Simon's despatch: Taupo. We only intended to stop in Taupo to sleep as there's a free campsite and then see huka falls - the most visited falls in NZ apparently! What was supposed to be a quiet rest day turned out to be quite exciting as the worst winds Taupo had seen in 20 years started blowing in the early hours of the morning. I woke up as things started hitting our van at about 03:30, Beth was already awake and asked if we should move the van. She opened ...

Last Sunday (mothers day) we embarked on the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. New Zealand has many "great walks" - multiday paths with some pricey but welcome huts dotted along the way. The Crossing is the second day's section of one of these walks and according to most of the people that we know have done it, it's among the best. The track crosses through a volcanically active area near the centre of North Island. The walk was stunning, even though the weather close...

Once off the ferry we were quickly chucked out of our comfortable back-country ways. No more single carriage windy main road clinging to cliff edges, no more one ice-cream shop towns, no more nothing to do after 8pm - you're in Wellington now baby! Luckily on our stop we were in the very best company of Jon and Gemma Kneebone who put up with our smelly van and probably smelly selves and were generally totally fantastic hosts. Jon and Gemma are originally friend...

Simon's despatch no. 4: Kaikoura The aquatic theme continued in Kaikoura. We were up good & early to watch the sun rise over the sea ready for our dolphin encounter. Essentially togged up in wetsuits so thick they'd make a whale feel over insulated, we cruised out to an area where the ocean floor comes very close to land, bringing an upwelling of food laden water to the surface. Luck was with us and a bunch of dolphins came to play. So as the engines were c...

Simon's despatch no. 3: Abel Tasmin It's been a very aquatic five days. First we were supposed to kayak the Abel Tasmin trail but there was more water falling from the sky than in the sea. So we delayed it by a day and went to see the largest natural water spring in Australasia. 15,000 litres of water per second erupts from the ground every second to create a river from no-where! Sounds really impressive but as it's spread across a number of upwellings it jus...