Thursday 12th November To Abel Tasman National Park Today we had a very cosmopolitan morning. We woke up in our New Zealand campsite and chatted to our French and German neighbours. We drove to Nelson where we enjoyed Italian coffee with a Danish pastry in a Swedish cafe! The campsite at Cable Bay was a good one. Not too crowded, it had the laundry, electricity and wifi that we needed. We also felt at home, being on a working sheep farm. We picked up our emai...

Wednesday 10th November Today was a travelling day. If life, or indeed this trip, is a series of bricks carefully assembled to form a wall, then today was the mortar necessary to hold it together - dull in places but essential and with a few surprising highlights! In summary, we drove south to Wellington, took the ferry to Picton and then drove on west towards Nelson. And it rained all day... The day actually started quite dramatically at about 2 am when we we...

Tuesday 10th November Napier. Awoke early today to loud birdsong in our remote forest clearing. The camper-mate app suggested that this was a popular spot for walkers, hunters and mountain bikers. The bullet holes in the back wall of the toilet and the adjacent map signboard suggested that the relationship between these groups might not be a convivial one! We were camped next to start of the Grade 5 Te Iringa mountain bike trail. That would explain something a...

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...