After a brief pit stop in Dargaville for fuel and coffee (not much else to see there), we had a long and easy drive back towards Auckland this morning. We had unfinished business with the Coast to Coast Walkway so decided to go to One Tree Hill in Cornwall Park, just south of the city. We climbed to the top for panoramic views of the city and beyond, grabbing an ice cream on the way back down - the first time we'd really treated ourselves since arriving.However, ...

We had a nice coffee sitting on Paihia Beach before hitting the road this morning - it was so nice to actually relax for 10 minutes - we will definitely be doing that more often from now on. Today's plan was to head across to the West Coast (Kauri Coast) to see Waipoua Forest, but actually that wasn't even the highlight of the day.We passed through Kaikohe and picked up a "French Stick" from the bakery (it would appear that New Zealanders are no better at making ...

After a chilled out morning planning the next few days of travelling, we booked a boat trip for the afternoon with Explore NZ. The cruise was amazing! We were lucky to have beautiful weather which made the water and surrounding islands look even more spectacular. The boat sped out of the harbour for at least half an hour until slowing down to a great spot for dolphin watching. We tried to get some pictures but they're pretty fast moving and other people kept gett...

We had to check out of Camp Waipu Cove at 10am this morning so we were soon back on the road up north. The scenery is so beautiful out here - very green and hilly. If it wasn't for the warm and sunny weather we could be in Ireland! Speaking of the weather, it's so strange to see Christmas decorations up in the streets during "summertime".The first place we stopped at was Whangarei Falls - apparently New Zealand's most photographed waterfall. Despite some heavy ra...

We still felt pretty rough this morning but were soon revived by the full buffet breakfast included in the price of our hotel. The full works was provided along with pancakes with maple syrup, pastries, muffins, cereal, fruit, yoghurt etc! Needless to say we were keen to get our money's worth and delighted not to be eating plane food anymore (or Burger King for that matter...)We picked up our campervan in Auckland this morning - it's so cool! You can certainly se...