Haere mai! Taumarunui National Park aka Mordor/Mount Doom (Lord of the Rings) is very very cold and wet. National park contains volcanoes and land is surprisingly very volcanic. Very Mordor. Drive to Whakapapa ski area and cook up some omlette on the beast of a stove which has a great line on it which goes: "A stove for lovers of the wildlife who set up camp at the foot of a mountain or bank of a river." Walk up mountain over rocks where LOTR filmed MT Ruapehu, too cloudy too see mount doom so we cheat and take a picture of a framed pic in the ski shop. The volcano last erupted in 1996 so considering that we hot foot it out of there stopping at Tarananki falls then hit the road. We camp up at the side of a lake after locals said it was ok, and being unsuccessful in finding camp ground. Head into Taupo with great views over the lake and road alongside it. Sneak into hostel for a shower and buy a warm hat, which I have been sleeping in, is cold at night. We check out a thermal hot spring on Waikato River and it turns out its boiling but nice, hot waterfall, very strange. Check out the Huka falls and craters of the moon, an eerie smoky piece of geothermal land which isn't in short supply around here. Get a bbq going but still wrapped up!!! Next stop is Roturoa which smells really bad from the sulphur in the thermal mud pools and hot springs, its like the worst stink bomb ever. It's a sight to see but most of the time you just wanna get away from the rancid rotten egged stench. We visit Wai-O -Tapu the geothermal wonderland, which is smelly and strange. If this isn't bad enough the girls decide to go to a ploynesian spa and end up sitting in the smelly stuff, but its nice on the side of the lake apart from the naked Japanese ladies washing each other!! We go Zorbing in Roturoa which is brilliant, basically get in a huge inflatable filled with water and roll down a hill, end up laughing getting thrown around for the whole descent. We also do a swoop aka flying fox, fixed to sleeping bags and hinched up to a long way. I then have to a pull a cord that sends us dropping to the floor and swinging back up. To be honest I think I was screaming louder than Ross but he did need to change his underwear afterwards! Nicky and Kate go on freefall wind tunnel and get thrown around for 5 minutes. Camp in Rota but awoken by Moari arguing with his wife around our camp, lots of shouting and things being thrown, this is a nightmare as I cant leave the tent and im desperate for a wee, nightmare. Police finally turn up and the guy is taken away. Realise it's a good job my bladder held out the next morning because I see the guy and he's the size of 'jabba the hut' and just as good looking, his side kick looks like a 7 ft bulldog. Two chaps I was nt keen to get in the way of although I did have the swiss army knife as protection. Head on North to Matamata and visit the Shire/ Hobbiton the only remaining set from Lord of the Rings. Its brilliant tour and is situated on the Athertons sheep farm. Its really nice place and rolling hills, forest, lakes and greenness show why place was chosen, there's also nothing around for miles. Its great to be there but quite surreal walking around the place, the party tree still has party streamers in it and rope from Bilbo Baggins party banner is still in the tree. Cool. The guide tells us about the set and filming and its interesting too here what goes into it, Peter Jackson bought a polystyrene factory for the film for sets and had English sheep sent over to hobbition because the nz sheep bellies were too low to the floor.Madness. It a great trip and awesome to look out from inside Bag End. We leave Matamate after the trip and head towards the Bay of Plenty on the East coast. Drive through Tauranga, very hilly but scenic views, the camper is doing alright though, touch wood. Find camp at Waihi Beach and sleep in cabin because it's raining again and we treat ourselves. Ok, I think that's me done on my section, Nicky is writing up from here to present day, this took ages, sorry I may have talked rubbish and we ve been so lame with the postcards, Thanks for looking anyway!! E noho ra.