The Taupo region was next in line on our trip, and is a good rest point on the way to Wellington at the bottom of the North Island. A day hike that is also famous is the Tongario crossing which ventures over and around a dormant but not extinct volcano; it takes in several crater lakes and hot pools along with other thermal activity spots. We had planned on doing this hike as part of our preparation for the Inca trail as it is quite a challenging 17killometres. T...

Having had such a good time at hot water beach we were in search of some more thermal activity, of the volcanic type or something near to it which made our destination Rotorua. On the way we were making at stop at a place called Waitomo caves which is a place famous in New Zealand for its glow worm caves. After a long and pretty average drive we arrived at Waitomo caves to discover that this natural wonder had been turned into a money spinner in a big way. The op...

With Auckland far behind us we were well on our way to the Coromandel Peninsula with the aim of going to Coromandel town. On the way we had been reading the ‘Bible’ otherwise known as the lonely planet book, which tells you just about everything you need to know from what to see, where to eat, and where to say along with other random info. Our conclusion was that we had no interest in going to Coromandel and decided that we would divert to the next planned s...

We have worked out that the New Zealand weather is a bit lazy, the reason been because usually early morning it is grey and dull and possibly raining. This however seems to clear around 10am after it has got itself woken up and had the usual morning brew, which knowing this is a big help in planning our very busy daily schedule. On this occassion we had left Waipu cove for the second time but this time enroute to Auckland city, this was around 2 hours so the sun ...

Having done the Treaty grounds and decided against the dolphin trip, the Bay of Islands now only had boat trips and nice views to offer us. We had taken in the views and on this particular part of the trip boat tips were not on the menu. Our next venture was to Cape Reinga which is the furthest Northen point of New Zealand, and according to the Maouri the departing point for a dead persons soul as it passes to the other side! This was a very long trip with windi...