Gisborne is meant to have one of the driest climates in New Zealand and indeed the local papers have been full of stories about problems in the agricultural industry caused by getting even less rain than usual. Things had to change, however, and unfortunately for us the rains came almost as soon as we arrived in the city. On the other hand, the farmers must have been pleased.

Before arriving, we had mentally placed Gisborne on a par with Hastings and Napier. Having been here a few days, however, we would have to rate it a poor third. Although parts are quite nice with palm trees lining the main street, it is nowhere as attractive as Napier and the atmosphere - even allowing for the weather - isn't as pleasant as Hastings. It is also more run-down, with many shops standing empty.

We decided to go to the cinema on Monday afternoon because the drizzle of the previous day had become full-blown rain, with a nasty wind whipping in from the sea. We got quite wet on the way, but luckily the cinema was warm and nearly empty, so I was able to take my wet shoes off and dry my socks out a bit.

The film was The Boat That Rocked, a comedy based on the heyday of Radio Caroline and similar pirate radio ships in 1966. It was quite funny in places, but a mess in terms of plot and structure. It was directed and written by Richard Curtis and we decided that he really should stick to the latter in the future. He has impeccable writing credentials (Four Weddings, Notting Hill, Blackadder, Vicar of Dibley etc) but his two directorial ventures (the other was Love Actually) just aren't in the same class. He doesn't seem able to develop a strong narrative - even in his successes - and as a director can't throw out material that might be funny in its own right but which damages the storyline. The Boat That Rocked would have been a great TV series as there are loads of good characters and funny incidents, but they were all just thrown together in a large jumble and the 'plot' looked like a desperate afterthought.

When the film finished we decided to go to an Irish pub for a drink as it was still raining.
After a pint of Guinness we noticed that the rain was still coming down steadily so decided to have another. After the second one, the rain seemed worse so we felt that we had better wait it out once more. After the third pint of the black stuff we thought we really ought to head back to the camp. Unfortunately, that was when the rain decided to get REALLY bad. It was lashing horizontally across the street and even though we took shelter in shop doorways we were utterly soaked by the time we got back to the van. My trainers were still wet through 24 hours later.

Given that the weather was still a bit rubbish the following day, we decided to go out to a restaurant in the evening which is not something we do very often. We chose a Thai just up the road and thoroughly enjoyed our food - noodles as we cook rice ourselves quite a lot.

The next day we had what we thought was a mini-crisis: we could only find one of our towels. Now, you might not think this would be of much importance, but we have become particularly enamoured of our microfibre travel towels. They came free with our large backpacks and we didn't use them for ages. However, they have really come into their own this holiday as they dry quickly and fold up small.

Now, there aren't many places in a small van like Blanche that you can lose a towel, even one made of microfibre. We checked in the shower blocks and asked at reception to no avail. We came to the conclusion that one of us (and the smart money was on Katy given what we remembered about the last time it was used) had left it in the shower and another camper had pinched it. After going out food shopping we had one final hunt around the van and Katy emptied out the large nylon bag in which we store all our bedding every day. And there it was, damp and smelly at the bottom of the bag. Phew!

And out there, all of you think we lead an exciting life!

Richard