We left Bay of Islands a few days ago and travelled to the Bay of Plenty. Stopped off at a few places on the way. At Miranda we had a dip in the thermal pools on the camp site before we had dinner which was very nice, it was chucking it down with rain. We also stopped at a couple of beaches on the way to Whakatane to get our boat to White Island. White island is an active volcano which last erupted in 2003. We got the boat to the island, which was a roug...

We have spent the last few nights in the Bay of Islands. Spent one night in Keri Keri and two in Russell. Our site overlooks the bay, so we spent the first afternoon reading our books in the sunshine. Went on a boat tour today out to Cape Brett and the Hole in the Rock. Stopped on the way and watched a pod of Bottlenose Dolphins. It was unbelievable. They were swimming around the boat and jumping out of the water playing with the fish. Normally we ...

We picked up our campervan a couple of days ago and headed up the west coast. Its a very cosy 2 berth van with everything that we need in it. Jim was armed with a box of PG Tips and a pair of slippers (one happy man). We have been to see the Te Matua Ngahere which is the widest Kauri Treet in New Zealand - Its absolutely massive. We stayed our 2nd night at a camp site right on Opononi beach front - the view was amazing and we walked along the beach a...

Spent the last few days in Auckland. We had a apartment overlooking the bay which was ace. Our bags didn't make it from Sydney so we had to wait for a day for them to arrive before we could change our clothes (nice). Went for lunch one day in the revolving restaurant in the Sky Tower. The food was lovely and we had an excellent view of the city. Some people were jumping off the tower attached to a wire (crazy people), they flew straight past where we wer...

We have spent the last week in Hawaii doing absolutely nothing but lie on the beach and swim in the sea. We watched the sunset on the beach one evening which was beautiful. We also watched the traditional lighting of the torches ceremony. Which involved a man with a very nice bottom blowing a shell horn and some hula dancers. The beach is lovely , clear blue water which is warm.