Monday - we travelled from Whanganui down to Wellington today, on the main highway - which is less of a motorway, more of an A road or even in places a B road. Not much to report today about the journey, though we did go through a funny town called Bulls - in which almost every business/facility had managed to incorporate the words 'bull' into its title, I.e. the police station was 'const-a- bull', the library was 'knowledge-a-bull', pharmacy was 'indispens-a-bul...

Sunday - had a great nights kip. Finally stopped waking at 4.30am - hurrah!! Today we set off round lake Taupo, stopping at the national trout centre on the banks of the Tongariro river - apparently this area is world famous for its trout fishing. We then meandered across the volcanic plateau - the tongariro national park which is dominated by the three active volcanoes of Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe and Tongariro - couldn't quite work out which one was which, but one wa...

Saturday, leaving Rotorua and heading south, we travelled through an area reknown for geothermal activity. En route, we visited Waiotapu, a collection of smelly, boiling, erupting things. First, a boiling mud pit,then an active geyser which erupts every day at 10.15 (courtesy of the addition of some soap!) reaching a height of approx 30 metres - spraying water all over those watching. Finally, we walked around the park and saw lots of different geothermal activi...

Friday - we headed on down to Rotorua today, main roads much of the way so the scenery was less interesting today. The town of Rotorua is at the south end of the large lake of Rotorua and a centre of volcanic activity and Maori culture. The town itself is quite big and as you walk/drive along you can see steam rising from the ground and fenced off areas of bubbling mud - and it is a bit smelly if the wind is in the wrong direction, a rotten eggs kind of smell!! ...

Thursday - What a great day! This morning we left Coramandel township and headed over the hills towards Whitianga, with beautiful views of both sides of the peninsular at once from the top.We arrived in Whitianga and had breakfast, then headed over to tourist information to find out about the area. We decided to go on a boat trip round cathedral cove, apparently where the film of Prince Caspian was filmed and a marine reserve.There was just the two of us and the...