We've had a long drive across to Taranaki today, for which there wasn't really a direct route. We decided to give "The Forgotten World Highway" a miss for a less windy and wild route by going up north towards Te Kuiti and round the coast to New Plymouth. On Tom Hill's advice (Phil's good mate from Oxford who grew up there), we are staying just down the road at Oakura Beach campsite. Another lovely plot with a seaview! We stopped on the way at the Whitecliffs Wal...

So this morning's alarm hurt... had we even been asleep yet?! We arrived at basecamp bleary-eyed at 7.50am for the 8.15am shuttle bus to the start of the Tongariro Crossing - one of the world's greatest one day treks. When we visited the information centre in Taupo yesterday we discovered that due to the volcanic eruptions from the Te Maari craters of Mt Tongariro last August and November, the last half of the track has been closed and will be for the forseeabl...

This morning we headed straight to 'Te Puia' - the New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Institute and Whakarewarewa Geothermal Valley. Having paid rather a lot for the entrance fee, we opted for the guided tour for once to make sure we made the most of what the centre has to offer. The whole place is run by Maoria and the guy who led our tour is the Great Grandsom of the founder of the Institute. He gave us some really interesting insight into Maori culture and w...

It was wonderful to wake up to the sound of waves breaking on the shore this morning. We set up our picnic table and sat out overlooking the beach for breakfast. Today we drove to Rotorua, only about one hour south of Papamoa Beach. Rotorua is a region famous for it's geothermal activity with numerous hot springs, geysers, mud pools and steaming craters. I decided we'd start off with a visit to Waimangu Valley - a short scenic drive south of the city centre. ...

Last night was our first experience of a Top Ten holiday park and I have to say we were rather impressed. They have great shower, kitchen and BBQ facilities and everything was lovely and clean. For a change from our usual yoghurt and muesli breakfast, we went to Oliver's Cafe in Orewa this morning. I had the best porridge ever (although I'm amazed they were serving in the middle of their summer!) They also had free wifi and freshly baked muffins - win!Once Phil h...