Woke up this morning to a better sky than we expected and set off to find Hot Water Beach. This is a beach where at certain times of the day geothermal springs come up through the sand and you can dig yourself a hole and wallow in the warm water. We found the place but the tide was still in. Travelling further up the coast to a town called Hahei we parked up and walked a coastal path to Cathedral Cove. It took just over an hour each way but was worth every calo...

Leaving our luxury suite in Auckland in the pouring rain, we travelled SE to the Coromandel Peninsula to a place called Panaiu on the eastern side of the peninsula. Our accommodation this time was a motel. Our unit was very cosy and all the extras were free. Bikes, golf clubs, BBQ, and a free laundry. Ok so let's get the pants washed for free. The weather was still wet, so we donned full waterproofs and set out for a walk. This town is where the wealthy come to ...

Woke up this morning to find a message on my phone from Carolyn, my niece, wanting to know if we were ok? Followed by many more messages asking the same thing. It was only then we found out about the earthquake. Thank you everyone for your messages and yes we are both fine. We spent the morning at an area next door to our hotel. The Treaty Grounds is an area where the Brits and Maoris agreed to be ruled by Britain. It was a fascinating place and we spent 3 hours...

Travelled up north to the Bay of Islands - We picked up the car (Toyota Corolla) and drove through some awesome countryside, north to the Bay of Islands. Our hotel is on the beach and we have a ground floor room with patio windows which open out onto this wonderful space. Ate in the hotel restaurant and next day we were up early. Left the car at the hotel and took the courtesy bus down the road to the dock area where we took a 4 hour trip to the Hole in the Roc...

After another 11 hours in the air we have now arrived in Auckland New Zealand. What a nice place this is. We dropped lucky at the airport as tthe hotel shuttle bus was waiting,so door to door service and the driver gave us a running commentary as he brought us in. Once again not much sleep and the time difference is now +13 hours. Fortunately our room was ready and it was a very nice room too. We showered and walked down to the waterfront where we found a n...