Woke up early - again!! Drove into town and Nic booked to go on a big scary fast boat trip out into the Bay of Islands, which I opted not to do. Instead I spent my time doing the last lot of postcards for you lot!! We had time to kill prior to the boat trip and so after coffee in a cafe overlooking the harbour we decided to do a walk that was recommended in the guide book. It said it would take about an hour to get to the lookout and back - no problem. O...

Our alarm was set for 0610, as we had to drive back down to Kaitaia to meet up with the bus trip we had booked. We drove in our pyjamas and had a wash when we arrived at the information centre loos in Kaitaia. Perfect timing as the bus pulled in at 0900 and we headed out for the day. We decided to book a tour as on the west coast of the peninsula there is 90 Mile Beach which you can drive on, except for in hire vehicles as you are uninsured and likely to be sw...

The thing about camping is that you are up early - the sun heats the van up and the sound of other campers is easily discernible. So up early we were and showered and on our way by 1000. We decided to see if we could make it to the top, but weren't sure what the driving would be like as a lot of the roads over here are unsealed, gravel covered and very windy. We stopped by the side of the road for lunch, which comprised ham and salad (and the obligator...

Up early, with high expectations and forever hopeful that we would actually get a camper van. We did not actually believe that we would be picking up a van and so had decided not to plan where to drive to as this may have been a jinx on the van ever materiallising. Anyhow, the bus to the airport took about an hour and from there we were collected by the nice lady from Freedom Campervans. And there it was, our not so shiny, not too new, but very reasonalbe ...

Nicole arrived from England yesterday, after a two day journey and we went out for a drink last night before she finally gave in to exhaustion. Nic is best mates with Natalia, who I have been friends with since infant school!! Today we were up reasonably early, with the intention of getting ourselves organised and deciding where and how to travel the country. We asked at the travel centre at the YHA, only to be told that it is high season and there is no...