Just a quick stop on our way to Northland to advertise our van. We spent the afternoon driving from hostel to hostel armed with a stack of coloured flyers for their notice boards. We hit all the large popular places in the centre and it was then that I realised how lucky we had been being able to stay in our own van, well away from the youngsters and their raucousness! For the night we stayed with Tony in Herne Bay and went out for a couple of drinks that even...

Due to the fact that my tattoo had run over into two days Tom and Rachel went ahead to scout out a campsite and buy food for dinner so all we had to do was roll up in the van with beer and bobs your uncle. As the campsite was in the middle of the bush and it was a hot night we sat out under the stars chatting away and myself and Tom did some fair justice to a couple of packs of beer. The following morning the weather continued with its clear skies and blazing ...

Tom and Rachel had decided to join us in Whakatane after they had dropped a friend off up the road. It was therefore our job to scope out the town first and look for a cheap (free) place to camp for the night. We spent the first few hours feverishly looking for accommodation by lying around in the sun by the sea, generally taking it easy and having a nap. Needless to say we didn't find any free accommodation. After a proper search we came to the same conclusion. ...

After a night sleeping like the dead and a very stiff morning we left the area and drove north back towards Taupo and Rotorua. We'd been keeping in touch with Tom and Rachel knowing that we might again cross paths and sure enough after a very nice brunch in Taupo we heard from them in Rotorua. We drove the 75km north and met them about lunch time. We were also introduced to Greg and Andy some friends of theirs from home. Greg left on the bus back to where he li...

As the weather had taken a decided turn for the better (for once) and we didn't having any pressing time constraints we decided to see if the bad weather system that had been firmly anchored over Tongariro at the beginning of the week was showing any signs of moving. We were pleasantly surprised to find out that Saturday through to Monday the weather was ideal for walking the crossing. Needless to say we wasted no time in heading back down south, back through R...