The ferry journey was pretty good, as the skies were clear and the sun was shining.Once we got out to sea though the waves started to pick up, and a few people started to get sea sickness - I'm pleased that neither Graham nor I suffer from this!We saw more seals on the way, then as we headed towards Wellington it became cloudy - we feared that we had left the good weather behind on the south island, but the clouds did not last for long.

We drove a short way up the SH1 to Paraparaumu (try saying that after a couple of glasses of wine!) and stopped there for the night, as it was getting dark.The next morning we went to Southward Car Museum, in Paraparaumu.This is the largest car museum in NZ with over 350 cars, plus many motorbikes and pushbikes and other historical items too.This is the only museum we have paid to go into in NZ, and it was definitely worth it for 5.50GBP.As you can imagine, Graham was like a kid in a toy shop!

We then continued up the SH1 and onto the SH3 up to Wanganui, where we stayed at Castlecliff - the nearest beach resort to Wanganui.The beach has black volcanic sand, so it makes it look a bit dirty, but the waves were good and the beach long and wide.We went for a walk along the coast, but decided against a swim!The Lonely Planet describes Castlecliff as 'rough and tumble' - which I didn't really understand until I got there.I can't explain it, but 'rough and tumble' is pretty accurate.

In the morning we drove through Wanganui to Virginia Lake Reserve.It was a beautiful day again - frosty early on, but then blue skies and sunshine, so perfect for a walk.The park was practically empty, except for the ducks, swans and other bird life, including many native New Zealand Pukeko birds.

We then continued up the SH3 and took the longer coastal road to New Plymouth - the SH45 'surf' highway.This gave us some fantastic views of Mount Taranaki (otherwise known as Mount Egmont).The 2518-metre-high mountain is one of the most symmetrical volcanic cones in the world, and can be seen from miles and miles away.We stopped briefly at Opunake to take in the views of the beach and check out the surf, and then continued to New Plymouth where we shall stay for a couple of days.

Maggie x