Just back from a road trip around the Taranaki region aboard the spacewagon! Once again we set off after work on Friday eve and headed for a town called Taumarunui, where we set up camp before the start of the Forgotten World Highway. This is a 150km highway, originally built to connect small mining towns to the rest of NZ, however now it's just a tourist drive since the miners packed up, leaving behind them almost deserted townships. It was full of random ...

Just a quick update after our blackwater rafting trip to the Glow-worm caves of Waitomo. Unfortunately we've no pics of our adventure; as when we arrived they had just discovered they'd been robbed of all their cameras and tills overnight. It was a little dangerous down there, even for our tough little camera! Basically the trip involved adventuring through a dark wet (underground rivers) cave in wetsuits with a car tyre tube to keep us afloat! The cave roof a...

All is well in New Zealand; with the space wagon now set up as a camper for our weekends away! We have just spent our first New Zealand bank holiday weekend (labour day) exploring the Coromandel Peninsula; We took loads of pictures but as always they don't seem to reflect its true beauty despite our constant 'snap happy' efforts. So we set off after work on Friday evening with the space wagon loaded up, taking the Pacific Coast Highway to Coromandel town; ...

So we've spent most of September settling into Raglan, sampling the local cuisine, exploring the local area and sorting out our home (check out the 'home patch' album). We tried the local takeaway this weekend; an Asian (Indian, Chinese and Thai in one!!). Tim's highlight was the cremated onion rings which were sold as onion bhaji and the accompanying bags of unknown 'sauces', one of which was definitely mint jelly!! As we work Monday to Friday, we've spent we...

So we've been settling into our new home and jobs for a few weeks and chose our first weekend away at Taupo; only a short 2 hour drive south. The weekend started at the 'Crater's of the Moon' 45 minute walk through a geothermal area; complete with steam vents, craters and mud pools. The ground was warm to touch and we were surrounded by a mild sulphur aroma! It popped up following the arrival of the local geothermal PowerStation in the 1950's, which affected ...