An early morning start, driving from Waihi Beach to Auckland (154kms). The good old GPS got us to the Sky Tower in Auckland CBD perfectly. What a beautiful, clear sunny day to be at the Orbit Restaurant up high in Sky Tower. The photo is my desert - Pavlova. Invented by the Kiwis say the Kiwis. The Aussies say it is their invention!

I recall, as a young child, my Grandmother telling me about the Bay of Plenty in New Zealand. I guess it sounded, to me, all those years ago, as some magical place, where everything was in abundance. Clearly, fantastic fruit fruit grows in abundance and the countryside is beautiful and lush with rolling green hills. We stayed at Papamoa Beach last night and tonight, further up the Bay, at Waihi Beach. The beaches are pristine and beautiful. Yes, in Australia, we ...

We left Waiteti, Rotorua this morning arriving at Te Puke just after midday. The photo shows the big kiwi called "Kiwi 360". We had an interesting tour of the vast kiwi fruit orchard and sampled some great fruit. The Gold Kiwi fruit is my favourite and New Zealand has a patent on it! We headed on further to Papamoa Beach on the Bay of Plenty.

"Rainbow Springs Kiwi Wildlife Park" www.rainbowsprings.co.nz Saw the following wonderful creatures - Morepork Owl Tuatara - a prehistoric reptile Jen the Kea Kiwis - we went back to see them at night - they are the best Mute Swan Long Finned Eel Rainbow and Brown Trout - many and huge Great place!

We are staying at Ngogotaha, on the banks of the Waiteti stream. Waiteti runs into Lake Rotorua. There are a number of beautiful lakes around, with the largest being Lake Rotorua. This morning we explored Lake Okareka and Lake. We had lunch at the Skyline Restaurant, travelling up on the gondola. What a wonderful view!