Although I started off driving up to Auckland I was glad that Justin offered to take over because the roads got busier and busier the nearer we got. We hadn't driven on any roads anywhere near this big the whole time, especially on the South Island where we would go ages without even seeing another car. We drove on our first proper motorways too, and the roads were really confusing. It was our last night with the van so we stopped for the night in a campsite as n...

After a miserable night in Tauranga we drove back a bit further south to our next stop which was Waitomo. In Maori it actually means water-hole, and it famous for it's glowworm caves, which we wanted to see. The wet weather seemed to improve the nearer we got but the drive took a bit longer than we had planned after an unexpected detour in Hamilton. By detour I mean we got very lost. Nevertheless we made it there in the end, and ended up staying for the night in ...

Rotorua is one of the most volcanic areas in the North Island, and has many thermal areas around it. Because of this it has a bit of a reputation for stinking like rotten eggs, but we were pleased to find it wasn't actually that bad when we arrived there. Our campsite was on the outskirts of the main town and was really nice. It also had one of the benefits of the thermal activity as it had it's own thermal pools. We had a relax in them after we had stettled in t...

My last blog got up to the point where we had been stuck in Okakune because of the snow so I will carry on from there. After escaping from the snow at last we drove as quick as we could in the conditions to make sure we wouldn't be stuck for another night. Luckily our next stop wasn't far away at a place called Turangi. The drive there was really nice despite the snow as the roads had all been cleared, and we drove right through the Tongariro National Park. We ha...

The ferry we had booked to take us from Picton to Wellington was at 10.00 in the morning, but last check in was at 9, so we left the campsite very early at around 8 to be there in plenty of time. It was the earliest we had been up in a while and it was a bit of a struggle. Also it turned out it was unnecessary as we were at the ferry terminal before the check in had even opened. The weather had been awful from the moment we woke up and was getting progressively w...