New Zealand - Queenstown to Christchurch

Day 112 - 26th March

We had an incredibly cold night in Wendy last night, with temperatures well below freezing, judging by the amount of frost on the windscreen this morning. We both wore our thermals and layers of other clothes but weren't able to get warm enough to sleep properly. Luckily the weather today was glorious and the sun warmed us up nicely as we had a leisurely breakfast on the shores of Lake Wakatipu. We spent the day walking around Queenstown, which is our favourite Kiwi town so far. It has loads of clothes shops, cafes and art galleries and feels a little like a ski resort town (which it is in the winter) but set in the most beautiful location. We walked along the shores of Lake Wakatipu, the tops of the mountains visible today without the clouds. We stopped for a slice of cake in the Queenstown Gardens, a pine forest park on a peninsula at the edge of town, and watched people playing frisbee golf. We treated ourselves to a seafood dinner from a fish an chip kiosk, which consisted of gigantic prawns, green-lipped mussels, calamari, scallops and fish & chips, and drew envious looks from passers-by. After that we spent some time in the Central Otago Wine Experience, a tasting shop a bit like The Sampler in Islington, where you can buy taster-sized samples of wines. We sampled several of the nearby Central Otago region's delicious pinots noirs and hope to be able to get out to some of the vineyards to try some more in the next few days. Tonight we're camping in a freedom spot on the shores of Lake Wakatipu with beautiful views and the sound of the waves lapping on the beach, which more than makes up for the lack of facilities (we do have our own toilet anyway!)

Queenstown

TSS Earnslaw

Jon enjoying our seafood banquet

Day 113 - 27th March

We had a significantly warmer night last night than the previous night and woke feeling refreshed. We set off at about 9:30 to drive to Milford Sound. Our route took us along the shore of Lake Wakatipu with more great views of the mountains and then along through some lower country of hills and grassy plains, that reminded us of the lowlands of Scotland. We stopped in the town of Te Anau to top up on petrol and headed off into the beauty of Fjordland National Park. Although the weather was terrible and the low cloud meant that visibility was bad, the scenery was still magnificent. The tops of most of the mountains were totally covered in cloud and I'm sure the views would be much better on a clear day, but the mist and rain gave the whole area a mystical, ethereal feel as we drove down through deep valleys and through the Homer Tunnel. The scenery on the other side of the tunnel was more spectacular, with the deep valley below us shrouded in low cloud. Unfortunately, just as we were enjoying the scenery, and debating whether to head out on a cruise of Milford Sound this evening, there was a loud pop from Wendy's engine! At first we thought it was a problem with her exhaust, as the noise she made when driving was quite something, but we couldn't see any obvious problems with it. Grateful that it wasn't our problem to fix, we drove her very gingerly to the nearest accommodation we could find and used their phone to call the company. They agreed to send a tow truck out to us and even arranged it so that we could still do our cruise of the sound tomorrow morning. Thankfully the lodge we'd pulled in at had camping sites and we could sleep there for the night (albeit in their carpark). As the rain hammered down we made good use of their lovely warm dry lounge, thinking how helpful it was of Wendy to have prevented us venturing out on a cruise this evening as we had originally planned.

Waterfall on the way to Milford

The drive to Milford

The view from the other side of the Homer Tunnel

Day 114 - 28th March

we got up early for the 9:00 cruise on the sound, which came complete with free breakfast. The rain had stopped overnight and, although there was still a low cloud base, it was beginning to lift and the mountains around us were becoming visible at last. In the morning light the Sound looked really beautiful and the mist gave a magical quality to our voyage as we slowly cruised around with only a few other people on our boat and only one other boat in sight. We learnt that Milford is not a sound at all, but a fjord, and a deep one at that. The sides are steeper than the ones we saw in Patagonia, but other than that they were very similar. Once again we were amazed by the silence in the fjord – just the gentle thrum of the boat, the occasional sea bird and the sound of waterfalls trickling down the walls all along the length of the fjord. By the time we reached the Tasman Sea the sun was fully up and the entrance to the fjord was bathed in light. After our cruise we walked back to the lodge, had a shower and waited for our tow truck to arrive at 2:00. With Wendy safely on board we made our way slowly back out of the valley to Te Anau. There were no clouds at all by this time and we were able to take in the views that were hidden from us yesterday – and what fantastic views they were. The mountains were topped with snow and glaciers with white waterfalls running down all around us. The only pity was that we weren't able to stop the truck and take any photos. We arrived at the garage, fearful that we'd have to bid farewell to Wendy if they couldn’t fix here, and certainly expecting to spend the night in Te Anau. We were amazed when, after about 15 minutes tinkering, her engine roared into life sounding happier than she had since we'd picked her up a month ago. Apparently one of the spark plugs had come loose and was rattling around inside the engine! With Wendy fixed we happily drove back to Queenstown, where we camped in our free spot by lake again, amazed that we were still on schedule.

