Grab yourself a seat and put the kettle on, this may be a long blog... Since our last blog we've visited Taupo, Wellington, Kaikoura and Christchurch. And we have fallen in love with New Zealand. A few hours drive from Rotorua, we arrived late near Taupo and stayed in a campsite in the thermal valley. It was pitch black and freezing cold; the temperature hasn't gone much above 12 degrees so far. The next morning we drove into town to see Lake Taupo, a lak...

Kia ora from Rotorua. This morning we drove to Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. It's probably one of the coolest places on Earth, and it feels like you could be on a different planet entirely. Wai-O-Tapu has the largest area of surface thermal activity in the Taupo Volcanic Zone, covering 18 sq.km. As we approached in Zosma, to could see steam coming up in random places and the stench became stronger. We walked around the reserve to see it's collapsed crat...

Hello from the land of the Kiwis! We had an enjoyable flight over from Aus; there was a selection of movies on Middle Earth, so naturally you know what we watched! In Auckland we picked up our Spaceship, Zosma. It's safe to say she's a huge upgrade from Otis. She's much newer, more roomy, silver and has automatic sliding doors on either side (oooo-ahhhhh!). We love her. Our first full day in NZ was spent in Auckland, exploring the amazing walks and views o...

Our last stop in Aus... Sydney! Our time started here with a bang at an Aussie Rules footie game. We brushed up on the rules and headed to the ANZ Stadium in Sydney Olympic Park on the bus. The game attendance was just over 23,000 people and the atmosphere was electric. Naturally, we supported the Sydney Swans who were playing the Essendon Bombers, an older team from Melbourne. To say it was an on-the-edge-of-your-seat-game is an understatement. The Swans g...

Australia - what a whirlwind! Sorry for the lack of blogs lately, time has definitely escaped us. So we arrived in 1770 after a few hours on the road. It's a small seaside town that is said to be the birthplace of Australia as it was the first place that Captain Cook landed from his vessel on 24 May 1770. From there, Captain Cook sailed up the east coast to plot Aus on the map. We visited the Captain Cook monument and hiked up to the famous look out point....