As we roll into Mount Manganui near Tauranga on the Bay of Plenty, and park up in our allocated space in the holiday park, it's clear that this place is pretty popular with locals and tourists alike. There is not much van space between neighbours but that doesn't matter too much when you pull the curtains at night.

Mount Manganui town is named after the hill of that name. It is 232 metres high and dominates the town, and is visible for many kilometres. It is where the Mount Manganui challenge takes place. Not that there is anything official about the challenge, but it reminds us of Sydney or Wellington with the number of keep fit enthusiasts who make their way to the top mostly running red faced and panting up the steep hill tracks. However, we are just a little bit fitter after Hikurangi and the East Cape lighthouse and while we don't run we are not put completely to shame! On our descent we spot a whole lot of folk standing around the beach, from a distance they look like red pillar boxes but as we get closer the true reason for the folk gathering becomes apparent. It is a Santa race in aid of a local charity and we stand and watch them take off around the base track of Mount Mangunui, the radio station DJ not letting them start until they shout Ho Ho Ho at the top of their voices. If you think Christmas can only be celebrated when the weather is cold, the nights are dark, the wind and rain are pounding at your windows and maybe a chance of snow, Southern Hemisphere residents would prove you wrong. Christmas trees are in folks houses, street decorations are lit up (though you can't see them in the evenings as it is still daylight), giant blow up Santas are in shops and gardens, tacky as ever.

A luxuriant soak in the hot baths is well deserved after our hill climb, and we can add to our list of hot pools we have been in. This time the pools are in a recently refurbished open air complex, the sea water being heated in a heat exchanger from super-hot water pumped out of a borehole 600 metres deep. It's nice, it's different, it's clean, it's busy but give me Nga Wha in Northland any day!

Thursday 5th December

New Zealand roads are not the straightest or most level, I guess it is the topography that necessitates roads reminiscent of the Alps, in fact there are a lot of roads worse that the Alps. They really test out The Beast, as he grunts and groans in second gear up windy roads with frequent 25kph signs on the bends…..that is real slow. Luckily we've not had to test out his ability in first gear yet and he is as relieved as I am to see the gradient slacken off as the hill top approaches. The road along the west coast of the Coromandel Peninsula also tests Lesley's resolve with travel sickness, and she copes well by closing her eyes and sleeping, but it's quite a bad experience this time so she takes a nap in the van's bed. Meanwhile I locate a pie shop and, out of sight and smell from Lesley, devour a sausage roll and apple turnover. Greggs, eat your heart out! For those of you not familiar with Greggs, it is a chain shop found in most towns in the UK, can be identified firstly by a queue down the high street at lunchtimes, often of schoolchildren, and purports to be a bakers in the loose sense of the word but in fact satisfies the hunger pangs of those of us that love pastry and cakey things…..

Lesley does recover her senses sufficiently to take a ride on a smoother form of transport, the Driving Creek Railway, close to Coromandel. Yes, folks, another railway, but hey, the place is popular with visitors…….are they all men accompanied by understanding wives! Built by Barry Brickell to transport clay down from the hills above his pottery workshop, he commenced work in 1973 eventually opening it to the public to help pay off his bank loan which he finally did in 2001. A grand feat of engineering now appreciated by all those that visit.

Friday 6th December

It is becoming clear that we could spend a week in the Coromandel, but with Lesley's Mangankino job start on Monday 9th, we have to plan carefully and regretfully not see the area to its full potential. So today it is Cathedral Cove, on the east coast, first up. For shoulder season, the car park at Hahei is packed and after we descent the 35 minute track to the Cove we can see why……..exceptional rock formations, holes and caves cut into the soft rock by the sea, forming three beautiful sandy coves. We can see that this place would be packed in the summer, and justly so.

Geology rules! You can't go far in the North Island without encountering interesting geothermal and mineral spots. The well known 'Hot Water Beach' is next on our list, a few kilometres from Hahei. Our timing is pretty good, you have to be on this beach a couple of hours either side of low tide to participate in this fun pastime. With another 100 folk armed with rented spades, we stake out our claim in the sand and dig out pools just above the sea level to expose bubbling hot water springs, and languish in this wonder of nature. The water is a bit too hot in places so the breaking waves provide an inflow of cold water to the pools. All those years with the children digging dams and rivers in the sand are paying off today! The scene is quite unlike anything you have ever seen on a beach, granted on a beach on a sunny day there are always a few budding engineers but today there is a mass digging frenzy with the participants eagerly prospecting for the best spot, a bit like digging for gold. I guess everybody wishes that King Canute was there to hold back the sea, but the tide is coming in and rapidly and literally eroding the pools. An hour later, where there was a mass of activity, it is now eerily quiet, everybody has left, and for a time anyway it becomes like any other beach………until of course the next low tide about 6 hours later when the enthusiasts and thrill seekers gather again.

The geology isn't quite done yet and at Waihi we take a 4km walk around the top perimeter track of the Martha Mine, an enormous opencast gold/silver mine, 700 metres across. The hole is 230 metres deep and exposed on the cliff faces are a few of the original mine tunnels. The hole looks pretty big, but at the peak of the original mine operation the deepest shaft was 600 metres (2000 feet) below ground level and there were 170 kilometres of tunnels.

So tonight we are parked at Waihi Beach, in a beach car park where motorhomes are allowed, just two vans here, and we have just finished steak, mushrooms, onions and pasta, followed by cake. Again, the sea just over the dunes, moonlight and a clear sky, it's not too bad a life on the road……!!