Me at Milford Sound

Milford Sound waterfall

Milford Sound

Our boat

Poorly Wendy

Day 115 - 29th March

This morning we went into Queenstown for coffee and wifi and treated ourselves to some tasty cake. Once we'd checked e-mails, news and finances, we drove up into Gibbston Valley to bungy bridge and watched some jumpers. The bridge was quite low and the jumps looked a little dull, and were over incredibly quickly. Even Jon was glad that he hadn't signed up for one. I think we've discovered that New Zealand has more to tempt us than adventure sports. Speaking of which, after watching a little bungy we walked up to the Winehouse, owned by Henry Van Asch, partner to AJ Hackett and co-creator of the bungy, who has turned his hand to wine tasting. We spent some time sampling six wines in very generous tasting measures, and decided that we have developed a taste for Otago Pinot Noir – yum! After lunch in the van to sober up we drove on towards Mount Cook. We stopped for the night in a campsite by the road at Omarama in the mountains, where once again it was very chilly at night.

The gorge at Bungy Bridge

Day 116 - 30th March

we finished our drive to Aoraki Mount Cook, New Zealand's tallest mountain, and set in the magnificent Mount Cook National Park, which contains 22 of the 27 peaks in New Zealand higher than 3050m. We enjoyed beautiful views along Lake Pukaki as we came in, with Mount Cook and Mount Sefton visible in the background in haze of cloud and morning sun We settled Wendy in at a DOC campsite underneath Mount Sefton and walked to Kea Point to look out over Mueller Glacier. The glacier itself has now totally disappeared, leaving only a muddy lake but with views towards Mt Cook, and right underneath Mount Sefton, which was beautifully covered with snow and glaciers. After that we walked the three-hour Hooker Valley Track to Hooker Lake. The track took us over rivers on cable bridges and we had great views of Mount Cook all the way up the valley. The lake at the end of the trail was right in the shadow of the mountain and filled with small icebergs from the Hooker Glacier. We had a very scenic picnic lunch then walked back to Wendy for wine. Being this high up and so close to the snow line it was once again very cold at night.

Mount Sefton

Mount Cook from Lake Pukaki

Mount Cook at Hooker Lake

Mount Cook

Day 117 - 31st March

Today was a long day of driving as we made our way up to Kaikoura. We drove through pretty countryside that reminded us of England, full of rolling hills and pastures and very pretty. After around 7 hours of driving we set up camp for the night at a site beside the beach just south of Kaikoura, ready to explore the area tomorrow.

Day 118 - 1st April

We got up and drove into Kaikoura, where I decided to have another go at swimming with dolphins after we failed in the Bay of Islands. I booked on a trip at 12:30, Jon decided to sit it out in the name of cost-saving. We had a look round town , decided there isn't much there, had lunch, and went to check in – 1 hour early as the clocks had gone back and we hadn't realised! I got changed into my wetsuit and we were split into two groups – around 15 on each boat. We had only travelled about 10 minutes out of the harbour when we found the pod of dusky dolphins, around 200-250 of them! We all got our masks and snorkels on and jumped off the back of the boat into the pod, where we were able to swim and play with them, making noises and diving down to attract their attention. As silly as it felt singing through a snorkel, the noise did seem to attract them and, while most of the dolphins just swam past me, some did come up to investigate. It was an amazing feeling having so many dolphins swimming around me on all sides, sometimes they would swim straight at me and sometimes appear right in front of me as if from nowhere. From time to time one would take enough interest that I could catch its eye and entice it into a game of swimming round in circles. This game usually only lasted 20 seconds or so but occasionally one would really decide to play and change directions or dive down and up again, with me desperately trying to keep up. Dolphins swim really fast so it was quite exhausting trying to keep up. We were able to swim with them 5 times (the maximum that their permit allows) before drying off on the boat and warming up with hot chocolate and biscuits. On the way back into the port we caught up with the pod again and watched them jump and splash around us. The dusky dolphins were much smaller than the bottlenose we saw in the Bay of Islands but have a reputation as being the most acrobatic of all the dolphins, and it was easy to see why. It was an incredible trip and I feel really lucky to have been able to get so close to two species of dolphin. Jon spent the afternoon using the internet and drinking coffee in the cafe. In the early evening we went for walk along the cliffs and saw lots of seabirds along the beautiful coastline. We sat and watched the sunset on the top of the cliffs before driving to our free campsite in the lovely Puhi Puhi Valley. What a spectacular day.

