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...

Day 34 - Wellington to Martinborough Another lovely sunny day. Today we pickup the hire car we will keep for almost the rest of our time in New Zealand. It's been nice not to have been driving for the past three days after 12 days of non stop touring but as my feet feel like they have very little skin left on them it will be a welcome change to get transport again. Left the Museum hotel at around 11am after our last breakfast and a couple of phone calls home; I ...

Day 33 Wellington Last full day in Wellington and weather has deteriorated somewhat after two fab days of sun, sun, sun. It's cloudy and has been raining so we decide that a visit to the Te Papa museum was probably a sound idea. This is New Zealand's national museum and shows about the culture, geology and inhabitants of the country, on land, in the sea and in the air; really informative. When we came out around lunchtime it had brightened slightly so we decided...