24 January - Went up to Mount Taranaki plateau after leaving Stratford. Had excellent views of the mountain today and could actually see the top. On a good day you can see right across to Mt Ruapeha and Mt Tongariro. Headed on up country and ended up in a camp site in Otorohanga in the Waitomo district.

25 January - Went on a trip to the Waitomo Caves to see the glow worms. It was quite a magical trip through the caves in a boat - the glow worms twinkled like the stars at night. Then we went through other limestone caves - it was a very interesting trip. Finally saw some Kiwis at a wildlife reserve - they're nocturnal and not normally seen in daylight. They're a strange looking bird with a very long beak but they move extremely quickly and the female is very dominant (good for her)! Pat says they're just like human females as they give the male a good kick if they do something wrong!

26 January - Moved on via Roturoa to Whakatane. We're still camping as the weather is very good and extremely hot.

27 January - Thought we'd do something different today - went on a horse trek in Kawareu. It was a lot of fun but we both had very sore bums at the end of it as we were in the saddle for one and a half hours (it was only supposed to be for an hour). My horse stopped before the river and wouldn't move - the guide had to come back and rescue me. Pat's stopped in the river and wouldn't move, then mine stopped in the river and the guides also stopped - it was quite comical. After much kicking, and shoving they all began to move again but we think they'd got the hump with us as they then decided to go through all the brambles and bushes they could find. It was very enjoyable despite being in a bit of pain when we got off - Pat was walking like John Wayne for a while!

28 January - We went to visit White Island today which is a live volcano sitting 50km from the coast. After one and a half hours we arrived at the island after seeing a big pod of common dolphins on the way. We were issued with hard hats and a gas mask and then transferred to the island by inflatable boat. We were then guided around the island for about 2 hours seeing steaming fumeroles, bubbling mud and walking to the edge of the crater where we saw the acid lake. Also, saw the remains of the sulphur mine that was wiped out in an eruption. It was very interesting if not a little scary as an eruption could occur at any time. The volcano last erupted in 2000 but it is closely monitored so hopefully we may have had some early warning if something was about to happen! We survived anyway. Once again we were very lucky that it was a beautiful day and we had excellent views of the volcano. On the way back we saw more dolphins and some flying fish. An excellent trip.

In the evening we stayed on the campsite and got chatting to Ken, an 80 year old New Zealander who 3 years ago sold his 320 acre farm and decided to travel around NZ in a camper van with his dog. He had some interesting tales but we found it amazing that someone of his age could embark on a trip like this!

29 to 31 January - Moved on to Cooks Bay and set up camp. Very quiet area not much in town but there is a ferry across to Whitianga - a small town with a few bars and restaurants. Cooks Beach is a beautiful white sandy beach where we went swimming and the temperature of the water was lovely. Lots of lovely beaches along this coastline.

1 to 3 February - Moved on to a campsite in Whitianga. Pat did some fishing in the harbour where we saw sting rays swimming. The first day he caught nothing but on the second day he hooked into 2 rays which he didn't really want to catch. They took off like trains, his little rod was almost bent in two and he couldn't stop them. Eventually the line snapped and the excitement was over! He then gave up as he didn't want to hook in to any more of them!