Dusky Dolphin

Ready for swimming

Sunset in Kaikoura

Cormorant at sunset, Kaikoura

Day 119 - 2nd April

We went to the seal colony at Kaikoura in the morning, where 4 huge New Zealand Fur Seals were sunning themselves on the rocks. We watched the tide coming in with a cup of tea while a heron fished near our van and the seals tried to avoid getting wet. 

New Zealand Fur Seal

Kaikoura

Heron at Kaikoura

We drove towards Christchurch and stopped for lunch at New Brighton, which the guidebook had made sound like a charming beachside town, but which was in fact nearly and quite rundown. After hot-footing it out of New Brighton we decided to drive round the Banks Peninsula from Lyttleton. The Banks Peninsula was formed when two under-sea volcanoes erupted, creating a landscape of mountains, steep coves and two really pretty harbours. Unfortunately we had to duck back to Christchurch over the rather high Dykes pass as we were nearly running out of petrol. It was a little hairy climbing over the cliffs but we made it in time. We drove out the other side of the Banks Peninsula towards Akaroa, past pretty inlets and steep bays. We stopped overnight at the small harbour of Duvauchelle at a campsite right by the beach.

Day 120 - 3rd April

We got up and drove along the peninsula to the small town of Akaroa, a former French settlement on one of the volcanic harbours, which was pretty scenery but very small. We drove into Christchurch itself and managed to find a hostel, although the range of accommodation in town is currently greatly reduced since the earthquake and we were quite lucky to find anywhere. We spent a bit of time walking around what's left of the centre of town, but most of the CBD is still off limits after the quake. A few projects have started up, trying to get some life back into the centre, such as a quirky shopping mall build out of shipping containers, but other than that the city still feels eerily deserted with a sort of post-appocalyptic feel, although the people of Christchurch themselves seem very determined not to let the quake defeat them. We bid a sad farewell to our trusty Wendy as we dropped her off at the rental company and headed back to hostel for quiet night of reading, take away pizza and a dodgy film in the lounge, after packing our bags ready for our flight to Australia

New Zealand - Hello South Island

Day 105 - 19th March

We woke to a very grey and blustery day, but that wasn't a problem as our major aim for today was to get the ferry to the South Island. After a leisurely morning we drove back to Wellington to the Interislander Ferry terminal. We were able to get on the next sailing, at 2:00, had a coffee and even checked the internet at the terminal building. The 3-hour ferry crossing was quite rough due to the strong winds, but nothing compared to our ordeal on the Navimag ferry in Patagonia, so we didn't mind too much. Sadly visibility wasn't fantastic and the Marlborough Sounds were shrouded in low cloud, still as we approached Picton we were able to get close enough to land as we wound our way through the sounds to get a pretty good view. We even saw a pod of dolphins swimming alongside the boat for a while. Once safely off the ferry on the South Island, we drove to our campsite. Although fantastic in every other way, Wendy is not well equipped for wind, being quite high and light, and it was a pretty hairy journey at times. Jon did very well to get us there in one piece and we found a lovely, reasonably sheltered DOC campsite along the beach at Rarangi, where we were treated to a spectacular sunset.

Marlborough Sounds

Sunset at Rarangi Beach

Day 106 - 20th March

After a relatively restful night we woke to find that the weather hadn't improved and the wind was still blowing a gale. That rather scuppered our plans to hire some bikes and cycle round the Marlborough vineyards, lazily tasting wine, so we decided to do the abridged version in Wendy instead. We started at the interestingly named Spy Valley, named after a defence listening post a little way away from the vineyard. Their promises of an espionage-themed winery were sadly a little optimistic, but the wine more than made up for it. We spent a very happy hour or so tasting about 6 delicious white wines, whilst chatting to the very friendly woman serving us. I even found a Sauvignon Blanc I was prepared to give van room to and we gladly bought three bottles of wine from them. After a restorative lunch, it was on to our next vineyard, Highfield, which has a Tuscan inspired building complete with square viewing tower with great views of the Marlborough Valley. Here we tried 7 wines (8 if you count the fact that we tried the sparkling twice!), 5 whites, a sparkling and a pinot noir. We both liked the chardonnay and the pinot but they were quite pricey so we didn't buy anything here. After that much wine we decided it would be better to call it a day as Jon still had to drive Wendy to our overnight destination. We drove up the coast to the small town of Havelock, which claims to be the Greenshell Mussel capital of the world. The town itself was tiny and set in a small harbour, which I'm sure would be lovely in slightly better weather, but we found a great mussel restaurant and ordered their mussel sharing platter and a cool glass of white wine. We tried the huge Greenshell mussels in many forms – steamed, grilled with bacon and cheese or sweet chili, marinated, battered and smoked – and all were fantastic. The mussels are so much larger than the ones we get at home and they have a lovely meaty texture, it really was worth the stop off. After dinner we drove to yet another lovely DOC campsite, this one set in lush tropical forest near Pelorus Sound. We took a short evening stroll to a nearby waterfall (albeit a very tiny one) and had a relaxing night as the wind finally seemed to be dropping.

