Woke up feeling off colour. Not a good start as we had a long drive to Wellington today. Twisting roads around lots of mountains didn't help. By the time we arrived at our hotel in Wellington I was feeling very unwell. Food poisoning? Stomach bug? Usual revolting symptoms. Confined to bed for the rest of the day.

Arrived at Napier, our next stopover, famous for its Art Deco buildings. An earthquake in the 1930's flattened most of the town. It was rebuilt in the prevailing architecture of the time and much of it remains to this day. We opted for a guided tour of downtown Napier where we saw many fine examples of various Art Deco styles and learnt about the characteristic design features.

Hilary had slept badly the night before. In parts due to the cold that she had picked up, the noisy road and her distaste for the place that we were staying. Visited the nearby Lady Knox Geyser, which goes off at 10.15am every day. It was quite a show. How come it always erupts at 10.15? It's because one of the park guides, after giving a short talk about the geyser to the assembled crowd, drops a bag of chemicals down the mouth of the geyser that then acts as a ...

Arrived in Waiotapu and visited the aptly named "Thermal Wonderland". It sounds tacky but it is genuinely special. Situated in the heart of a geothermal region running across the North Island, this relatively small area, which we walked around in about 90 minutes, contained many multicoloured craters, fumeroles, hot springs and mud pools. Each took our breath away, literally, as a strong smell of rotten eggs permeated the whole place. We stayed overnight in Wa...

Drove around the edges of the Tongariro National Park getting an almost 360 degrees view of the mountain that was used as Mount Doom in the Lord Of The Rings films. Disappointingly, it was still shrouded in cloud so we were not able to see its peak. On the way to our next base, at Waiotapu, we drove through another location used in the films: the Rangipop Desert, which featured in some of the battle scenes. Then alongside the vast and beautiful Lake Taupo. Nothin...