Rotorua (the name of the lake and town) is famed for: - Maori culture (it's a key Maori lake and the heart of their society) - Hot springs - An all-pervading eggy smell as a result of the sulphurous springs. All three are fascinating. Our campsite is the first highlight: it's on top of hot springs so if you ask to hire a tent site, you can choose a normal pitch for $15... or a heated pitch for $25- this means a pitch directly above a hot spring so the ground i...

Phew, that's quite a drive- about 10 hours, though we did take the scenic route (deliberatly!) to take in the Waipoua Kauri forest and check out New Zealand's tallest tree (it's big). And the Coromandel Peninsula is totally worth it- a real beautiful stretch of coastline that people often miss out. Check out the photos- basically it's the sort of place with lovely clifftop walks to secluded bays with turquoise waters and white sandy beaches. The landscape is bea...

Well, well, well- that's a very small car we've rented. A Suzuki Wagon R- absolutely tiny, a 850cc engine, wheels the size of dinner plates and not entirely keen on climbing hills. But boy it was cheap- from Rent & Save Auckland, at $19 a day it was about half the price of the next best quote we got. And it made it to Paihia in the Bay of Islands. This is our first time staying on a campsite (Suzie's first time ever) and it's pretty good. We have our own c...

Whoa... that's a mad flight. Board in Santiago at 11pm on Tuesday, fly for 13 hours and arrive at 4.30am on Thursday. All very odd. We had always known that arriving so early in the morning would be a tad awkward in terms of tiredness and checking in to a hostel... and then the flight arrived another hour earlier. So that meant another hour sitting in Auckland airport nursing coffee. They did though have great tourist info even at that hour so we could start plan...