathedral Cove which is a magnificent rock arch formation on the beach a-la-Hole in the Wall. Then we drive the scenic coastal route to Thames via Coromandel Town. This area is completely time-warped and the buildings are from the gold mining and kourie resin mining era. Lots of old style hotels. The coastal ...

Arrive in Thames and looks like there will be Guiness to be had aplenty for St. Patrick's Day as this area was originally occupied by the Irish. We drive to Cathedral Cove which is a magnificent rock arch formation on the beach a-la-Hole in the Wall. Then we drive the scenic coastal route to Thames via Coromandel Town. This area is completely time-warped and the buildings are from the gold mining and kourie resin mining era. Lots of old style hotels. The coastal ...

Arrived Wellington airport at the bottom edge of North Island at close to midnight, a NZ$37,50 taxi ride seeing us to the Inis Hotel in town. The airport seems to be right in the middle of suburbia. Wednesday 13th March After a fretful night after a long journey we meet our mates downstairs after breakfast along with Kenrick Mitchel the Kiwi from who we've hired the camper van. A detailed tour and instruction guide of the van takes nearly an hour but at 12 noo...