Well, we survived our very "out there" (for us!) adventure of staying overnight in a carpark! Lol a tad noisy at times but otherwise, thankfully, uneventful. We were awake early and off walking around the harbour dodging early morning joggers and cyclists as Wellington city's business day was coming to life. After brekkie our Tom Tom directed us back out of the city enroute north via Lower Hutt, stopping for coffee at Upper Hutt. Yet again, with every turn in th...

Very little rain overnight and woke to relative sunshine and blue skies. After a cook-up brekkie headed into township of Whanganui hugging the Whanganui River. Naturally the old restored paddle steamer we were advised to see was under repair but enjoyed our wander around and coffee. On advice from locals last night, we decided against travelling via Palmerston North and headed south through the towns of Bulls and Sanson. Foxton was another quaint town with its ...

Good to wake up to just the sound of the waves and not rain! Still getting used to our temporary little home, we tried sleeping in the bed above the cabin last night and proved quite comfy. Thoroughly enjoyed a much needed walk along Fitzroy Beach to East End beach - all black volcanic sand with an incredible amount of debris of tree trunks and branches.. Left our delightful holiday park (best of two so far lol) ...into vibrant township of New Plymouth. Grabbe...

Thanks to NZ daylight saving starting overnight and the two hour time difference, we didn't surface until 9am! And, it was still raining! ☔️ After showers and brekkie headed south out of Hamilton. Stopped for morning coffee (and bought some rolls for lunch) in the quaint little township of Te Awamutu with its Main Street of blossom trees ....famous as the hometown of the Finn brothers. Continued on through the lush rolling green hills of this dairy cattle ...

Dragging our bodies out of bed and checking in at the airport early certainly proved worthwhile! Thanks for the Business Class upgrade Emirates! Despite being only a 3 hour flight ...on the A380 it was a great experience! So comfy, enjoyed the movie (Whisky Tango Foxtrot) and no doubt the Moët helped! Great bar! Arrival was straightforward - our first trip with automated passport scanning - all good. Didn't have to wait too long for the yellow Britz bus and th...