Monday 9th November Tongariro Alpine Crossing 5am was a crazy time to wake up on holiday, but then, so was tramping 19 km over the Tongariro Alpine Crossing! This was a 19.4 km day walk recommended by Mike and endorsed by every guidebook and i-site advisor we had met. This was the description on our map:- 'The traverse of the stark and spectacular volcanic terrain of Mt Tongariro is one of the most fascinating treks in the country. Among its highlights are st...

Sunday 8th November Another early start and off the campsite at 9, back at the i-site office shortly after. Next stop the Aratiatia dam where the water flowing out of Lake Taupo is held back and then released when the flood gates are opened for about 15 minutes three or four times a day when the flood gates are opened to allow a deluge of water to flow down over the Aratiatia Rapids. We arrived just as the siren was sounding to announce the 10 o'clock opening o...

Saturday 7th November Whirinaki Forest and Taupo. A lie in today after our late expedition in the forest! We woke to the sound of our tinkling stream and birdsong. We opened the blinds to look up through the tree tops to a clear deep blue sky. The other small tent had vanished so we had our perfect little forest clearing all to ourselves. Whilst Bill prepared breakfast, I went back to nature and rinsed out all our whiffy sulphur impregnated swimwear in the c...

Friday 6th November Woke early today to the sound of surf and with the sun rising behind a group of Norfolk pines. Beautiful golden green dawn light was filling the van through the opened blind. Then we saw the sign... 'No overnight camping in this reserve'. Humph. The camper mate app had been pretty reliable on 'freedom camping' sites so far but we had heard tell of people receiving on-the-spot fines for parking in the wrong place or leaving too late etc. We...

Thursday 5th November. Busy day today and our first target destination was Hot Water Beach at low tide, which was at about 9.00. We were up and running in the beach by 7. Felt very privileged to have the beautiful sweep of silver sand all to ourselves as the sun appeared over the rocky headland to the south. Back home and on the road by 8. The 'freedom camping' was quite remarkable. At first a rather unprepossessing Tarmac pull-in, but in a quiet spot at the ...