Doubtless Bay was a gorgeous stop in the Northlands. We found a DOC campsite beside a perfect quiet and untouched golden beach. After exploring the beach (and writing Hayleys birthday message in the sand) we decided to stay for a few nights. Luckily the sun shone bright and the rain made only the odd appearance. Only once or twice did the autumn rain fall so hard that we had to lock ourselves in the van. In the day we munched on bbq food cooked on a small disposa...

The route planning to the Bay of Islands wasn't our best. We ended up driving winding roads and figured out, when it was too far to turn back, that we could have drove on the motorway and took a short cheap ferry across. We drove nearly three quaters of the way and realised we it was time to set up camp. Sadly the DOC that we too a detour to was closed so we paid money to stay in a really rundown campsite with filthy facilities. Despite the lovely beach we were s...

It was a long drive to the Peninsular in the north of the island. The rain along with traffic jams in Auckland made the journey even less enjoyable. We began exploring the east coast stopping at various beaches popular with locals. A popular place for tourists and locals was Hot Water Beach. In the summer months people dig holes in the sand and sit in the warm pools of water that form. Sadly it was too cold to strip off and sit on a windy beach so we kept our h...

We arrived at Waitomo late after a day exploring Hobbiton. The area consisted of numerous caving companies and one single pub. Previous to our arrival we had chosen to explore the caves with the Black Water Rafting company so immediately booked ourselves on a full day trip called the Abyss.The tour started early the following morning and we were the only two people on our day trip into the caves. We got kitted out in a thermal wetsuit, boots, helmet and harness b...

Apologies folks but we cant upload pictures of Hobbiton due to a privacy agreement we signed. As its a working film set for the up and coming Hobbit films we can't tell you what we saw. On a lighter note - while booking the tour we met an oriental lady who believed hobbits were real. She repeatedly asked the information worker where she could find the little people as she needed to see them. We helped her understand that they are fictional and she seemed very dis...