Rozy and Teddy visit NZ:

After 4 weeks of touring the South Island at super speed, we headed to the North Island to meet my ma and pa for some slower-paced venturing. We greeted Lord and Lady Northiam (their official title) at the airport with a homemade sign (with Jen's somewhat questionable drawing of the NZ flag?) Our first adventure was to the little town of Warkworth about 2 hours from Auckland. While Mum and Dad stayed at Snells Beach, Marky and I found a little campsite offering fun for all the family. After a small period of relaxation dad decided now was the time to challenge Marky to a game of table tennis (he had brought his bat all the way from England for this reason). As a welcoming gesture(?) Marky conceeded defeat - he lost 5-0!. Apparently his bat only had a bare surface?! Room for improvement- watch out Ted! While the boys were playing table tennis, Mum discovered the trampoline! The afternoon was reserved for water based activities. Marky and I paddled around in kayaks whilst Lord and Lady Northiam opted for the pedalo. What fun.
Next stop was the Bay of Islands and Pahia where we relaxed by the sea, Dad found a golf course and Marky went for a ramble returning with a bag of mussels for lunch. We ended up spending 4 enjoyable days here before making the long journey south to the Coromandel Penninsula. The first day in Coromandel was spent visiting Cathedral Cove where we attracted the attention of a pied piper-style, shoeless oddbod, who serenaded us with "My Heart will go on" on his recorder! Whilst in Cathedral Cove Mum and Dad did a bit of extreme rock climbing while Marky and I snapped away! Upon return to the car park the oddbod found us again, rather than trying to get rid of him, Dad embraced him with full conversation (keep your friends close but the wierdos closer!). That afternoon we relocated to a beautiful spot in Coromandel Town for a few days. On my bday we took a windy, windy trip to Jacksons Point - the northern most tip of the peninsula, fortunately there were no wierdos in sight.
The remainder of our time in NZ was spent in the Bay of Islands, which was strange, we got our much missed dosage of wierdos here - typically mum liked it! We left as quickly as possible and made our way to Roturura, where we were welcomed by the stench of sulpher. Mark found a great place to stay for a few days. We set up camp and decided to explore the surrounding area. We took a day trip to the "end of the world" as quoted by Dad, which was a volcanic park consisting of bright yellow and orange sulphur flats, geysers and bubbling, spitting mud pools. Of course, Mark gave the running commentary on how it all came about. This time he had two very enthusiastic students (and I was there too). The following day, we left Ma and Pa in Roturura to enjoy more thermal delights, while we (Mark, Jen and Cookie) took the trip south of Taupo to complete the Tongararo Crossing. This consisted of a 5am start, a 7 hour trek between 3 volcanoes and a long drive back to Roturua the same day as I was missing Ma and Pa, much to Marky's grumblings.[NOTE FROM EDITOR MARK: when we got back they weren't even in, and didnt return for a further 3 hours, out painting the town red, daughter free!]
We ended NZ with a final trip to Raglan, staying in a awesome house overlooking the harbour. A real bonus was the record player with many 60's original vinals. We made Dad feel young again! We had a great time and were really sad to go our separate ways at the airport. Thank you for slowing us down and encouraging us to enjoy the simple things again (including weirdos and many, many cups of tea). You really made NZ for us. Thank you. Also, a huge thank you to Jess, Trev and the girls for making us feel so welcome and helping us get organised (no mean feat in itself).
As Mum and Dad flew back west, we headed east across the international date line into yesterday! Bring on South America....