Highfield Vineyard

Enjoying Greenshell mussels

Spy Valley

Day 107 - 21st March

The weather had indeed improved when we woke up and as the morning went on the wind dropped to almost nothing and the sun came out in places. We drove to the city of Nelson and stopped to have a look around. Nelson is a bustling metropolis by NZ terms, with a fully stocked high street and tons of cafés and bars, still we had our usual difficulty in finding anywhere with wifi. Eventually we found an internet café and I was finally able to publish the blog from the rest of the North Island. We drove north through beautiful countryside until we reached Marahau, a small beach town right at the southern entrance to Abel Tasman National Park. We found a company to hire some kayaks tomorrow, but unfortunately the man there said the weather forecast wasn't looking great and they might not go out tomorrow. We'll have to check back with them in the morning and hope we can get out on the water. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering along the beautiful beach, trying not to step on the starfish that lay everywhere, and found a campsite just outside of the town. Jon went for a nice run along the beach, so that's him happy for another few days! Fingers crossed for tomorrow's weather...

Happy Jon in Marahau

Marahau Beach

Starfish

Day 108 - 22nd March

It rained all night long and the morning was damp and misty, still we decided to get up and speak to the kayak company, and by the time we got down there the rain had stopped, the wind had died and the sun was shining. Hooray! We got our kayak and equipment and had a quick safety briefing from the guide and then we were off in the morning sunlight into the beauty of Marahau Bay. We quickly remembered our kayaking technique and headed off across the bay towards the headland, with the still water glistening in the sun. We spent the first part of our trip meandering around some of the 12 bays and coves we passed, although as the tide was in the beaches themselves were not visible. We spent some time paddling around the rock formations in Stilwell Bay, including venturing into two small caves, which were really cool. We headed over to Adel Island, just off the coast, in search of seals but they all seemed to be hiding from us. As the morning wore on the wind picked up and the sea got quite rough in places. Our plan was to paddle round the headland to Anchorage, where we would leave our kayaks, but as we rounded the headland the wind picked up and the waves became quite strong. Sadly we had to turn back not far from Anchorage as our little kayak was being swamped by the waves and we were no longer making progress because of the wind! We paddled safely into the beautiful sheltered Watering Cove, where we stopped for a bite to eat and to dry off in the sun. 

Abel Tasman in the morning sun

Stilwell Bay

Me in Stilwell Bay

Jon at Watering Cove

After lunch we had one more attempt to find the seals on Adel Island as some people we spoke to told us where they had seen them this morning. That turned out to be ill-judged – as we crossed the water the clouds descended and the rain began to fall, and when we reached the island the seals were sensibly hiding from the rain. By the time we got back to Watering Cove it was raining hard and we were soaked through. We left our kayak on the beach for the hire company to pick up later and made an attempt to get dry and change into our waking clothes, not an easy feat in the rain, even under some trees! Still quite soggy but safely wrapped up in our waterproofs, we started off on the 12km walk back to Marahau. Despite the weather the walk was easy and very scenic, and the rain quickly eased off to a light drizzle so walking wasn't too unpleasant. The path took us through woodland full of silver ferns, across streams and waterfalls and past the same coves we had kayaked past this morning, only this time, with the tide going out, the beaches were on display. The colours of Abel Tasman are magnificent – the sea is a brilliant turquoise, the trees seem to be greener than usual and the beaches are made of endless golden sand – all in all a truly spectacular place, even in the rain. We got back to Wendy, dried off and festooned the van with lots of wet clothes. We drove about 2 hours south to Kawitiri Junction, a free, basic DOC site that turned out to be a gravel carpark next to the road on the site of an old railway station, but it had a toilet and the road was quiet, so it suited us just fine.

