Day 8 Another early start as we wish to be at the wonderland in time to see the Lady Knox Geyser blow her stack, this occurs at 10:15 am everyday. It's a miserable day so black bags over our clothes and jacket, tickets and poncho (for Louise) are purchased and we head off and await the spectacle. We take our spot in the viewing area and the tour guide approaches the vent, gasps ring around but then the conundrum of the timing is revealed. The guide once again p...

Day 7 Like we said this area is all about the Maori so we head to Te Puia a geothermal area that includes the largest geysers in NZ and a Maori village. Several hours later having been visually and mentally stimulated (see pics) we decided to treat ourselves to the mineral baths at the world famous Polynesian Spa. So far we are finding all the attractions value for money and reasonable priced with brilliant free tour guides. We indulge in drinking smoothies look...

Day 6 This freedom camp site is another little treasure, in a park with the river flowing beside us and a local waterfall walk. We have the time so we walk after breakfast to the waterfall and back and head of to Rotorua. Rotorua is the hub of the Maori lands, people and culture here, we head to a Top 10 site and set off exploring. 1st thing we find is a hairdressers Louise has her trim, 2nd thing is shops...... Jeans are purchased (they feel soooooo good, very w...

Day 5 Today was the Rugby World Cup Final and New Zealand are playing Australia.....what timing eh! Once again a wonderful memory moment and we arose at 4am to witness the triumph of the All Blacks. After this we headed towards the next stop off and as we were up so early we made great time. Early afternoon we arrived at the Waitamo Glow Worm Caves and booked our places onto the tour which included another underground cavern. Once again another magical experien...

Day 4 This area is all about the beach here and Cathedral Cove (similar to our Durdle Door in Dorset) so we unhook Bruce (Yep we have named the van) and drive to park and walk to the famous spot. 2 hours later we return from the spectacular walk and drive north to the next largest town to see if we could find a hairdresser. No such luck but we stumbled onto Mercury Bay and Buffalo Beach where Louise flew her kite. We returned to base camp for another random adv...