Hey All

We left Picton early evening on Saturday by ferry to the North Island. Apparently its supposed to be one of the most scenic crossings in the world, but it was raining with low cloud so we didn't see much. Three hours later we arrived in Wellington, it was still raining and dark by now so we headed to the nearest campsite and crashed out.

Sunday morning dawned and it was a lovely sunny day so we drove back into Wellington to have a look around. It was very quiet being a Sunday morning and after a bit of a wander through the central shopping district, we came across the old cable car. We jumped on; its more of a tram up the mountain than a cable car but there were some lovely views on the way up. The top station was inside the botanical gardens. It was really pretty with the views across the gardens, over the city towards the harbour and out to sea. We decided to walk back down along a winding path through the gardens, it was stunning and we even bumped into the people that we'd been seal kayaking with in Kaikoura a few days before! On the way down we passed the old observatory and through a lovely rose garden which was packed with people, a proper carnival atmosphere with a band playing too. The gardens were very spectacular with roses of every colour imaginable and the smell was beautiful. After that we carried on down into the city. The shops were all decorated with Christmas decorations, strange as its going into the summer! :-) We headed down to the harbour and had a walk along the esplanade.

After that we decided it was time to make a move so jumped into our orange mobile home and headed north into the centre of the North Island. On the way we passed three large active volcano's just south of Lake Taupo. We stopped at a lookout before making our way through the desert then finally reaching the shores of Lake Taupo and found a campsite right on the lake.

On Monday morning the weather had once again changed for the worse, it was pouring with rain. To make things worse our camping chairs which came with our van, had been stolen in the night! We'd been leaving them out every night since we started in Australia, never thinking that people would nick them! Determined to make the most of the day we headed into town for some information and to see if we could get some new chairs. After that we left and headed out to the Huka Falls; where the Huka river is channeled into a really narrow gorge so it creates ferocious rapids. After a walk along (and over) the rapids we drove a little further to the volcanic activity centre. The area surrounding Lake Taupo and Rotorua is the most active volcanic area in New Zealand so we thought we should learn more about it (and keep dry in the process!) We tried out the earthquake simulator, a room designed to show a 6.3 magnitude earthquake - and watched a couple of short films about the local volcano's as well as lots of information the area. When we had finished there we drove to the Ariatia Dam. Its just above a series of rapids and the gates in the dam are opened every few hours which cause the rapids to reappear. We arrived just in time, it was strange, one minute there was a trickle, the next rapids! After we headed to the 'Craters of the Moon' thermal valley. An area of steaming vents and bubbling mud pools which looks like the surface of another planet. We finished the walk and decided to go back into town to find somewhere to stay. On the way we popped in to a shop and got a Christmas tree and some lights for our van! :-)

On Tuesday the rain was back again so we packed up and drove to Rotorua. When we got there we stopped at Te Puia where we watched a traditional Maori show, including singing, dancing and demonstrations of the Haka - the Maori Warrior war dance. It was really interesting to see. After we explored the thermal valley; boiling mud pools and steaming vents. There were also Geysers which are jets of boiling water that shoot up into the sky at random intervals. We waited for the largest Geyser in the park to go off, the Pohara Geyser, it's meant to happens 1 or 2 times an hour usually. It took about one and a half hours before we saw it though! Because of the rain it was quite difficult to see so disappointing in the end. We headed into the town and looked around the lake. It was quite smelly as the sulphur in the steam produces a rotten egg smell. We found a lovely campsite on the lake.

Wednesday morning came and yet again it was raining outside. Never-mind, we were going Zorbing. Zorbing consists of diving inside an 11 foot inflatable ball at the top of a hill, then rolling down the hill inside it. There was the option of being harnessed into the ball or doing it with a small amount of water added so that you slide easily in the ball. We choose the wet option, jumped in and were soon heading downhill in a portable washing machine! It was great fun, we both loved it, Pete laughed the whole way down while Hol screamed! After our adventures there we headed to another thermal area, Hells Gate. Its called that due to it being the most active area near Rotorua. There we saw more hot pools of mud, water and hot streams as well as a mud volcano. After a wander around we decided that we had probably seemed enough thermal valleys so decided to head north. We drove for a while and had a stop at Hamilton, it was a pleasant city but not much to see there, especially with the weather as it was so we headed up to just south of Auckland. There we found a campsite and retired to the kitchen area in search of somewhere dry!