Abel Tasman beach on our walk home

Day 109 - 23rd March

We slept well last night after our long active day and woke feeling refreshed and not too achy, which was just as well as today was a long driving day. We drove south along Highway 6 towards our destination of Franz Joseph Glacier. The rain had stopped again but the clouds were very low, meaning that our view of the mountains as we drove through the Southern Alps was severely truncated, and at times non-existent. Still, it was a pretty drive through farming country, forest and river valleys. We stopped for lunch at the coastal town of Punakaiki, famous for its limestone rock formations at nearby Dolomite Point. Known as pancake rocks as the limestone is formed in layers, like stacks of pancakes, they have been shaped by the sea into a network of stacks, gullies, surge pools and blowholes, through which the sea thunders in spectacular fashion. We spent half an hour or so just watching the sea rush through the cracks and crash up the rocks, once again wishing we lived by the sea. After lunch we drove on for another few hours to Franz Joseph. We made good time, the whole journey of more than 450kms took us less than 8 hours, including over an hour at Punakaiki. We stopped into the company that runs tours on the glacier and found out that the walks will be running tomorrow but the weather forecast for the next two days is for more wind and heavy rain. We settled ourselves into a campsite to deliberate as to whether we'll venture out onto the ice in such bad weather. The campsite is the swankiest we've stayed in so far, with a bar, restaurant and jacuzzi, which we enjoyed in the evening light after a glass of wine.

Punakaiki

Cormorant on Pancake Rocks

Day 110 - 24th March

We woke to rain, but not the heavy downpour predicted and optimistically booked ourselves on the 3:00pm glacier walk. Sadly, by the time we had had breakfast, the heavy rain arrived and proceeded to pour for the rest of the day. We had our only truly written-off day so far cooped up in Wendy with the rain beating down outside and strong winds making it far from ideal venturing-out weather. We decided that we really didn't want to be walking on a glacier in this weather, especially as we were rather spoilt with the incredible glaciers in Patagonia and the tours aren't exactly cheap, so Jon went down to the shop to cancel our booking. He got the distinct feeling that most of the other people there were contemplating doing the same and that the company was considering cancelling the walk anyway. Back at the campsite I met two girls in the toilets trying to dry off a mound of clothes and bags with the hairdryer – they had just got back from the full day walk, which had been cut short due to the weather, and said that it wasn't exactly the most enjoyable experience, so all in all we didn't feel too bad about cancelling. Late in the evening the rain eased a little and we ventured out to the hot tub, which had sadly malfunctioned, due to the huge amount of water it had had dumped in it today, and was not bubbling and slowly getting cold. Still it was warm enough for a short soak and we chatted to a Dutch family and a guy from Denmark, which was nice and felt a bit like being back in a hostel. As the rain started up again we went back to the van for dinner and a beer. When we went to sleep the rain was still hammering down and thunder and lightening had just started.

Day 111 - 25th March

Thanks to the wonder of ear plugs, we both slept through last night's thunder storm. This morning it was still raining, though not as consistently heavily as yesterday. We decided that as the weather hadn't improved that much we still weren't really up for several hours of soggy glacier walking and decided to see them by car instead on our way to Queenstown. First stop was Franz Joseph Glacier, where we managed to find a brief break in the rain. We walked up to the glacier from the carpark but where a little disappointed when we got there. Maybe we really were spoilt by the size and scale of the glaciers we saw in Patagonia, but it seemed quite small and very dirty, with the face nearly entirely covered in stones at the bottom – dare we say a little over-hyped? We were both quite glad we didn't spend lots of money to come walking here in the rain after all! Next stop was the lesser-visited Fox Glacier, which was a similar size to Franz Joseph but which we thought was better. You could get closer to the ice face here and the ice was much cleaner with less rubble, more visible ice and a beautiful ice cave at the face. Sadly we timed our walk here badly and got totally drenched and had to fill the van with soggy clothes again. 

Fox Glacier

Franz Joseph Glacier

Franz Joseph Glacier

The sun came out just as we were leaving Fox (typical!) and our drive south became much more pleasant, although we still drove through many short sharp showers along the way. The scenery along the drive to Haast was very pretty, taking us along a river valley with fleeting views of snow-capped mountains along the side of the road. We stopped for lunch in Haast and then continued our drive into the spectacular Mount Aspiring National Park. Here Jon and I found our happy place, with view after breathtaking view unfolding of deep forested gorges, waterfalls and snow-covered peaks all around. The road eventually brought us out to Lake Wanaka, with beautiful views of Mount Aspiring and yet more lovely scenery at Lake Hawea. The area really reminded us of the Highlands and we're looking forward to spending some more time here. We took the road through the Crown Mountain Range to Queenstown, which is much more picturesque than either of us imagined. Set on the shores of Lake Wakatipu, ringed on all sides but tall white mountains it really is an incredible spot. We're camping tonight at a DOC site at Lake Moke, just outside Queenstown, but a million miles away from the hustle and bustle of the town – there is nothing around except sheep and yet more stunning mountains. I think we're really starting to like the South Island!

