On Thursday Carol and I were both a bit ill still after the food poisoning but we had booked our campervan so we both decided that we should still go ahead and pick it up. We checked out of the hostel and got a taxi over to the campervan place where we picked it up! We have named her Connie and she is massive! Its a 4 man campervan so we have 2 double beds, a fridge, microwave, 4 hobs, a grill, heater and a toilet and shower! Matt is designated driver and me chief navigator!

After a stop at the supermarket for all our food we set off on the road towards Mercury Bay on the east coast. We didn't get all the way there on the Thursday as chief navigator went to sleep and we missed the turning and were going the wrong way for a while! Oops!!

Friday we continued to Mercury Bay which wasn't very far. There is a hot water beach which unfortunately we missed as it was high tide but the beach was lovely and a man suggested driving to Cathedral Cove where they filmed the latest Narnia film Prince Caspian. The beach was spectacular and we had a walk to Gemstone Cove which was lovely and we had a walk on some big stones.

We left around lunch time for the drive to Hamilton. On the radio we heard news of an impending cyclone which would be New Zealand's worst in decades so we decided to spend 2 days in Hamilton. It was quite good really as Mark had a friend who he went to uni with living in Hamilton and we went to his house for a few drinks on the Friday night. Chris and Bridget they were called. They also invited us for brunch the next morning which we didn't turn down!!

Saturday after the brunch we went to a shop called the Warehouse which is really cheap and we bought some really classy boots for £3.50!! They aren't the greatest but they are really warm and waterproof. We then met Chris at the mall who was going to see Batman with us but it was sold out so we said bye to Chris as he had plans later and went to a later showing. We spent a couple of hours in the mall before seeing the film. Batman was really good.

We had an early night ready for the next day as we were up early for Matamata and Hobbiton!!