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 left,he was a bit worried that the north island hadn´t come into sight, so was I when I saw a seaman from the bridge out with his binnoculars,I made the comment it seemed to be covered in a long white cloud and apparently the Maori people call it "The Land Of The Long White Cloud" and you dont see it that way very often, fancy that.

Arrive in wellington to Motorway it isn´t too bad, the morning is a bit dull and we cant see much so we decide to head north, Alison´s mum and dad have friends in Masterton that we are going to say hello to.

The road tailed off to two way traffic then started to climb, thank goodness we lock the back door, it winds back on itself often and climbs for well over an hour, worst still it does the same all the way down on the other side!!!

We book into a campsite, have a walk round the town and catch up with Ian, his wife is away visiting their daughter but he makes us a cuppa and is pleased to get all the news, his background is fascinating he is a sheep shearer.He asked us what we thought of the road,he came out here as a youngster with his mum and dad, they sailed out,he will always remember getting off the boat into the bus and crossing over the mountain, what I´ll remember of the road is the wee wooden fences on the hairpin bends with the steep edge of tarmac waiting to catch you out!!

We set off to the campsite and my earlier doubts have been confirmed,we are not staying here, it is quite late in the evening but we book a site at Napier, tell them we will be late,they leave instructions for getting in and off we head, 4 hours later we arrive.It is a spacious site, not too busy and the facilities first class it was worth the extra drive.It was the first time we had come across a poor site and it turned out to be the only time.