Crown Range

Lake Hawea

Lake Wanaka and Mt Aspiring

Wendy at our campsite at Lake Moke

New Zealand - North Island beaches and volcanoes

Day 95 - 9th March

This morning the weather was beautiful and we decided to have breakfast by the beach so we drove up to a car park overlooking the cliffs and had a tasty bowl of porridge while watching the morning surfers. Today's mission was to get to the Coromandel Peninsula and we drove for most of the day, stopping regularly to admire the incredible views. We stopped off for a paddle at a beautiful wide bay at Orere Point, with views out to Waiheke Island in the Hauraki Gulf, east of Auckland, and stopped for lunch at a sunny bay just north of Thames, on the south of the Coromandel. Tonight we camped at a DOC site in Kauaeranga National Reserve, a forested park just east of Thames. Our campsite was right by a river and Jon went for a refreshing evening dip in his pants! We also took a short walk to a replica of a Kauri logging dam with some interesting panels about the Kauri logging trade. The campsite was very basic and almost deserted, which suited us just fine, and, best of all, it was free!

Paddling at Orere Point

Jon enjoying a swim

River at our campsite

Thames

Day 96 - 10th March

We woke to beautiful sunshine and decided to have breakfast at a nearby beach, but, as we're discovering, NZ weather is very changeable and by the time we got there it was cloudy and windy. Still, the view was lovely looking out over the sea to the Auckland coast. We drove north up the peninsula to Coromandel Town, which was very small but set near a pretty wharf. We found a café with wifi and spent an hour or so catching up on admin and drinking cappuccinos. After that we drove across to the Pacific coast of the peninsula to the even smaller town of Whitianga. The roads were once again spectacular and we got some great views along the way. We didn't stop at Whitianga but drove instead to nearby Hahei and the famous Hot Water Beach. What better activity on a slightly grey afternoon than renting a spade and digging a hole in a beach to create your own personal thermal pool. The tide was just starting to come in when we got to the beach and there were loads of people there already, all sitting crammed together in steaming holes, it looked like a cross between a beach party and a bird colony! We found a good spot and dug a decent sized hole and had a little time to wallow in the amazingly hot water before the tide started encroaching. Cue a mad rush all around to build protective walls and sure-up the holes in a vain attempt to protect the precious hot water from being covered by the waves. Eventually nature won, all the holes were washed away and we gave up and went to play in the waves. The currents are really strong here so swimming isn't allowed but the waves were big and strong and it was great fun jumping about in them.

Once we'd dried off we drove into Hahei and stopped for the night at a campsite in the village. We wandered down to the beach, which was really beautiful, in a secluded cove with lots of small rocky islands just off shore. We watched the sun go down with a beer, by which time the weather had improved, the sky was clear and the evening was lovely and warm.

Hot Water Beach

Hot Water Beach

Hahei Beach

Day 97 - 11th March

The weather forecast we'd found yesterday was unfortunately accurate and we woke up to a grey day, although the morning was still dry. We're discovering in NZ that, although the weather may be cloudy, in the North Island the temperatures are still warm enough that you can comfortably spend a grey day in shorts and a t-shirt anyway. We had breakfast in a car park overlooking Hahei beach before setting off on a walk to nearby Cathedral Cove. It was a lovely hour-long walk through the bush and past scenic coves with views out to the many islands off the coast. Cathedral Cove is only accessible at low tide and the DOC advise against walking through the arch that joins it to the next door cove, Mare's Leg Bay, as there is a high risk of rock falls. No-one seemed to pay that any attention and we happily walked through the cave to the near-deserted cove beyond. Cathedral Cove and Mare's Leg Bay are both picturesque little coves with steep cliffs at either end, joined by caves and arches, with stacks and other interesting rock formations just off shore – really rather beautiful. Even though the sky was still grey, the temperature was warm enough for us to go for a refreshing swim in the sea. The tide was going out and the waves were quite big and lots of fun to play in, although the shallows were full of fish eggs. Luckily there was a fresh-water waterfall on the beach where we could shower afterwards and wash the fish eggs out of our hair!

Cathedral Cove

Cathedral Cove

Headland from Hahei

Once we got back to the van we had lunch and then the rain started – excellent timing! We decided to abandon our plans to drive to more beach towns as visibility had dropped to almost zero and spent some time drinking tea in our nice dry, spacious van. In the evening we drove to the town of Wanamata and had delicious fish and chips before heading for our DOC campsite in the countryside just south of town. We were very grateful we had Wendy and didn't have to go through the soggy faff of setting up a tent in the rain! Here's hoping tomorrow's weather forecast is equally accurate and the sun returns.

