Hello Everyone!

Just to update you on our last couple of weeks in New Zealand.

We arrived in Auckland on the 1st August and quickly settled into our lovely rented apartment! It had everything we needed - a kitchen, bathroom, our OWN washing machine, DVD player - all sorts! We barely even wanted to leave it to explore Auckland!! Auckland is a nice city, although it rains pretty much every day! We had to traipse to the DVD rental place on more than one occasion! We wandered around the streets window shopping,bought some new vinyl and just generally relaxed.

We picked up our new Hippie Camper on the 7th in the heavy rain! Our new campervan seems just as good as the last and we drove out of Auckland to Helensville for our first night. The campsite there was as muddy and wet as the rice paddies of vietnam, but the scenery around on our drive was stunning! The amount of rain makes the grass unbelievably green and we really felt like we were in the Lord of the Rings!

The next day we set off to Warkworth and SHEEPWORLD!!!! Sheepworld was brilliant because it also had a campsite where we got our own private ensuite bathroom! I KNOW - THE LUXURY! We went around sheepworld in the morning and were the only ones there! We fed the cutest baby lambs, piglets, horses, donkeys, goats and llamas. We even got to hold baby bunnies and see some pretty much newborn baby bunnies. SO CUTE! We had a lovely lunch at the cafe there - where I had a bowl of chips so big that even Tom couldn't help finish them!! At Sheepworld they paint their sheep pink when they shear them which was really funny to see. There were tiny lambs everywhere!

The next day we headed off to the beach and Waipu Cove. The beach was beautiful and deserted, probably because of the RAIN!! haha.. We went along the shore collecting perfect shells - there seem to be way more shells washed up in New Zealand. We had a little wander around the town of Waipu too.

The next day we headed for the city of Wangarei which was lovely! We stayed in a really nice campsite which even had its own hot tub - which we took full advantage of! There was the sweetest cat there who we christened Ellen (De Generes), who tried to come away with us by stowing away underneath our bed! We walked to see some lovely waterfalls and walked along the harbour front area, which they have made really nice. We saw New Zealands biggest sun dial and bought some delicious fudge! HMMMM...

The next day we drove to Paihai, which is quite a touristy beach on the bay of islands. The bay of islands really is fantastic and beautiful. We stayed a little further out of town by the falls. Our campsite was right on the edge of a lake into which the falls fell, and it was very pretty. However, heavy rain meant that the water level rose overnight, and we got a real surprise when we woke in the morning to see the lake almost overflowing!!!

From Paihai, we drove to KeriKeri. KeriKeri was really nice and was surrounded by craft shops and orchards. We went on the craft trail and went to a chocolate factory where we bought some vanilla truffles to sample - MMMMMM! We also went to a Kaleidoscope workshop (actually someones shed - but REALLY COOL). The guy was really clever at making kaleidoscopes, and had made water scopes and sound activated ones and many others. We also went to see the old stone store at the river basin, where they still sell really old fashioned things. We had a sneaky macdonalds for our dinner - but only because our pizza half burned, half didnt cook in a weird pie oven.

Next day we went to the very tip on North Island (except Cape Reinga) which was Ahipara, and Ninety Mile Beach. The weather was awful that day so it was a bit of an indoor day but Ninety mile beach is pretty cool because it is actually a designated highway. They recommend you dont drive on it though because of quicksand! EEK! (We didnt drive on it because our rental company doesnt allow it!!) I SEE WHY!

Next day was Dargaville, a little pit stop town. We stayed in a nice campsite where we had a lovely ensuite. We played a game of pool (VERY BADLY!) and had a little snoop around the town before heading onto Auckland the next morning.

Auckland was just a one night stop off on our way through, but we went into the city on the bus to have a little look around and to stock up on some of the very tasty freshly baked cookies they sell there! MMMM....

Next stop was Thames on the Coromandel Peninsula. Thames is an old gold mining town and we stayed at a very pretty campsite which to my HORROR had a butterfly house. NO TOM DID NOT CONVINCE ME TO GO INSIDE! We tried to go for a walk but it was very muddy, but the dafodil stalks are just starting to sprout and the greenery is stunning. We returned to our camper for pizza and garlic bread a rare treat as we had an oven in the camp kitchen.

We continued around the rugged coast on a long, wet drive to Comorandel Town. Toms driving skills are brilliant now as he is constantly driving in the rain, up the most scary, arduous roads you can imagine. Anyway, Coromandel is a nice little place and we decided to take a trip on the Driving Creek Railway. The railway was handmade by a man who is now 74, called Barry Brickell. The railway goes right through the deep, deep bush and up the mountain to the 'eyefull tower' - get it!? The track has to be changed by hand and the train driver had to drive through really skinny tunnels and reverse before we could get to the top. It was really great and had taken them over 30 years to make!

Next we drove to Hot water beach and Cathedral Cove. Hot water beach is a beach where on either side of high tide you can dig a hole and the water will be really hot. It is because New Zealand is a really geothermal place. We dug a small hole and dipped our fingers in but werent brave enough to fully plunge in. Cathedral cove was lovely and we took a little walk to admire the views. At our campsite was a lovely dog Tom called Raphael, who also seemed to want to get in our car!!!

Yesterday we drove to KatiKati, or Mural Town. They had painted many murals on all the walls of the town and you can go around and see them all. Our campsite was actually a mud wallow though beacuse of all the rain, and we ended up stuck in the mud with me behind pushing!! HAHA! We were lucky to get unstuck this morning and drive to the city of Tauranga, which is where we are now. We think we may stay a day or two as the city is really nice, and has loads of lovely looking restaurants.

We will keep you updated on our progress but we are having a lovely time despite the rain. New Zealand really is stunning and the scenery keeps on amazing us.

We will upload the photos asap.

Lots of Love,

Lucy and Tom xxxxx