From Rotorua we travelled on towards Waitomo, stopping overnight in a very nice motor home park with an owner who could give Norman Bates a run for his money. From Otorohanga we visited the famous glow worm caves, as well as the Ruakuri and Aranui caves. Pleased to say we had Maori guides at each location.

It's good to see that lands - especially profitable ones - have been / are being returned to their

rightful owners, the Maoris (albeit with some compromises along the way). The caves were spectacular - the stalactites, stalagmites, curtains and cave corals were awesome! As for the glow-worms, beautiful in the dark all aglow, but only a mother could love them in the cold light of day! It was fun shouting out loud to wake them up (yes really!) and thought our first sightings of them in the Ruarki cave most impressive of all.

We must mention the weather! Locals tell us that it had rained solid for three weeks in the top of North island but apparently it had had started to improve just as we arrived. We have had hot sunshine and some showers, a little rain and a lot of cool wind. On balance it's cooler than we'd anticipated but are hopeful that the weather outlook is for more settled and finer weather. Dave has managed to get sun-burnt in spite of cloudy days.

We over-nighted in Lake Taupo, stopping at a nice camp at Acacia Bay. Took an evening walk along to the Lake shore and sat enjoying the hot evening sun followed by an interesting (?) conversation with a passing friendly local couple followed by a beer in a busy local bar. We'd planned to kayak on Lake Taupo but the keen, cool breeze dissuaded us and that adventure is for another day down on South Island. Enjoyed a spot of Taupo cafe culture and shopping (warm fleece, new mobile phone, sun hat) - it's a fab little city. We thought Taupo was very Canadian right down to the lake-side properties and holiday feel.

Onward to the Tongariro National Park and a lovely sunny walk out into the park towards the base of Mordor - the mountain of Doom - and to enjoy the Taranaki falls. We are over-nighting in Whakapapa (Fa-ka-pa-pa) Department of Conservation campsite and soaking up the absolute peace and quiet.

We are thoroughly enjoying our 6-berth Motorhome, and especially appreciate the free upgrade that has given us more space even if it does look rather indulgent for two people! Actually it's a tad embarrassing at times but hey - we cope!

Lastly our Wi-Fi experiences: we believe there is no free Wi-Fi in New Zealand - just as Road Atlas's are an extinct species (it's taken us 5 days to track one down). Hence we've only been able to up-date, get email etc every other day but are pleased to say that we can now send and receive text messages and phone calls on our new mobile.

Okay, that's it for today....catch you all later.