Day 98 - 12th March

The rain fell heavily all night and didn't stop until early morning, but we stayed nice and dry in our trusty van. Although dry, the day was still cloudy and we figured it wasn't the best weather for sitting on a beach or going for any more walks and decided to leave the Coromandel and make our way to Rotorua. On the way we stopped at Waihi Beach and the small town of Bowentown, where we had planned to do a short walk to see a pretty harbour and the remains of a Pa (a Maori fortified settlement) but as we pulled up into the car park the heavens opened again. We had a cup of tea and some cake and waited to see if it would clear... it didn't so we drove on to the Bay of Plenty. We stopped at Mount Maunganui, one of the country's best surf resorts, but the weather still wasn't favourable for surfing. Instead we whiled away a happy few hours in the town's open air hot salt water pools, which were really quite hot and lovely to be in on a slightly grey day. We drove along the beach front for a bit, where a few brave souls were trying their best to catch some surf, but the waves weren't that tempting, even for Jon. Hopefully we'll get back here if the weather picks up a bit in the next few days.

We drove on to Rotorua, at the centre of New Zealand's geothermal core, famous for hot pools, geysers and adventure sports. As soon as we arrived the heavens opened and we drove through a heavy downpour before reaching our DOC campsite on the shores of Lake Okareka, about 15 minutes out of town. The campsite is right on the lake, in a beautiful setting surrounded by hills and forests and the weather is even brightening up a bit – hopefully tomorrow will be a bit better.

Jon and Wendy at Lake Okareka

Day 99 - 13th March

Today the long-awaited good weather arrived! It was a beautiful morning at the lake and we took our time getting up. After breakfast we drove into town to explore Rotorua a little. First stop was the tourist information office where we booked ourselves a white water rafting trip for tomorrow. We were planning on heading to one of the geothermal parks near the town and our rafting trip came with free entry to Hell's Gate, just outside Rotorua. We also looked at information about the numerous Maori village experiences around and decided that they all looked way to tacky and touristy to bother with. We went for a wander around the town, through the pretty Government Gardens, with their Victorian Blue Bath public bathing house and the somewhat bizarre-looking Rotorua Museum, which is housed in a huge Victorian part-gothic-mansion-part-mock-Tudor building. We walked through the gardens to the lake shore, where I had my obligatory paddle, and then followed the pretty lake-side path up to the main quay, where all the jet-boating and leisure companies sell their wares.

Lake Rotorua

Leaving the lake behind, we walked into Kuirau Park, a free geothermal park in the middle of town, where the bubbling sulphur and mud pools are dotted around, fenced off from the local sun-bathers and families playing ball games – pretty cool to have as your town's common.

After a spot of lunch we decided to use our free entry to Hell's Gate. The park promises to be “the beast of all thermal parks” and the most active in the area, but a couple of tourists who were leaving as we arrived advised us to get our money back, and we soon found out why! The “beast” turned out to be a series of pretty shallow, pretty inactive slightly bubbling pools, some sending out little puffs of steam here and there, some not seeming to do much at all! Thank God we didn't pay the $35 entry fee, let alone shell out for the mud spa, which turned out to be a hot swimming pool in a shed-like building near the entrance. It was so rubbish it was really quite amusing to walk around, and quite an entertaining way to while away an hour or so.

After that it was back to our lakeside campsite for a tasty stir-fry (first in over 3 months) and a glass of wine.

Hell's Gate

Hell's Gate

Hell's Gate

Day 100 - 14th March

Another glorious day here in Rotorua. We had another leisurely morning by the lake before heading up to Okere Falls just north of town for my first ever experience of white water rafting. We chose to raft the Kaituna river, a short section of river with 14 rapids including 3 waterfalls, one of which, at 7m high, is the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world! Hooray!

The trip was fantastic, we had a small group (just 4 of us) and a great Japanese guide. It's safe to say I'm now a white water convert, and the waterfall was brilliant fun. We had planned to spend the afternoon warming up in the Polynesian Spa in town, apparently rated as one of the world's top 10 spas, but the weather was so glorious we decided to head back to the campsite instead and spend some time relaxing by the lake. We both had a lovely, if rather refreshing, swim in the incredibly clear water and then did some much-needed laundry. We finished the day reading our books in the evening sun with a beer – perfect.

Day 101 - 15th March

Sadly the good weather abandoned us again and today was overcast and drizzly. We had planned to do some kayaking on a nearby lake but decided that it really wasn't the weather for it. Instead we treated ourselves to the Polynesian Spa (not really a treat as it was half the price of kayaking!) The spa complex was fabulous, with 7 outdoor naturally heated thermal pools, some with alkaline water, which left your skin feeling silky smooth, and some from a radium-enriched spring, supposedly able to cure all kinds of ailments. Some of the pools had views out onto Lake Rotorua and we spent a happy few hours gently soaking away.

After lunch we drove south to Lake Taupo, the largest lake in New Zealand, stopping at the nearby Huka Falls, which were very impressive.  Taupo town itself turned out not to have much to offer but a walk along the lake shore was very nice, and by the time we got there the sun was shining again. We treated ourselves to a campsite with power and recharged everything electrical, then spent a lovely evening enjoying some rather nice NZ wine.

