After yesterday's trip to the Pinnacles I have lost the ability to walk! I'm unable to walk in a straight line, up & down stairs, kneel, not to mention sitting on the toilet. My thighs hurt soooooo much. I thought about going for a Thai massage, $69 for 60 minutes but being a Sunday they were closed. I had intended to hire a bike today and cycle a few miles along the Hauraki rail trail. But decided this probably wasn't a very good idea as my legs weren't wor...

There is a Dutch girl called Sabine sharing my room who also wants to walk up to the Pinnacles in the Kauaeranga Valley today. So we are going together. The lady from the hostel gives us a lift to the start point of the walk, about a 40 minute drive from where we are staying. We walked for 3 hours up lots of steps, through a dry river bed and lots of rocks to reach the Pinnacles hut where it is possible to spend the night. It sleeps 80. From here it's another 5...

I said goodbye to Sian and her family to catch a bus to Thames with a rucksack full of clean clothes again. Yah Having spent all of my life living so close to the river Thames I had to come and see what Thames is like in NZ. Captain Cook arrived here in 1769 naming the Waihou River the Thames as it bore some resemblance to that river in England. Gold mining started here in 1867, boom soon turned to bust which resulted in forced land sales and debts. It's full of...