This morning we headed straight to 'Te Puia' - the New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Institute and Whakarewarewa Geothermal Valley. Having paid rather a lot for the entrance fee, we opted for the guided tour for once to make sure we made the most of what the centre has to offer. The whole place is run by Maoria and the guy who led our tour is the Great Grandsom of the founder of the Institute. He gave us some really interesting insight into Maori culture and w...

It was wonderful to wake up to the sound of waves breaking on the shore this morning. We set up our picnic table and sat out overlooking the beach for breakfast. Today we drove to Rotorua, only about one hour south of Papamoa Beach. Rotorua is a region famous for it's geothermal activity with numerous hot springs, geysers, mud pools and steaming craters. I decided we'd start off with a visit to Waimangu Valley - a short scenic drive south of the city centre. ...

Last night was our first experience of a Top Ten holiday park and I have to say we were rather impressed. They have great shower, kitchen and BBQ facilities and everything was lovely and clean. For a change from our usual yoghurt and muesli breakfast, we went to Oliver's Cafe in Orewa this morning. I had the best porridge ever (although I'm amazed they were serving in the middle of their summer!) They also had free wifi and freshly baked muffins - win!Once Phil h...

After a brief pit stop in Dargaville for fuel and coffee (not much else to see there), we had a long and easy drive back towards Auckland this morning. We had unfinished business with the Coast to Coast Walkway so decided to go to One Tree Hill in Cornwall Park, just south of the city. We climbed to the top for panoramic views of the city and beyond, grabbing an ice cream on the way back down - the first time we'd really treated ourselves since arriving.However, ...

We had a nice coffee sitting on Paihia Beach before hitting the road this morning - it was so nice to actually relax for 10 minutes - we will definitely be doing that more often from now on. Today's plan was to head across to the West Coast (Kauri Coast) to see Waipoua Forest, but actually that wasn't even the highlight of the day.We passed through Kaikohe and picked up a "French Stick" from the bakery (it would appear that New Zealanders are no better at making ...