We are in a Bach, it is 5 hrs north of Auckland. It's located on the west coast, opposite the bay of islands on the east. We are in a sub tropical climate, it is humid, hot and the vegitation is lush. I am awake in bed, it is 2,30 in the morning. We are in a retreat, it is in/under a house( the owner is away for the 6 days). We are the third and last house along a track off the main coast road. It is silent, even the wildlife has gone to sleep.

Extra ordinary beach day. Today we drove to the hot springs beach on the Coromandel penninsula. We heard that you could dig a hole on the beach that fills with hot spring water so we decided to go and see what it was like before we hired our spade. It was really entertaining! Clearly you need to get there very early to bag your space as the area of hot spring activity is quite small and the tide timing is important. The funny thing was the tide was coming in...

Mud bath morning! We started the day with a plan to travel to Corumandel, we did not get there. Fun time is limited on moving days, NOT TODAY Firstly we went to a thermal spa, it's basically a hot mud bath and a soak in a hot tub of smelly mineral water, it was refreshing, the cold showers helped.I suppose it is like taking a bath after a rugby team on a wet Saturday. Yes, we left Rotorua this morning and headed for Hells gate. The mud bath is an experience ...

Today we joined a tour! We had a maori evening and Steve did a Haka. He was a bit miffed that I didn't get up to do the ladies pom pom dance but I didn't want to get up on stage in my short skirt incase people could see my knickers. he thinks that wouldn't normally stop me- true- its the time of the month (not full moon). Only men could sit on the front row of the audience and we all had to leave our shoes outside. I sat just behind Steve and the reason he go...

Sarcasm (Steve):- Today this could be the greatest day of my life? Oh what a perfect day? It started by crawling from a small campervan to find a toilet at 3.30am.(wet grass, from the rain!!, don't take the piss) It finished not too badly. Sat on a king bed in a smart hotel room, we are 300miles from the campervan and wine has been poured. Between these two are rush, travel, no food, hormones and sleep. All never to be mentioned again- once sally has added ...