Huka Falls

Huka Falls

Lake Taupo

Day 102 - 16th March

Today we set out to make up for the rubbishness of Hell's Gate and rediscover our love of thermal parks with a visit to the Hidden Valley or Orakei Korako, just north of Taupo. The reserve is on a lake island and is reached by boat, albeit a very short journey. This time the park didn't disappoint. It takes about an hour and half to explore the park area, which is very active and covered with bubbling spitting geysers, which send an amazing 20 million litres of water per day trickling over incredibly colourful silica terraces down into Lake Orakei. The pools are covered in brightly coloured algae, which form beautiful shapes and patterns. There is also a deep cave with a turquoise pool at the bottom, apparently one of only two caves in the world found in geothermal areas. At the entrance to the park is the amusingly named Diamond Geyser, so called because when it erupts, the falling water droplets sparkle like diamonds. Sadly its eruptions are unpredictable and it didn't go when we were there.

After leaving the park, feeling very impressed with the beauty of New Zealand's geothermal landscapes, we drove south to Tongariro National Park, home to three of the country's highest volcanoes and the Tongariro Crossing walk, which we will be attempting tomorrow. Time for an early night and a hearty dinner to prepare...

Algae, Orakei Korako

Orakei Korako

Orakei Korako

Silica terraces, Orakei Korako

Day 103 - 17th March

We got up early to catch our shuttle bus to the start point of the Tongariro Crossing. Tongariro National Park is New Zealand's oldest national park and sits at around 1000m above sea level (nothing compared to Bolivia but high by NZ standards) so last night was quite chilly and this morning was crisp and cool. The weather was perfect, clear skies and the sun was rising happily over Mount Tongariro as we set off. The Tongariro Crossing is a 19.4km walk that takes you up and over the volcanoes of Mount Tongariro and Mount Ngauruhoe (Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings films!) and is generally reckoned to be the best one-day walk in New Zealand. The walk started easily, meandering up through a scrubby valley below the mountains before we climbed in short, manageable sections up to the saddle between the two volcanoes. The views were beautiful, both of the mountains and the park below, and it was quite exciting for us LotR fans to be walking below the real live Mount Doom. The final section of ascent before we reached the central crater of Mount Tongariro was quite steep and slippery but I made it up with only a few short rests and the rewards were fantastic. We stopped for some lunch at the highest point, the spectacular red crater, which was really quite red with beautiful rock formations. After that we descended towards the central crater, past three magnificent emerald lakes that were rich turquoise in colour due to the mineral deposits. We crossed through the final crater of Mount Tongariro and began our long descent down the other side to the end point, which took a very long time. It's possible to start the walk from this side, and some people do to avoid the crowds, but the amount of climbing at the beginning would be much greater. The views from this side of the crossing down into the park below were even more spectacular than at the start. We could see for miles, across forests to lakes, including Lake Taupo, and mountains in the distance. We finished the walk after 7 hours and caught our shuttle bus back to where Wendy was waiting for us, feeling a little tired in the legs but thoroughly happy after a fantastic walk. We spent the night back at the same campsite and had a nice few drinks with our neighbours, Dawn and Dave, a couple of friendly middle-aged campervan clubbers.

The start of the walk

Mounts Tongariro and Ngauruhoe

Look!  It's Mount Doom!

We made it to the top!

Red Crater

Emerald Lakes

Day 104 - 18th March

After consulting our maps and itinerary we have sadly discovered that time is running away from us and we don't have enough time to do all we wanted to. So we have decided to miss out Hawkes Bay, where we were hoping to drink some tasty wine, and push onto Wellington so we can make the most of the South Island. We spent most of today driving from Tongariro to Wellington, although the roads were good and we made reasonable time. We stopped for lunch at a pretty beach near Palmeston North, where we took Wendy onto the sand and ate our sandwiches on the beach, watching the waves roll in. We reached Wellington at around 4:00 and spent some time wandering around the city. It is set in a lovely harbour and has a nice docks area, where we tried to follow the writer's walk, a route around the dock area with poems displayed along the way, but we only managed to find 3 and couldn't find any information about the route at all! Wellington seems like a lovely city by NZ standards, but like all towns and cities here, it is very small and we couldn't find that much that we really wanted to see or do, having decided that we didn't have enough time to do the Te Papa museum justice, so we headed on to our campsite around the peninsula in a pretty forest park. The site was well set up, with the incredible luxury of hot showers and situated in a river valley surrounded on either side with tall pine trees. It was another cloudless night and gave us one of the best starry skies we've seen on our trip.

Wellington