Well... since our last blog we've been very busy! I've had a few shifts working the bar on a private charter boat equipt with it's very own DJ. Dominic has been working on a local vinyard (Takatu) picking leaves and tieing back the vines. I was very disappointed when he returned from the days work empty handed! We've spent the last two nights camping in our campervan at Tawharanui (pronounced taff-a-new-ee) Regional park. This has been very relaxed and tranq...

Ever since we started planning this trip one of the things we knew we had to do when we got here was buy a vehicle. Everything we read regarding New Zealand suggested not only that the best way to see it was independently by motor but also that cheap cars were plentiful, practically being handed out to backpackers on arrival at the airport. This is not quite the case and the market is very different to what we were expecting. Very old cars that you wouldn't st...

So we've been in New Zealand for nearly 2 weeks and have settled in well. We're working, for our room and food, in a B&B in a small town called Warkworth about 40 mins drive north of Auckland. It's an extremely scenic area with lush green rolling hills and numerous parks to explore and long sandy beaches to chill out on (once the frigging weather decides to play ball and just BE SUNNY!) Our hosts, Liz and Geoff, are extremely nice and generous. They've let ...

Reluctantly we left Venice Beach to start our coastal route journey back to up San Francisco. Our hire car this time was a rather swanky white Toyota Rav4 (4 wheel drive). Niiiiice! We made a short stop in Ventura , a quintessential local beach town which is apparently used as a stand-in for Main Street, Small Town America in several films. Hanging around the car park were two drunks sucking each other toes. We had a small stroll along the beach but concerns re...

So Venice Beach, probably my favourite stop so far. I think I can summarise the reason for this as follows; no one would think twice about a 30+ year old man scooting around the show on a skateboard in Bermuda shorts. In fact it's normal! Definitely my kind of place. Indeed, I was ridiculously excited by all the free equipment next to the beach, Basketball/Handball/Tennis courts, skatepark, grown-up jungle gym, footie goals on the beach (with nets!). All combin...