25th January

We are now in Rotorua and since the last update we have done a good few miles and had a lot of fun.We left Taupo in the rain with the prospect of good weather upon us as the cyclone which is creating the bad weather is headed south.Our next destination is Thames which is the gateway to the Coromandel Peninsula - a finger of land about 30 km wide and about 70 km long which has lush vegetation and lovely beaches as well as a reputation for creativity in the arts and sculpture.The journey to Thame took us through Atoea which is famed for being the 'corrogated' capital of the world.There are buildings and sculpture everywhere all made of corrugated iron.The visitor centre is a corrugated iron dog and the building next door a sheep! See photos for the real thing.We had booked another night's cabin accomodation as the weather still wasn't great although he decribed it as a bunkhouse with six bunks and that's it.It wasn't as luxurious as the last place and had a few too many spiders for my girls (all five) to feel completely comfortable in but was dry.Michele and I stayed in this campground 14 years ago when we were travelling so it brought back a few memories.

A note about the campgrounds here - the sites in NZ are really not comparable to the sites we have been used to in the UK.Even sites in the US where you get your own little section and a table fall by the wayside.Every site we have stayed in has had a kitchen, dining area, toilets, showers, laundry and kids playground as a bare minumum.Some have swimming pools, Internet access (most have this), BBQs for use (gas) and often a games room or lounge.As with anything you get what you pay for so some are not as clean as others but on the whole we have been really impressed.It has made travelling like we are (Bongo and tent) possible for a decent length of time with four children and enjoy ourselves.It's funny how you get into a routine wherever you are and whatever you are doing.We have subconciously fallen into a routine for reaching a site,pitching the tent (TM), cleaning the Bongo out (TM), cooking dinner (MM), doing homework (MM) etc etc.Michele and I tend to work well as a team and are quite happy to let the other take responsisbility for particular jobs.Although when you are on holiday you feel you have all the time in the world when you are travelling with six of us there are always the mundane things (washing, cooking, showering) which still takeupa lot of the day and can't be put off.I don't think we'd prepared ourselves for how much time this would take.I think it will ease off a bit when we are in Australia with the big campervan and aren't picthing a tent all the time and loading/unloading the Bongo.We also thought we'd have some time together in the evening when the children go to bed, this has also not happened at all.The children don't tend to go to bed until about 9.00 and we have a shower with them.After that there's not too much to do - shall we sit outside and get eaten by mozzies or get in our separate sleeping Quarters? (Toby in the tent and Michele in the Bongo), settle the children and then read/go to sleep.Again we didn't foresee this but then there is so much which happens which one can't plan for when having an exciting adventure like this - it's one of the things which makes it really special.Anyway that's enough of our domestic arrangements.

In the evening at Thames I took the children down to the beach while Michele caught up on her e-mail.It was one of those lovely times you can only have on a beach in the late afternoon/evening with the sun going down and the temperature just right.The breeze was just right and the beach was littered with exciting driftwood, thousands of shells and wading birds settling down for the evening.The children are at there best at times like those - if you have children you will know exactly what I mean.They play wonderfully together and it's such an innocent play because it's all about the beach and the sand and the natural stuff!Definitley one of those 'lucky to be alive' moments.

After Thames we headed up the Coromandel Peninsula and spent the afternoon in the Waiua Waterworks.This is a waterpark designed by an eccentric engineer who has made water powered sculptures, many of which are interactive and totally aimed at kids of all ages.See the photots for some of the things we did - all six of us loved it and we finished off the day by jumping off a plank into the river which runs through (and powers) the park.It's a bit like the beach - water play really fascinates children (and the opportunity for soaking your Dad as well).

The campsite in Coromandel was a five star.We got back to the tent and Bongo scenario for sleeping as the weather had improved enormously and actually we were really pleased to be doing it as a couple of the cabins were a bit reesty!the next day we drove to Rotorua to meet up with our friends Niiki and Bruce and their two children whi we had stayed with at the start of the NZ leg of our trip.Before we did this we took the the children for one last treat on the Coromandel Peninsula whiuch Michele and I had done when were travelling.As seems common on the coromandel there is another eccentric who had made a name for himself.Barry Brickell is a potter, sulcture, engineer and train enthusiast.He bought a plot of land and in order to transport clay from the hills above him he built a narrow guage railway.As he built it higher he decided to carry on and now has a railway which travells 300 feet up the hill with switchbacks, tunnels and steep inclines.The children were fascinated and we were rewarded at the top with a fantastice view across the water to Auckland and all the surrounding bays and islands from the 'eyeful' tower as it's been named.

Rotorua is the thermal centre of the North Island and makes up part of the thermal regions where the earth emits some of it's stranger and often more violent emmissions.Fractures in the Earth Surface (NZ is on the South Pacifc Plate) allow heat, steam and gas to escape in a variety of forms including boiling watre, boiling mud and geysers.Gas escapes in huge volume in the form of hydrogen sulphide.There are plenty of jokes to be had about eggy gases and where they've come from and we exhausted all of them (getit? - exhausted!!). They'll be more to report on this in due course after we've been to a couple of the sites.We spent our first day in Rotorua at an ideallic lake called Blue lake which is quite warm for a lake so the children spent most of the time in the water and Meg was in her element playing in the sand with nothing on as usual.