Our first overnight stop in the vans on Sat 25th was at Miranda Holiday Park by the hot springs, overlooking the Firth of Thames. Nice campsite but very busy and the weather was not at its best. We moved off to go to Rotorua but first stoppedat the MirandaShorebird Centre and had a short walk across to the shoreline looking over the firth towards the CoromandelPeninsula. The drive to Rotorua took us through lovely countryside, quite mountainous and very green, ac...

Kia ora, Eventually arrived in New Zealand. The onward flight from Brisbane was delayed and then one of the bags stayed at Brisbane so we got to the hotel at 1.30am. Picked up our brand new campervans yesterday morning and after stocking up with supplies we hung around until the errant bag turned up about 3.30pm. Spent our first night at a campsite in Miranda close to the Coromandel Peninsula and an area good for birdwatching apparently. Will take a look around ...

Wednesday started very hot and humid, sweating as we loaded the car to leave the Sanctuary at 9am. Lovely scenery driving north west, particularly as we got onto the Palmerston Highway heading for the Atherton Tablelands. Stopped at the Millaa Millaa falls and then lunch at the Malanda Hotel, the largest wooden building in the southern hemisphere and in the same family since it was built in 1911. Still hot but much fresher in the mountains. Stopped at the famou...

Left Airlie Beach about 10am after e-mailing and stocking up with coffee and cake! Driving through sugar cane country and stopped to pick up locally grown pineapple, grapes, bananas and pears for picnic lunch on route. The temperature hit 31C around Townsville as we really got up to the tropics, but still in sugar cane country. Clouded up over the Cardwell mountain range but we turned towards the coast again at Tully and clearer skies over Mission Beach. The rain...

Early 7.30am starton the 18th as a long trip up to Airlie Beach. Stopped briefly at roadside stations at Bororen and Marlborough but a long 10+ hour slog before arriving just before dark at Coral Point Lodge overlooking Shute Harbour.Claims for the best views in the Whitsundays from all rooms in the lodgeare not exaggerated. This morning was fine but still windy so the only option really was to take the 2 island discovery cruise with FantaSea. The sea was quite c...