Friday 8 April, Gisborne to Napier Today's drive is a relatively easy run south along the cost with only a short section of twisty hill driving. The scenic views distract us for the 3 1/2 hour trip, with the usual break for morning tea, being coffee and, for most, a cake. We arrive at midday and are able to check in to our beach front unit, very nice view, thanks for the upgrade. In the afternoon we make the most of the lovely weather by walking around town. T...

Thursday 7 April, Rotorua to Gisborne Before we finally left "Smelly Town" (the smell really wasn't that bad) we spent a bit of time wandering around one of the thermal parks in town. Free for anyone to explore, the steam and bubbling mud just comes up in what would otherwise be an ordinary a city park. There were also pools of the water created for people to sit around and soak their legs, although swimming and drinking the water was not allowed. Our drive t...

Tuesday 5 April, Hobbiton and Rotorua For the past decade or so, no holiday to the "Land of the Long White Cloud" has been complete without paying homage to the cinematic phenomenon that is The Lord of the Rings. We decide to visit the movie set location for Hobbiton, the home of the Hobbits. An hour drive west of Tauranga, over the Kaimai Range, is the town of Matamata and a few kilometres southeast, along Buckland Road is the farm where all the exterior scenes...

Monday, 4 April, Hot Sand and Volcano Climbing. The plan for today was to experience a bit of North Island's natural volcanism so to start we follow the signs some 15km south from Whitianga to Hahei and Hot Water Beach. For two hours either side of low tide it is possible to experience hot natural springs that bubble up, or just below the surface of the beach sand. As luck would have it, low tide was at 9.45am so when we arrived at around 8.15am it was the perfe...

Sunday 3 April, Coromandel Peninsula Exploration Colin and Tony grab a cab for a short drive on deserted roads to the city Thrifty office at 8.15am. We pick up the same model of car, a Toyota Previa which is good because we now know where everything is, and we can get all the luggage in the back. Today's first stop is Paeroa which is 1 1/2 hours drive to the southeast. By the time we have had a coffee, most of the antique shops are open, and now you know why we...