It was a beautiful fresh and sunny morning! We were hoping to see a little more of what Whangareri had to offer before heading onto the Bay of Islands for our stay over New Years. I had a feeling the campsites may well be pretty busy so we thought maybe we should try book one sooner rather than later. Thank god we did as we tried 2 campsites which were already full, one had availability but wanted 160 dollars, and we managed to nab the last space for two nights a...

I had experienced the midnight treat of having to find a 'discreet' spot to use the bathroom in the pitch black, half asleep, without my contacts in, stumbling down some rocks towards the lake whilst trying not to make a noise... not dodgey at all! I was only too glad when the public toilets re-opened at 8am! After breakfast we made our way back to the library to use their computers and wifi so we could get the grips with what we were actually doing next. I ha...

For once, Matt woke way before me! He was up, showered, dressed and had breakfast all before 7.30am. He was desperate to go to Hobbiton today, I've never seen him so eager for anything. He called the Hobbiton reception bang on 8.00am when it opened and managed to get us a cancellation slot at 11.05 that morning! He skipped back to the Campervan to tell me the good news! We chilled at the campsite in the sun with endless cups of tea before making our 20 minute j...

As we had been warned that the beaches would all be heaving due to it being the week all the Kiwis would get to a beach, we tried to get an early head start. We had researched a few beaches in the area and decided to go for Cathedral Cove. Firstly this beach had been marked as one of the best beaches in the Coromandel area, but also, there was a 45 minutes walk from the nearest car park to reach the cove and we hoped this would put people off. We reached the ma...

After having the most relaxing day yesterday, watching a total of 5 films in one day with 6 boxes of confectionary goods down, we packed up ready to check-out of the apartment. It had been amazing and we were both very glad we forked out on staying in an air BnB over Christmas, it was definitely worth it! We made our way to Hot Water Beach in the Coromandel peninsula. This beach was a natural wonder famous for tourists and locals being able to dig their own spa...