Day 39 Rotorua to Whitianga Well what a fab day today has been. First the day dawned bright and sunny again, but we've been caught by that before so I reserved judgement on what the rest of the day would bring weather wise, but it stayed sunny and hot all day - result! On the road by ten to drive to Whitianga but we had been advised to stop enroute at Tauranga and Mount Maunganui as it was a lovely spot: boy are we glad we did. Tauranga is quite a largish t...

Day 38 Rotorua Day dawned beautifully bright and sunny, oh what a joy to pull back the curtains and have the sun streaming in the windows and a blinding reflection over the lake outside. We set off in the car after breakfast to visit Hell's Gate but realised we had misread the directions and ended upon the wrong road so visited Waimangu Volcanic Valley instead; not a bad choice and it was a fantastic walk down the valley created by the eruption of Tarawera in 1...

Day 37 - Napier to Rotorua Longish journey today, around 4hrs is the estimate so no hanging around after breakfast. Is not really that far but with no motorways, loads of bend and road works seemingly every few miles it takes much longer than you think it should. It's really weird that no one is in the restaurant again save one family of French, but as most of the hotels seem to be like the US in that they're room only and they charge a lot for breakfast it's...

Day 36 - Napier Sightseeing day today especially as it is overcast with a Southerly wind blowing; had hoped for a beach day but not to be. Plenty to see in Napier though as it is an Art Deco town and that is my favourite period. It proved to be a costumier's dream with loads of shops featuring authentic clothes and hats from the period. This weekend is a big celebration weekend with people dressing up in costume, parades with the old cars and their equivalent of...

Day 35 Martinborough to Napier Happy Valentines Day. A bit of a mediocre day weather wise; thought it was going to be nice when we woke up so decided to breakfast on our patio but it clouded over half way through which spoilt it a little. We seemed to be chasing the blue sky all the way to Napier and it always seemed to be just in front of where we were. We stopped for lunch in Hastings and had a lovely steak sandwich in a place that advertised itself as a café...