On Thursday we got up and hit the road again. This time we headed through Auckland and up into the far north. Other than a stop for supplies and lunch at Mortua Head we didn't do much else. We arrived in a campsite near the bay of Islands and had a chilled out evening as we were both shattered.

Friday dawned and we decided we were in need of a day of rest. The campsite we stayed at was pretty empty and chilled out so we lazed around and caught up on a bit of chores. Other than that and a walk to a local waterfall we did very little. It was nice to just relax for once.

On Saturday we drove down to the town of Wataingi, the place where the agreement between the Maori People and the British was made. We looked around and saw the house where the treaty was signed. After that we headed up to the most northern point of mainland New Zealand, Cape Reinga. It was a long drive and we didn't arrive until mid afternoon. We walked out to the cape in beautiful blue sky's to look at the lighthouse as well as the point where Maori people believe the spirits of the dead depart to go back to their homeland in the pacific. We also saw where the two seas, the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean crash together, a quite extraordinary sight. After that we drove south again a short distance to some giant sand dunes. We walked up onto them and watched people sand surfing on boogie boards before driving back south again. There are two roads that run parallel, the main highway and '90 mile beach' which is also classed as a highway. We were not allowed to drive on the beach, part of our rental agreement so we drove along thee highway and stayed just at the south end of the beach. We had a wonder onto the beach, looked at the shells and then decided to get Fish and Chips, or as NZ people pronounce it, 'Fush n Chups'

The following day we continued heading south, driving towards Keri Keri. We stopped along the way and had a look at some beaches which Holly decided to graffiti all over with a stick! :-) We arrived mid afternoon and chilled out in the afternoon.

On Monday we again headed further south, this time driving back down to Auckland. It was a long drive and other than stopping to see a couple of waterfalls and a picnic overlooking the scenery we didn't do much. We stopped just outside Auckland at 'Sheep world' as it had bright pink sheep in the field outside. We had a look round and a drink before finally finding a campsite to stay in close to the north shore of Auckland.

On Tuesday we were shattered from the previous few days drives so decided to have a rest day again. We chilled out quite a bit during the day until the afternoon when we walked into Takapuna city centre for a look around, some dinner and then to the cinema, its so strange doing normal things again!! :-)

On Wednesday it was really hot and sunny. We decided to go and have a look around Auckland City Centre. We drove in and eventually found somewhere to park. It was strange seeing all the shops and streets decorated for Christmas, especially given the weather. We had a look around and headed to the waterfront to have a look around. After a little Christmas shopping we went to the Sky tower, the highest observation tower in the Southern Hemisphere. We jumped in the lift (with glass floor) and went up to the top. There was a lovely view all around of the city and harbour as well as people outside that were actually jumping off the tower on a harness all the way to the ground. Hol didn't really fancy it so we gave it a miss and returned to the bottom. We drove back to our campsite and met our neighbours, a couple from Worcester of all places, small world eh!

On Thursday we had to pack up 'Ironhide' Its amazing how much stuff we accumulated during 5 weeks on the road. It took us hours, along with having to do all our laundry and clean everything. In the afternoon we decided to get out and see some more of the local are. We walked to Milford, another town that was quite local, a bit further than we thought but was still a nice walk. After looking around the shops and doing yet more Christmas shopping we walked back, this time via the coastal path. This path wasn't so much a path, more a scramble along the cliffs! We spent the evening talking to a couple of Americans we met who told us about LA and what there was to do there.

Friday was our last day, we had to get up early and return Ironhide before heading to the airport to fly out to Fiji. It was quite sad leaving our home of the last few weeks but still we were looking forward to some relaxation in paradise...

Pete and Hol

xXx