We drove to Rotorua and stopped at a small village called Hamilton for the night which was nice but there wasnt much to see there. Rotorua on the other hand had loads to see and we spent a few days here. However before we got there we stopped at a place called Matamata which is better known as hobbiton. This is where all the scenes from the lord of the rings set in hobbiton were filmed. We did a morning tour of the site which still has the hobbit holes. ...

After leaving Auckland we headed north to an area of New Zealand called the Bay of Islands. We stayed in the fishing town of Pahia where the treaty grounds of NZ are. Here the leaders of the various tribes signed an agreement that would see the UK protect NZ from attack. Its a beautiful national park now and there are some amazing Maoiri carvings in the meeting house and on the war canoe used for special occasions. It takes 78 people to row it properly so yo...

We only spent a couple of days in Auckland but it was enough to see New Zealands biggest city. We went to the Harbour and looked around the city centre. More time for Nina to look in shops?! It was a nice city but we didnt go to many of the cities museums or art galleries as we had got a bit bored of the touristy thing. Went to a pub for a couple of drinks and had lunch which was a bit different. Sorted out our car rental and left Auckland to go north ...

As you can see the great ocean road has some pretty spectacular views! This is a picture of the 12 Apostles, which we stopped off on during our two day drive. We also stopped at the bay of islands, London Bridge, Loch ard gorge and various little towns dotted along the coast. The drive itself is worth going for, winding roads that hug to the coast line make for some pretty nerve wraking driving. Ross seemed to think he was a rally driver?! We stayed th...

After leaving Naracoorte, we headed south to the big town in this area, Mt Gambier. The plan was to hire a car and drive along the great ocean road but a problem with our car rental company meant we had to leave the car and we got a bus to Melbourne instead. Not before we had to spend a night in the jail! No mum we didnt get arrested but the hostel for the town is the old jail complete with cells! Was an experience and not one for the clostraphobics! ...