After a few uneventful days when we went about what has now become our routine, day-to-day lifestyle we packed up and headed away to Northland. The reason we had to pack was that we'd agreed we needed a full week to explore this part of the country and therefore came to a very reasonable agreement with Carl (the owner of our motel) that we would vacate the room and wouldn't have to pay rent. So, with some of our belongings in storage in the motel but still a very...

Heading back to Auckland from Whitianga we took the road down the east coast of the Coromandel which continued to be delightful. From a high point on the coast road we had a fine view of the coastal town of Tairua and its lovely setting beneath and around the extinct volcano of Mount Paku. When we eventually arrived in the town we walked to the pointy summit of Paku for some spectacular views up and down the coast and inland to the craggy pinnacles of the Coroman...

We'd liked the look of Whitianga so much that we moved there the next morning, the first icy morning we've had and the first time we've had to de-ice the car. The day, however, turned out to be just like a beautiful summer's day and the drive back to Whiti was superb. Before we left however, we took the short drive to Long Bay to admire local views. We were surprised to see so many kingfishers perched on telephone wires - just like migratory birds do back home. K...

We'd planned to head off on Sunday to Coromandel, a supposedly popular and beautiful peninsula north- east of Auckland. Well, with the weather the previous day and a very dreich outlook on the morning, it didn't auger at all well. After a bit of humming and haa-ing we decided to wait and see, but plan on the basis that we would go - otherwise we'd have lounged around in our goonies and not achieved anything. And it was just as well that we did because suddenly th...

How time flies! It is now one week since we arrived in Auckland and, although the weather has been wetter than we've generally experienced we've also had lots of sunny spells and it's not too bad at all considering it's winter. Our second Sunday saw us head off to the theatre for some 'high-brow' entertainment - Priscilla Queen of the Desert at the Civic Theatre, an outrageously camp musical about the adventures of three drag queens who travel from Sydney to do a...