Day 25 - Picton

We got up and drove to Blenheim to get a couple of bits from the shops. On our way we picked up a hitch hiker as we felt sorry for him walking in the rain. He only wanted a lift to the motorway so he wasn't with us for very long. After we had been to the shops we drove up to Picton where we had a coffee and lunch as we waited for the boat.

The ferry left at 13.10 and it would take three hours. As the sea had been so rough the previous day we decided to take sea sickness tablets again to be on the safe side. And Oh my dear god am I glad we did. It was the most horrible boat journey we have ever been on. It was a big boat and it was being beaten about by the waves. We were going up and then smashing straight back down making the inside rattle. It wasn't until we reached the islands outside of Wellington that the water started to calm down and we were thankful to be back on land. We had planned to stay in Wellington for the night but when the campsite wanted $40 we decided to drive further north to see if we could get something cheaper. We had noticed a huge difference in light after the clocks went back and it was now getting dark at 6.30 which felt depressing. A couple of hours later we arrived at a campsite in Carterton and we decided to stay there for the night. They wanted $20 for a site which was very reasonable. As it was so dark and bad weather we didn't go out again that evening.

Day 26 - Napier

After a cold night we got up and drove to Napier. This was the town that got hit by an earthquake in the 30's and everything was destroyed leaving them to rebuild everything from scratch. As a result this town is now full of Art deco style buildings and there are plenty of shops selling vintage clothes.We had a look around and then went into a doctor surgery to try and get some Malaria tablets sorted for South America. We managed to see a very nice doctor who was more than happy to prescribe us as many tablets as we wanted. It did cost us $67 dollars for his signature but there was nothing we could do. Afterwards we went to the pharmacy to find out how much it would be and they quoted over $10 per tablet which is double compared to the UK. We decided to wait and ask in a different pharmacy.

On our way to the camp, the van cut out on us on a hill and we had to restart to get it going again. We managed to arrive to the campsite just before dark and we were hoping the van would be ok in the morning.

Day 27 - Taupo/Auckland

After another cold night we set off early to get to Taupo. We wanted to call the Hire Company and then book up our dive for the weekend. We had also run out of money on our internet so we had to get that sorted too. So after an hour in a phone booth we walked into town to have a look. We expected it to be a little bit like Queenstown but it was no-way near as nice and although there is lots to do, we didn't really have any money left to spend on activities. So we had a coffee and a waffle which was yummy. Afterwards we drove up to the garage that was going to look at the van, only to find in boarded up and closed. So we drove up to Hamilton and gave the company another call. This time they decided to call ahead and inform the garage to expect us. When we got to the garage it took about an hour and a half for him to come up with nothing. The readings didn't tell him anything and there was no obvious problem with the van. He told us he had spoken to the hire company and they would expect us in the morning to do a swap over.

After some deliberating, we decided we didn't want to swap the van as we only had a few more days and we wouldn't be doing too much driving. So we headed up to Auckland to stay in a campsite near davenport.

Day 28 - Waipu

As we were staying near a hospital and a big shopping centre we decided to sort out our Malarone tablets. We walked for about an hour between places and managed to find a place that was £100 cheaper than the first place we had asked. It is unbelievable how different they could charge and we are glad we didn't go with the first one. We paid and then went back to the campsite to get going. On our way to waipu we stopped and called the hire company to tell them we wouldn't be coming to return the van.

The campsite we were staying in was a DOC site and it was located 5km out of town but just off the motorway and near the beach. It was a great setting so we went for a walk along the beach.

We went to bed early as we had an early start the next morning for our dive.

Day 29 - Tutukaka/Poor Knights Islands

We arrived at the dive centre at 8AM and we were given forms to fill in. It was surprising how many people were there but it was a good atmosphere. We paid and got kitted up and then told which boat to get on. This would be our first dive after qualifying so we were a little bit nervous. We had also never dived in cold water and we were told it would be a very different experience. When we got to the dive site our instructor came and explained what would happen and then another guy gave us details of what we should look out for and how the dive route would be. After the briefing we went downstairs and got changed into our wetsuits. We were wearing 14mm in total over the chest and we were even given a hood to wear to protect from the cold (in Thailand we wore a short wetsuit no more than 4mm). We were also given a 10kg weight belt each to help with our buoyancy. It made you feel like a pack horse and all you wanted to do was to get in the water to cool down and get the weight off you. So in we hopped, Martin first and then me. It felt nice and warm in the water and after a weight test we dived down. It was a little bit of a confusion to start with as I thought we were going down to quickly so went back up again only to realise the instructor had slowed down to help another lady that couldn't get down. Anyway, the dive went really well and we saw a short tailed sting ray, a scorpion fish and a moray eel. The Poor knights islands are on the outskirts of the gulf stream which means you get some tropical fish there but you also get a lot of little colourful shrimp/slug (without shells) looking things. I can only imagine that the ocean would have been full of these things before life begun.

We did two dives in total and they both went well.It was good to be diving again.It was real fun but not sure about the status of being one of the best dive sights in the world but that is for us to find out !!!

Day 30 - Waipu/Orewa

We stayed again in the DOC site and had planned to stay there for the day but the internet was a bit poor and wanted to talk to everyone back home, so we decided to head back down to Orewa and to a camp site we stayed at on the first night.

We didn't do too much, we started to sort out the van and pretty much chilled out.