Hi everyone, here is my first attempt at my travel blog. I arrived in Auckland on Monday afternoon after a very tedious uneventful four flights but first impressions of NZ seem to be well worth the 30 odd hours spent in cattle class air travel. The first night I spent in Aucland on my own - I wandered the streets and the harbour front in complete comfort and safety - Auckland is a very clean and attractive city - it seems like they've done quite a lot of re-vamping in recent years.

Tuesday back to the airport to meet Vicky Ann - we then spent a very fraught time trying to obtaain a campervan. It seems that the current time is high season so no campervans available. We (meaning our Tourist Informatiion helpers) finally, after several hours, obtained a slightly smaller version of a Winnebago - beggars can't be choosers so we paid our money - an extortion amount - and arranged to collect it the next day. We spent that night in the same backpackers hotel that I'd stayed on my own the night before - very cramped conditions but clean.

Wednesday back to the airport to collect our home for the next 12 days. Big shock definitely not a Winnebago - more like someones very old transit van modified to sleep to hairy arsed students - not too sophisticated chicks. Nevertheless we threw ourselves into it and set off for Touranga. Touranga is so beautiful and my fist glimpse of the Pacific - unbelievable the waves are something else. We parked up our van on a campsite overlooking the Pacific right on the beach - amazing.

Thursday - we climbed Mount Mouanoui (this is not the right spelling but will amend later) then got off to Rotorua. Not too keen on Rotorua so decided to get off to Lake Taupo - On the way we stopped off to see the Haku falls - breath-taking and also the Craters of the Moon - very primeval. When we eventually arrived at Lake Taupo we decided to sleep in the van without booking into a campsite - everything okay.