Another gorgeous sunny day. Not sure how we managed to be so lucky. We went for a walk after breakfast, to the lookout on the Captain Cook Cove walk, which was right next to the motor camp. It involved some big hills, but it was fantastic, just the two of us, a few cows, some fantail birds, a magpie and a pair of paradise ducks. The scenery was unbelievably awesome, which just seems to be normal for New Zealand. The walk was supposed to take 20 minutes, but I ...

People are extremely polite on the roads. It is so refreshing! Toots and waves all day. And not the sort of "waves" we regularly see in Australia, either! The whole hand is involved, not just a finger. The road markings and signs are excellent, friendly and easy to read. But if you miss a sign, that's it, it won't be repeated. There are no mileage signs or distance markers to speak of. Maybe once when you leave a town. The next time you know how far away the town...

We went for a walk on the beach path to watch the sunrise. It looked like it would be another beautiful day. There was a lot of timber on the shoreline. We had also noticed timber on the beaches as we approached Tirohanga yesterday. Our road this morning took us to the most easterly part of New Zealand. Every piece of shoreline was littered with the remnants of trees. The drive involved a lot of steep and twisty roads by the ocean. We stopped for morning tea ...

We got up early because I wanted to do the Hobbiton tour, and it would take 3 hours which was a substantial chunk of the day. We arrived at Matamata 5 minutes before the i­­-Site (tourist information office) opened. I was first to the counter and bought my ticket for the 9:30 tour. Brett was not interested in this tour, so I tasked him with resolving our internet issue. The Hobbiton tour was really good, and included a beer at the Green Dragon, so I was feeli...

It was raining again this morning. The last forecast I had read said that the rain would persist until Wednesday. We packed up our camp and left in the miserable weather. I had hoped to do some birdwatching in the area, but didn't really want to get soaked. As we drove south along the Firth of Thames, we noticed that the clouds ended in a clear line to the south. As we drove further we noticed that the line was moving north. We rounded the bottom of the firth ...