My lasting impressions of New Zealand are the lovely warm people of the South Island, the beautiful south island itself.I'm really sad we didn't have enough time to see more of the North Island, many people have told me how beautiful it is, I'll just have to get saving again and come back. The roads, oh! the roads,mountain passes,railway lines crossing the road.The very many bridges all with names so you never got lost.The great campsites,the underfloor heated ...

Got here in one piece !! nothing cool about it Jan, from mountain passes to six/ seven lanes but Squid knew where she was going.We spent a long time looking for the site, it was a first for us,I think I came off a lane too early as we left the bridge, however we are here, the campsite must have every camper in Auckland on it. As I´m getting out of the van there are two couples sitting having a drink, they recognised us from Te Anau, I said to them this is ...

Here we are, sulphur what a smell, the campsites we looked at all said smell free, hope so. We had a lovely drive up mainly through forrest but still going up mountains and down the other side, poor old Squid she will be glad to see the back of us.Site very nice but I can smell something not as bad as in town though.We walked around saw quite a few geysers and steamy pools but decided to go and see the "Buried Village", Alison can remember a children&#...

We woke to a beautiful day,spent the morning looking around the town the architecture is art deco, lovely.Drove further along into Hawkes Bay and had a walk along the beach, plenty of vineyard tours on offer but have to resist as I´m driving,it is a very nice part of the country need to put it on the list for the next time!! Next stop Rotoroua.

The crossing was a bit damp at first but it cleared for us to take some lovely photos.It took three hours to sail over, I was a bit dubious about driving the camper van on but it was straight forward,thank goodness. We spent most of our time on deck with a few other mad people, one New Zealand chap talked to us for a long time telling us about the different islands we were passing and what we have to see on the north island in the short space of time we have lef...