It was a long drive down to Coromandel (the township on the Coromandel Peninsular) but Good Old Dad (note the initials!) tackled it like a pro. We stopped off in Rotorua en route, which wasn't half as smelly as we were expecting - we'd been told lots of sulphurous tales - but definitely pretty spectacular, watching geysers erupting over coffee isn't an experience I'll forget in a hurry! The only thing was that the scorching sun combined with the s...

We arrived in Paihia, but on discovering a couple of difficulties with booking diving, decided to spend one night and then take the opportunity to explore a little further north before returning to Paihia for a few more days. We went about 2 hours north to the tiny town of Manganui, a fishing town reached from Paihia on a coastal road that took us past perfect (and mostly deserted) beaches with crystal clear water and forested slopes to the sand. Manganui was a g...

Mum and Dad arrived first thing on 15th, and after a bit of trauma getting to the airport we made it back to our hotel, which you can almost see in the photo! Right on the harbour - amazing location and great views. We've had a great few days, luckily the weather has really perked up, which has allowed Mum and Dad to fall completely in love with the city, and me to decide it's not such a bad place after all - it's a little unfair to a harbour city li...

I came up to Whangarei on the east coast of North Island near the Bay of Islands to get in a bit of diving before the parents arrived. And that plan was semi-successful. After a bit of a false start trying to get to Goat Island just south of here (no bloody public transport ANYWHERE!) I came straight up here. The weather's not great - I think I had the best of it on the first day I was here, when I took advantage of it to go on a 3-hour hike past Whangarei F...

Auckland...well it's not exactly Sydney. But with a week to kill before Mum and Dad arrive (hooray!) it doesn't matter - I've spent a couple of days here just getting to know it a bit and it's ok. I'm saving the sightseeing for later, but the harbour's pretty enough, the weather's ok (a bit English-early-summer - i.e. one minute beautiful and the next minute overcast, humid and then rainy) and there are plenty or parks and museums and ...