Hello from New Zealand everybody!

Since Lois wrote our last blog we spent 3 nights on Robinson Crusoe Island (I don't think that's its real name), drinking more kava, watching more fire dancing and eating lots of bbq… good times! Even the bucket showers didn't stop us enjoying ourselves. After some very hot days in Fiji our time here was at an end, and late on 28 January we flew in to Auckland. The following day we picked up our Spaceship "Scarlet" - a battered old Toyota that had clearly seen better days, but it's bright orange so we love it (and even Lois can find it in a crowded car park).

We spent a brief day in Auckland just having a wander around to look at the city and it was like being at home but warmer! We then drove North up to Pahia and camped opposite the Haruru falls. While we were in the North we visited the Waitangi treaty grounds and had a look around Pahia.

We headed back south to Waitomo where we did some black water rafting through the glow worm caves. We continued to Rotorua (via a very dull Matamata - aka Hobbiton) where we visited the Wai O Tapu thermal parks and saw the Lady Knox geyser erupt. Rotorua really stank of rotten eggs, but we enjoyed our time there and spent an evening at a Maori experience learning about the culture, seeing the Haka, and eating their traditional Hangi food (meat, potatoes and stuffing cooked in the ground on hot stones - sweet as).

We made a flying visit to taupo where we swam in hot springs and saw the mighty Huka Falls. The next part of our adventure in NZ saw us driving around the east cape - we kept a lookout for Moko the friendly dolphin but we weren't lucky enough to see him! After some amazing scenery we arrived in Gisborne and we met up with my little sister Rhi and Teddi. We spent a week parked up on the hillside overlooking Wainui beach and apart from the mosquitos we could see why Rhi loves it there. In our time in Gizzy we got very drunk at a surf competition (won by Teddi), boarded down the Rere rockslide (Rhi even braved it in a crappy tyre tube we'd bought), I had a few hours of surf lessons (definitely not a natural surfer), went wine tasting, Lois did some yoga, and Rhi tried to turn us into vegetarians (never gonna happen). All in we had a great time in Gizzy and it was especially good seeing Rhi for the first time in 18 months and everyone was really friendly - the only downside was Lois being ravaged by the entire mosquito population!

We eventually left Wainui beach to drive along the coast to Napier - a pretty little seaside town with lots of art deco buildings. At the time of writing (12 Feb) we are planning on making our way to Tonagariro to tackle the Alpine crossing!

We hope everyone back home is well

Love Ben and Lois xxx