Hi everyone,

Wow looks like our last blog was the first day in Wellington. So now we're half way up the north island. More scary is that there is just over two weeks to go....

So we spent the day in Wellington - we visited Te Papa. The big museum - its very eclectic with Maori history, giant squids, volcanic eruptions. That took the best part of the day. Luckily we left just in time to make it to the chinese New Year parade. This was way better than the one we saw in London. By now it was scorching so we went and lounged by the river and even had some food from the chinese market although it wasn't as nice as the stuff we tried in China.

That night we watched some internet tv in the van and relaxed in the cool.

The next morning we got up and visited the weta workshop. Which is the company that did the special effects for lord of the rings, Narnia and Avatar. We saw a movie and customs and lots of cool models.

We drove from there up the country to a campsite about 60 miles south of Taupo. A long drive that took most of the day although we did make time to stop to have cake for Claire's birthday. Past the town with the giant carrot and the giant gum boot. It was a nice quiet site and I enjoyed sitting out without the sand flies.

The next day we drove past Mount Doom (although it was completely shrouded in clouds) and on to Taupo. Its such a pretty lake and we had a very nice picnic on its banks. We ambled around the town and admired the giant trout (every town has a giant corrugated iron something). That evening we enjoyed a beer on a boat ride out to see the Maori carvings. They're not that old (only about 40 years) but they are still pretty impressive.

So the next day dawned clearer and we though maybe today we could see mount Doom (its 2200m after all!) But once again it was hiding from us. So we decided to go to stinky town instead (Rotorua). Claire loved this place the last time we were here.

On the way we stopped at the Huka Falls (apparrently NZ most visited tourist attraction) and the giant redwood forest. Well Rotorua is nothing like we remember but I think that is more cause we didn't see much ot if last time and less because it has changed. This time we went to the baths (the old victorian ones that are now the museum of history and art) We also stayed in a campsite that had their own heated spas (very nice)

The next day we finished visitng the museum and Claire bought some Uggs before we retraced our steps from the hike we did here 10 years ago. We went to Putaruru and Tirau. Then from there to Matamata

Sorry must dash

Mr P