4 to 8 February - Had a lovely scenic drive around the Coromandal coast and stayed overnight in Thames in accommodation. Moved on next day to Bayleys Beach staying on a camp site almost on the beach. Lovely beach but the sea was very wild - lots of crashing waves - too rough to swim in. 6 February - Went to the Kauri Forest and saw the Giant Kauri tree - Tane Mahuta. It is 51 m tall with a girth of 14 m - it was huge and about 2000 years old. We called in an ol...

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 th...

16 January - Stayed overnight in a B & B in Wellington after a smooth crossing yesterday through the Cook Strait. Left Wellington heading for Wanganui but changed our minds and headed towards Lake Taupo. Tar was melting on the roads it was so hot. Stopped off on the way in a little town called Feilding which has been nominated as New Zealands best kept town for a number of years. Camped overnight in Taihape. 17 January - Set off across the desert road and se...

12/15 January - Moved on to Picton - another lovley coastal drive. Went on a 5 hour boat trip along Queen Charlotte Sound. Saw Hectors Dolphins along the way who were very playful, following the boat and leaping out of the water. (It's very difficult to get a picture of them as you never now where they will pop up next). Landed on Motuara Island which is an uninhabited bird sanctuary with no predators. We finally got to see our penguins close up. They were Blue P...

9/10 January - Moved on to Motueka - by passing Nelson as it was competely manic. Went to see the Rikawa Resurgance which was the start of the Rikawa river. The water was very clear emerging from the rocks. We then started to look for another famous springs - the Waikoropupu Springs. We spotted a sign post that we thought would be a short cut across the Kahurangi National Park. After about 6 km we came across a sign post saying that the next 10 km would be wind...