At this point I should really give you a round-up of the less newsy things that we do. This isn't supposed to be a guide book, or a tick box collection of where we've been, but it's certainly true that despite being a bit off the beaten track there's a few things here to keep us interested. We try to let you know that NZ, despite outward appearances, is just a wee bit different from the UK. Aka.....a midday news bulletin is read from my $9 (£4.50, brand new) Alcatel 'One Touch' phone....an Auckland man has been arrested for operating his car accelerator with a walking stick. Has anybody out there ever come across something so ridiculous? You heard it first here in NZ!

I'd like to tell you a bit about Morere Hot Springs, about an hour's drive to the south. Now, these are fairly common occurrences in this part of the world, and at $ 6 a go it's great to relax and you really do feel the benefit afterwards. All the more so if you do a 2.5 hour 'tramp' (ie hike) through native NZ bush first. You have a choice of quite salty public, private or plunge pools. I suppose the benefit of the private hot tub (with a great view outside to the bush) is that you can strip down completely if you wish. I will leave you good folks to guess what the Smarts did (no, you are wrong, one did and one didn't). One past occupier has got into the way of things and flung a pair of black knickers onto the branch outside, thus providing non leafy decoration. The plunge pools are most definitely a misnomer, though suggestive of the way you should use them. For us it was tiptoe first into the hot and warm stainless steel tubs, and yes, we did venture into the cold tub, albeit gingerly with lots of ooohs and aaahs, a couple of seconds is really all you need in there to impress the locals. We'll go back to Morere.

Thursday 16th saw us venturing into the hills to Te Reinga Falls. These are quite grand at 35m high, stepped, and would be tremendous in full flow. The previous weekend we visited Eastwoodhill Arboretum. This woodland of European species was established by a New Zealander of Scots descent in the early 1900's, and it is actually the NZ National Arboretum. For us the highlight was emerging from the woodland onto an open hill top with stunning views.

I came away from the Arboretum thinking, what was missing or different about that place? You would not expect to see foxes or snakes in the UK, but everywhere there would be squirrels. Well, folks, that is another difference out here, there are no foxes, snakes or squirrels in NZ.

We don't sit around much at the weekends and the one just past was no different. When you are travelling, you meet lots of folk with the same frame of mind as you, and from time to time you meet folk who you would like to see again. On our trip to Cuba a couple of years ago we got along with a couple from New Zealand, and exchanging e-mail addresses we made a note to visit them if we ever came back to NZ. We made contact this summer while in the UK, and Mike and Jo extended a kind invitation to stay with them on this trip. So, last Friday after Lesley finished work we set off on the 3 ¼ hour drive south to Havelock North, in Hawkes Bay. We'd decided to eat en-route in Wairoa (a town with no reason to stay) and the guidebook mentioned 'The Vista Motel' which did reasonably good food. Closed. The 'Cafe 287' was also mentioned. Closed. With no other choice, and the next food 2 hours away in Napier, we made for the fish and chip shop, which is where we should have gone in the first place as it was Wairoa hub on a Friday evening, with lots of locals calling in for very reasonably priced take aways......the banana in batter was a fitting dessert of liking to a Scot's taste!

It was not the main reason for visiting Mike and Jo, but the fact that they have an acre of land under vines helps. For them it is hobby, but to be able to sit on the deck and sip your own wine, well, that's a step up from what most of us will ever be able to do. They have self employed day jobs as well, and a lovely wooden holiday cottage that they let us stay in; this had been brought in by lorry and had to be lifted over the vines by a crane. You won't see 'Tuki' wines on the shelf, it's a subscription club with 500 members and a waiting list. The yield is about 10,000 bottles a year. So we learned about winemaking.....not all about it by any means, but enough to appreciate that it takes experience, a fine touch and is a bit fickle. If you remember the blog about Brian and Kirsty at Te Reinga farm, who told us that they needed rain, wine growers will tell you that they need some, but not as much, and that there are three sorts of rain : drizzle, cold rain and warm rain, the latter the worst as it can rot the grapes (we did get some rain, though of the drizzly sort).

I'm going to finish this instalment now and pad out the next one a bit with a bit of historical news.