Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay in posting a new blog. We've been out of internet access for over a week now but at least this means we have lots of news! Last time we posted a blog we had just seen a Kiwi bird in a Dept of Conservation (DOC) campsite near Dargaville. From there we drove back to Auckland, going back via a glorified shop called "Kauri Kingdom". We decided to stop as the Lonely Planet guide said that there was a staircase in there carved from within the stump of a huge Kauri tree. (Kauri trees are very straight trunked trees that can grow extremely tall and also very wide across). It was pretty impressive, so we took some sneaky photos and have so far put them on Facebook and will add them onto here soon too! It was a long drive but we got near Auckland just after lunchtime. Dave navigated me through the weird grid system of the CBD, and we managed to make it back into the Parnell district, where we stayed originally and we drove to City Garden Lodge. Thankfully they had some space on the lawn for one more tent so we pitched it up and went to go get some fish & chips. It was strangely reassuring to be back in our original hostel, we knew our way around it & there were still a few familiar faces who'd been working in the Auckland area for a while. We decided that a trip to the supermarket would be a good idea and stock up on some food for the next few days. the one downside to camping instead of staying in hostels means we can only buy fresh fruit and veg for a couple of days at a time! After meals of pasta and stirfrys we made some cottage pie for next days dinner as we knew we'd be camping again. The next day we hit the road and headed for the Coromandel. We reached a DOC just after lunch, a pretty place outside Thames. The DOC site had six different camp sites so we picked one of the ones next to the river. Once our tent was pitched we took a dip in the stream next to the campsite. But we'd been told there was a good spot a little downstream to go swimming in. It was really refreshing jumping into the river & so quiet. Beautiful. As time was pressing on we drove to Rotorua. It was so hot that day, it was tiring and made the time in the car a bit sticky! we were glad to get out and have some lunch. We had seen in the local tourist guide that there was a Luge, basically a go kart sort of thing you sit in, pulling the handle bars towards you to brake and pushing them away to go faster, as you hurtle down a track down the side of a big hill! It was so much fun! We'd bought a ticket for 3 luge rides, because there were 3 tracks (scenic, intermediate and expert) which all differed in length. everyone has to go on the scenic one, then we tried the intermediate one. it was much shorter than the scenic route and over far too quickly, so we decided that we'd do the scenic route again but this time really put the speed up! There's another Luge in Queenstown so we're DEFINITELY doing it again there! we still hadn't sorted anywhere to stay so we got out the DOC book and our trusty Lonely Planet guide. We found a place, not a DOC site, but a campsite at a hot pools place. It was more expensive at $16 each per night, but we were happy to pay it as we got use of the pools for free. it was great to have an indulgence for a change, and just what you want after a long day! The next day we explored Rotorua, walking the path suggested by our guide book that took us through the Government Gardens, the lake, and the CBD. We decided to spend another night in the hot pools campsite before heading down to Hawke's Bay, via Taupo. Unfortunately, there was a huge cycling race from Taupo up to Rotorua, with thousands of people being involved. This scuppered our plans to stay there, so we had to press on through. On the way out of Taupo we saw a sign for "The Honey Hive", so we stopped for a look. It was like being a big kid again, learning about bees, seeing the hives in glass containers, and being able to taste the honey after. There were so many products made from honey & we learned some interesting facts along the way.... such as, did you know that edible honey has been found in pharroahs tombs in Egypt? It can potentially last that long! After a honey ice cream and some pictures, we drove onto Lake Tutira just north of Napier.