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...

Long day of travelling yesterday.... from Wellington to Taupo. Simon managed very well in the new campervan and the scenery has been very interesting. Found a great park for the night - Taupo DeBretts which has a spa and hot, thermal springs. Went for a long walk this morning to see the Huka Falls and the water is pristine and the most amazing shades of blue. The clouds cleared and it has become quite warm so we decided we deserved to chill in the springs. Fabul...

Today we hop on the plane for our rather long Cape Town - Johannesburg - Sydney - Wellington flight. Only get to Wellington at midnight on Tuesday (their time) so this will be quite a drag..... Looking forward to meeting up with Clint & Heike and getting to know our new 'home' for three weeks. The campervan looks quite comfortable from the pictures, so let's see.