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. ...

While we were at Clive, the guy who distilled his own spirits recommended visiting Lake Waikaremoana. Katy had looked at this before but it had seemed a bit of a detour. However, fortified by the strength of his personal recommendation - and some of his liquor - we decided to give it a go. The route took us about 50km inland and much of the latter section was over a gravel road, most of which wasn't marked on our map. Blanche, however, rose to the challenge and ...

For the last couple of weeks we have been in Hawke's Bay spending our time in the two main towns of Hastings and Napier, and a small place in-between called Clive. It's Autumn at the moment, equivalent to October in the Northern Hemisphere. The leaves on the trees are turning gold and crimson and starting to fall off. Yet in the day when the sun is out it doesn't feel like an English Autumn at all, it's more like summer with temperatures hitting 20 degrees celsi...

We were a bit stiff the day after the Tongariro crossing, but tried to work the kinks out of our systems by playing golf in Whakapapa. The main hotel there has a course spread out in front of its large picture windows and with Mount Doom as a backdrop we set out on the nine holes. As you can probably see from the photos, we weren't very successful at limbering up - my posture looks extremely stiff! In fact, just walking around was enough of an effort let alone...

Richard had told me about the Tongariro Crossing, which the guide books describe as the best one-day hike in New Zealand. It's a six to seven hour walk up and around two active volcanic mountains - Ngauruhoe (Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings films), and Tongariro. Neither of us have walked for that length of time before and we didn't have proper hiking boots so Richard was quite reluctant. However, the more I read about what you saw on the walk the more I rea...