Right ....We have covered near 1800km in Old Spartacus, its only taken us 3 jump starts, 1 use of jump leads, a car full of kids, and a brand new battery. Oh wait...not to forget Sucky Moto, a mobile petrol tank drainer after filling the car up with Diesel , when the car takes Petrol! Its going fine now...hopefully there should be no more drama. No..No....We broke down on the Forgotten Highway on a steep vertical incline and had to turn it around and jump start it down hill, then 101 point turn it to get it going back up hill. THATS whats happens when you stop to take in a dramatic pee.

Its been brilliant in New Zealand, its got the greenest grass, extremely blue seas, the whitest mountain tops..no complaints so far. So we headed north from Auckland where we visited the Northlands which included the Northland, Bay of Islands, Cape Reigna & the Kauri Coast.....an anti clockwise loop. We By-passed Auckland and headed to Hamilton to see Magical Hobbiton and then chugged down to Tongariro National Park as we heard there was snow still on the Mountains.

Everytime you go around the bend, on the road I mean, you dont know what to expect. One moment you are drivig on a flat road and the suddenly you are driving in between beautiful green farm lands, dotted with sheep, cows, goats and munchkins...last one was a joke. Definately a huge highlight for us was seeing the snowy mountains. It was very exciting...unfortunately we were unable to attempt to snowboard on them as the day we choose to go the weather turned for the worse. We plan to redeem that in Canada. When we arrived in the Mountains we/I decided we should camp in our mini tent ($40) to save money..it was very cold but i knew we could tough it out in aid of the budget. Yeah.....my bad. 4am it leaked like a son of a B****. Amy woke me up and informed me that she had been watching drips fall onto my head so I had to wipe the inside down with our towels which we were using for added comfort. It was really funny. Needless to say the next night we packed the camping equipment away. We ended up paying a wee bit extra and stayed in a really nice Lodge. It was so warm, and you had free use of a Spa & Sauna. Yep..we checked in alright. That evening we had dinner in grand Chateau, the Bay View. The food was amazing, the best we have eaten for a long time. Best beef & mushroom Pie & Prawn Cashew Salad..and a cup of tea.

We had planned to snowbaord the next morning but it didnt go to plan...we were really gutted but at least we got to see the mountains covered in snow. We drove to the Region of Taranaki that morning. We headed West along a road know as the Forgotten Highway. I wish we researched this road a little better. It was 150km of winding, vertical uneven road. It took over 3 hours. We passed through a place called Whangamomona, it was right in the middle of no where. I wish we stopped there as it is a really famous town as it became independent republic years ago and has itrs own president & own beer. Shame but we had to push on. Along the way I needed a the loo. We stopped alongside the road half way up a steep road. When we went to start it again it wouldnt start! The battery had died, i only bought a new 2 days before. We had to turn the car around, trust me..no easy task. I jump started it so it was Ok . We have since took it to another garage to see what the problem was but he was as much help as a chocolate tea pot.

We headed for New Plymouth, the largest City in Taranaki. We read that New Plymouth is dominated by Mt. Taranaki, when we arrived the only thing dominating New Plymouth was rain & wind. We couldnt see anything that resembled a Mountain. We slept in the car that night as the weather was horrible and our tent wouldnt have survived. The next morning though it was quite clear and sunny and we could see Mt. Taranaki ,which looks just like Mt.Fuji. It was covered in snow so we headed up there to get a closer look, but as we arrived at the viewing point thick black cloud blew across it. Frustrating!...

We headed out of New Plymouth down the west coast along the Surfers Highway to Wanganui. Lonely Planet is really starting to get on our nerves. It writes all these wonderful things about places, then you get there and wander what the hell they are on about. Wanganui was a dump....we ended up being given a Caravan , even though we said tent site...although for the same price, it was from the '50's. I dont think it had been cleaned since then as well. I always send Amy in to book accommodation as I dont come across as nice as her. I felt for Amy after that time though...a disabled version of Worsel Gummage greeted her....and explained to her that if she is hungry go to the hospital...? Yep..apparently he and his wife dont go grocery shopping anymore as the hospital cafe is so cheap. Crazy. Well...we went there for dinner!!!!!!! It was lovely. Pumkin Bake, veg & mash. Total cost = $11.00 (4.50).

Today we left our little haven in Wanganui and headed south to Palmerston North, for one reason and one reason only. The New Zealand Rugby Museum! This was a little place of paradise for me. There was plenty of history there of the game to last you for a full day...Lots and lots of welsh and english memrobillia. Great stuff.

We are in Wellington now, the Capital of New Zealand. We havent exactly seen much but we will let you know how it goes later on. Cheers Andy.

For my uncle Jeff, who would have loved this blog. He looked at the site everyday. thank you x

2 day after writing this blog...we broke down. $190 worth of plugs, cables and wires required to charge the new battery!