Church with our friends Rod and Anne, then we headed across to the west coast to Piha Beach, shown in today's photo. Along with half of Auckland, it seemed! But we did find a parking spot, and walked along the beautiful black sand beach taking in the views and, of course, paddling... Now we're packing to head off to Hong Kong in the morning, but first dinner at the Hilton with a view of fireworks for the Year of the Rooster. Gung hei fat choi!

The North Island's answer to Bournemouth, Tauranga is where Aucklanders go to retire. It was good to visit an ordinary town in NZ, not one primarily set up for tourists and not a big bustling city. We lunched at a winery (why can't they call them vineyards?!) called Ohinemuri, and enjoyed a cold platter with their degustation. Lovely!

We've just returned from a totally brilliant evening's entertainment. I can recommend the Tamaki Maori Village cultural experience most highly, especially if your husband is chosen as chief of the "tribe" or tour bus! Andy was selected as being the only adult male who'd played rugby... He had to do the welcoming ceremony, including facing down a haka and accepting a peace offering of a silver fern. Here he's being briefed on how to lead his warriors - ie all adul...

So today we're doing two touristy things that are run by Maori enterprises. Later we're off on a full "cultural evening tour" to a reconstructed Maori village, with haka, hangi and the works, but first we went to Waiotaupo to view the sulphur pools, a spectacular geyser and a lake of boiling mud. Volcanic activity everywhere, very smelly sulphur explosions and totally, totally bonkers landscapes all around. I'll try to put more photos on here too, but this is an ...

Arrived in Rotorua in glorious sunshine. Sadly the museum, housed in this amazing building, is currently closed due to damage from the Kaikoura earthquake - I was horrified the effects were felt so far north. The town is a weird mixture of Bavarian spa and slightly tacky tourist trap - an intermittently successful marriage of styles!