After breakfast we went and picked up Sid – our campervan for the next 60 days (sorry but all our vehicles have been named). Sid is compact (not as compact as Gerty) and most importantly it has an inside shower and toilet – luxury.

Before leaving the hotel we caught the traffic news on the TV news channel. Bearing in mind that this is a big city, the traffic report consisted of information regarding three blocked highways; by a horse, two cows and a flock of sheep respectively and informed drivers that it was a good excuse for getting to work late - very quaint. We however, managed to get out of Auckland without encountering any livestock.

We headed north. The whole region right up to the very top of NZ is called, imaginatively, Northland. It has a subtropical climate year round (not that I noticed that the first night in Sid - my mini hot water bottle came in very useful) and is therefore generally referred to as the 'Winterless North'. Our first campsite was next to the beach, a 3 Km long sandy beach - not a pebble in sight. We awoke to the sun coming up over the sea - a good first morning.

We drove up the coastline stopping to look at some idyllic bays with beautiful sandy beaches fringed by large exotic looking trees and volcanic outcrops. I should have kept quiet about us not encountering any livestock as on one quiet stretch of road a large cow came running towards us followed by a farmer on a quad bike. Unluckily the cow was taken aback by the sight of Sid and shot up a private drive with the farmer in hot pursuit. We left them to it.

After lunch we visited some impressive limestone caves with stalagmites and stalactites. At the entrance to the cave in a small stream we saw a giant eel; it must have been a metre long and fat like a conga eel. Apparently it tastes very good. I will take the guides word on this. On the roof of the cave were thousands of glow-worms. They are of course not worms but the larva stage of a fly. The species found in NZ uses the glow to attract prey to sticky snare lines it weaves. You could actually see them like strings of beads hanging down from the roof. The larva live for about 10 months before pupating into a fly that lives for only three days, just enough time to mate and lay eggs.

To finish the day off we visited a public toilet. Not just any old public toilet but one designed by the reclusive expatriate Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser (we’ve all heard of him), who lived in the town from 1975 until his death in 2000. The toilet block is in his own very characteristic style, influenced by Antonio Gaudi and Gustave Klimt, with wavy lines, irregular ceramic tiles, integrated small sculptures, coloured glass and a live tree incorporated into the architecture. All the materials used were recycled, even the vegetation removed for construction was replanted on the building's roof. I had to wait for a local to vacate the facilities before I could get a good photo. She didn’t seem at all fazed by someone standing outside the cubicle with camera poised, must happen quite regularly.

The following day we took a boat trip around the Bay of Islands. The whole area is volcanic dating back 2 million years. Since then it has been eroded and flooded by the rising sea leaving 144 small islands in a massive bay – very picturesque. It was on one of these islands that Captain Cook landed in 1769. Unlike the Dutch Navigator Abel Tasman who came across NZ in 1642 Cook conveniently had a Tahitian with him so he was able to communicate with the locals and avoid being killed. Abel after a bloody encounter with the locals left without even going ashore however the name NZ comes from the Dutch Nieuw Zeeland.

To find out a bit about the history of NZ we visited the Waitangi Treaty grounds. The local inhabitants Captain Cook encountered were the Maori who arrived in NZ around 1000 years ago from Polynesian islands. Things were going okay for them until after Cooks visit when a lot of other Europeans arrived - settlers, farmers, whalers etc. As if that wasn’t bad enough the French took an interest in NZ so it was decided that a treaty with the Maori would secure it for the British. Hence the Treaty signed at Waitangi in 1840.

The next day as we were driving along we saw a sign for Mathews Museum. I had read it had a lot of old cars so we popped in. Mr Mathews himself came from the house next door to open it for us. Apparently it is his own private collection. There was all kinds of old stuff everywhere. I bet his wife was pleased when he built the building that now houses it all.

Our last visit before we turned south was to 90 mile beach which is actually 55 miles long. The origins of its name are unclear. The most common theory stems from the days when missionaries travelled on horseback, and a horse could travel 30 miles a day. As the beach took three days to travel the missionaries deemed it to be 90 miles long. But they didn’t take into account the slower pace of horses walking in sand. Whatever its length it was still very impressive and again not a pebble in sight.