We hear your having a bit of snow hey! Well its a bit of a record here too, its their hottest summer for around 4 years and boy its hot! The past few days we've been hitting the beaches and of course cruising in our campervan! We picked up the van on Monday and have already done nearly 600 km. From Auckland we headed to the Coromandel Peninsular to a small town called Whitanga which is perched on Mercury Bay, it took us about 4 hours to get there cos we decided to take the scenic "alternative" route .... never again, it was a dirt track up the side of mountains, even Stu was worried at times driving in 1st gear all way and the van nearly stalling at times! Tuesday we went to Cathedral Cove, Sarah you were right, its absolutely breathtaking, in fact both of us have said that the views we have seen over the past few days have been some of the best ever. Next we headed to Hot Water Beach and Jon you were right... the waters well hot! So hot that ive burnt my feet in what seemed like 100 degrees! Today we have arrived in Rotorua which stinks like hell as its a sulphur city. We've just parked up the van at Cosy Cottages campsite which is located right on the lake with fab views. Tonight we plan to head into the centre to see what the nightlife has to offer. So in short the past few days have been spent chilling out and cursing around - how perfect. Oh and I forgot to mention..... Stu's only gone and bought himself a skateboard... well a long board to be precise. Im soooo glad I took out that premium insurance cos I feel a fall is on the cards. God only knows how he thinks he's goning to lug it from one country to the next, its bigger than out backpacks and that's saying something cos there flipping huge, weve already had to ditch some non essential items due to the fact that I nearly toppled over the other day! Tomorrow we plan to do some sightseeing here then head off down south and finally land in Wellington on either Sat or Sunday. Will try and get some photies on here soon but the connection is soo slow where we are today that id be here for hours and theres far too much to see and do to be wasting time in an internet cafe! Hope your all okay back at home and hope the snow's not proving too much of a problem! Bye for now xxxxx P.S - Stu's starting to resemble Grizzly Adams with a beard as thick as his chest hair!!!