After our awesome time in the romantic caves in Waitomo we headed north to the Coromandel peninsula. It was a very long drive that really took it out of Adam, those maps wont read themselves you know! We stopped for the night in Coromandel Town, a slightly mis-leading name since it consists of one pub and a few houses. There we met Dan and Sarah for a drink as they happened to be on holiday from the UK. Lovely to see you both, hope you have a great rest of your trip.

The next day was an even longer drive as Mair was determined to get all the way up to the Bay of Islands at the very tip as this was one of the only main areas she didn't visit on her first trip to NZ. The Bay of Islands is a stunning collection of 144 Islands around the north-easterly tip of New Zealand. Captain Cook stayed here for several weeks when sheltering from storms out in the open ocean and they still hold the name he gave them over 300 years ago. Now many of the Islands are national parks but a few still remain privately owned. The private ones are quite easy to spot; a stunning beach, a mansion house nestled in the forest and at least one gigantic yacht anchored to the jetty. We took a morning sailing tour around the islands which was really windy at first, but by the time we stopped on the largest island for lunch the sun had broken through and we were able to lie on the beach and bask!

That afternoon we drove down to Auckland, crossing the magnificent bridge over all the sailing boats that give Auckland its nickname, the City of Sails. Auckland is a strange city, the rest of New Zealand love to hate it and we could kind of see why. The obesity we saw there was alarmingly obvious and the city seems to function only for its commerce, resulting in quite a little to do for tourists. So we managed to tick off the attractions quite quickly….first the Sky Tower (the tallest building in the southern hemisphere), then the park, the shops, the Art Gallery….and well that's Auckland done!

From Auckland we headed to Australia and first stop…Sydney!