After our last breakfast on the balcony in Taupo we started the 4 hour drive up to Auckland. Not a lot to report about the drive, few areas of roadworks, some nice little towns and green scenery all around. We dumped our hire car at the airport and took the bus into town where we got checked in to our hotel for the night. As we'd been to Auckland before and didn't have much time we decided to just have a general wonder around, which then turned into havin...

Monday started with some leftover pizza for breakfast before our next road trip. We were heading to Taupo for a 3 night stay by the lake. The drive took us about 2 hours with some more lovely scenery on the way. We were a little early for checking into our apartment so we parked up by the lake and went for a stroll. After the stroll, some lunch and a visit to the supermarket we were ready to check in. We'd chosen an apartment for this stay and were not disapp...

Friday we started with breakfast in the hotel which was great and filling, exactly what we needed for the adventures ahead. We had organised another tour of some of the regions winerys, but this time on a tandem bike! After a very short trial in a car park, where the bike guy basically said we were rubbish, we set off. After a bit of trial and error we were flying and spent the next 5 1/2 hours cycling about 25 km and stopping at 6 wineries. The sun had been out ...

After another great breakfast in Martinborough we headed off in the car for our drive North the Napier. The drive took about 4 hours and consisted mostly of rural farmland and small towns. Apart from a quick picnic lunch we did most of the sights via drive by!Our hotel for the next 5 nights was the Masonic hotel in Napier, the Art Deco capital of the world. Our room and the town in general, really did make us feel like you are in an episode of poirot! We headed o...

Sunday started with a quick flight from Blenheim up to Wellington in the North Island. We then picked up our car which we would have for the next 10 days. Our first stop was to be Martinborough and after a hilly drive we were there and checked into our hotel. We dumped our bags and headed to the local boutique Brewery for some beer tasting and a spot of lunch. Martinborough is a smaller wine region and the majority of cellar doors are within easy walking distance...