Clare writes: This is our last stop before heading back to John's in Hamilton and flying out to S. America. Last night was the last of my 'Dead Good Down Under' gigs - at the Nectar Lounge in Thames - and really enjoyable. I'd been a bit knackered but everyone was so welcoming that i kept it all together and had a great time to boot! There was a really good open floor before my set - which always makes me feel a bit embarrassed to be hailed as the 'visiting in...

Clare writes: With only days to go, we raced up to Northland (the pointy bit north of Auckland) to see the famous last remaining giant kauri forests. This will take the number of tree photos Sheila has taken to 9,356,472. I think I'm suffering from tree fatigue!! We stayed in a very sweet hostel in Dargaville - it used to be a primary school and still has little coat hooks at knee level and giant murals - we even got to monopolise the telly for a change! The...

Clare Writes: Rotorua's smoking like the whole town's going to blow! I knew it was the heart of some big geo-thermal area but I wasn't expecting pools of bubbling mud popping up randomly in the local park, and bushes steaming. 'Please keep to the paths' it says - but some of the paths have smoking holes in them too! Bonkers! We came up from Napier via lake Taupo and picnicked at the same spot as on the way down more than a month ago, but this time we stayed in t...

Clare writes: we've had a lovely relaxed time for the last few days in lovely Napier - a city which was destroyed by earthquake in the early thirties and rebuilt in the Art Deco style that was prevalent at the time, so it's full of the pastel colours and distinctive lines of the style. Local shopkeepers and bars are often in keeping too, using the right fonts etc. Nice to stroll around - even if the lookout we sweated up to mainly has views of the containter por...

Clare writes: DOn't believe this picture - we've been to Wellington twice now and it rained both times! grrrr. I'm starting to get hostel fatigue too - most of the places we've stayed have been great but there is a tendency to only have 6 cooker rings for 100 people and I'm not great at sharing a kitchen with even one other person!! Anyway - last night's gig in Wellington seemed to go really well. Lovely people - very civilised after my last gig - the crazy n...