Well Guys we have actually been in New Zealand since Friday but have not been able to update you with our adventures, but now we have an opportunity as we are in a place called Paihia and are confined to our hotel room as there are 120 mph winds here and it has been raining for 17 hours solid with 20cm of rain so far!!!!!!

So here goes, we arrived on Friday and were greeted at the airport by Arnold and Vi (Mel's rellys) who kindly offered to look after us for 2 days till we got things sorted. We wasted no time and we were off sigtseeing the first place they took us was One Tree Hill where the Sacred Totara tree once stood.

We followed this with a trip to Mount Eden, which offered us great views across the city although it was pretty blustery and grey. This is the tallest peak in Auckland at 643ft.Then it was back to the house for a lovely dinner before an early night as it had been a long day.

Saturday we met all Mel's relatives which was really nice, so hello to all of them. We picked up our hire car on Sunday morning, a real mean machine (Daihatsu Sirion 1.3) an absolute bargain at $20 a day (8 pounds)

We drove from Auckland to Awanui in the North (450km) we made a couple of stops including Waipoua Forest to look at the Kauri Tree (Tane Mahuta) this is the largest living Kauri tree its only short at 164ft but its girth is 43ft and its over 2000 years old, it was quite a sight. The drive through the forest was a tough drive as the roads were really windy. This took us to Mangamuka Gorge which was gorgeous. Our campsite was the Top 10 site which was basic but warm with shared kitchen facilities and showers and a good base for the next leg of the journey.

Woke up to good weather and set off to Cape Reinga only a 100km drive but the last 20km was a gravel road which took ages as it was really pot holed.Cape Reinga is the most northerly point in NZ and in Maori legend its the departure point of the spirits of the dead but it is also where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean and you can see the two crashing into each other which is weird to see, it was a little misty and damp but worth the effort. Just 20km away we went to the Te Paki sand dunes some of these are 30m high and are really beautiful but sections are prone to quicksand and sinking.

Our next stop was Ninety Mile Beach which was so wet and windy we did not hang around long but you can drive on this beach all the way to Cape Reinga (but not in a hire car) as the tide moves in really quickly and cars have been lost to the sea. On our way to the campsite we made one more stop at Doubtless Bay for a photo op, before moving to Keri Keri and our home for the night.

We woke up to flooding and high winds so have only driven 20km to Paihia where we have had to stop as the weather is so bad.