Hello One and All,

Hope everyone's well and enjoying the build up to Christmas. Here is a latest update, hope you like:

We arrived in Auckland to chilly and overcast greyness and found ourselves having to buy some more cold-weather clothes. Apart from this shock to the system (steve was gutted he finally had to wear jeans) we found Auckland to be a nice city. We finally felt slightly christmassy - the first time since being away due to the colder weather and the fact there was a massive, giant santa pinned to the building opposite! Most of our time we spent planning our journey through new zealand and buying our camping gear for the real traveling i.e. roughing it, that we planned to do for the whole of NZ. Apart from this boring practical stuff we did manage a trip to the Auckland Museum which was great - lots of Maori cultural history, as well as natural history and the wars. We will be back to Auckland at the end of the month here so we should have more to say in a few weeks time.

After hiring a car (which is great to have the freedom after the rubbish coaches in Oz) we drove south to the next stop, the small town of Rotorua, famous for the geothermal activity i.e. mud pools, hots springs, geysers etc. Our campsite was great, once we got used to the eggy smell of the sulphur from the mudpools directly behind us, and we got to enjoy the free minerals pools which were naturally heated up to 38-40 degrees! Whilst here we visited the buried village (the 1st tourism spot of New Zealand) where people used to come and visit the naturally formed pink and white terraces in the 1800s, until they, and the village, were destroyed by the eruption of Mount Tarawera. Next day, we visited The Living Thermal Village of Whakarewarewa (apparently that's the shortened name of it) where the villagers still live around and amongst the hot springs and geysers. Here we got to eat the best corn-on-the-cob in the world cooked in the boiling mineral pools (they still cook most food in these and in home-made underground ovens using the heat of the ground to cook) and we had a great tour learning about Maori Culture, how they live using the natural resources of the thermal activity (eg. baths, cooking, heating) and we also got to see a Maori cultural performance of songs, dances and the Haka. A great day finished off with a walk around the boiling lakes and mud pits and up to the look out to see (and be sprayed by) the geysers in the distance.

Our next stop, after a beautiful scenic drive, was to Taupo, a whole town edging the massive Lake Taupo (apparently the size of Singapore) and then (because our camp pitch wasnt available yet) on to Tongariro National Park to see the mountains (also known as Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings). Here most people do the 6-8hour alpine crossing up between the mountains but because we didnt have thermal clothes and hiking boots we couldnt do this. Instead we had to settle for a two hour walk around the countryside, through the forests and marsh lands, up hills etc. to the pretty Silica Rapids and waterfalls. All around the park there were lots of different options to walk and hike and we also got to see a beautiful waterfall and Steve went to look at the burial site where the last Maori land wars were faught. The next day we took the short 5min drive up to Huka Falls, amazingly fierce rapids and waterfalls on the clearest, most beautiful river, which we also walked along for a few hours. So picturesque, the photos probably wont do it justice!

After having lunch by Lake Taupo, we then took another scenic 5 hour drive down to Wellington where we have been stopping with Steve's friend Katie (from Didcot). Wellington is also another nice city with really pretty harbour walks and great views of the city, sea and south island from Mount Victoria (just minutes drive from Katie's flat). After being well looked after and seeing the sites Wellington (today we'll go up the cable car to the Botanical Gardens) we'll be getting the ferry tomorrow morning to start our South Island adventure.

Hope you all enjoying the photos- you'll have to see them to believe how beautiful this place is (and we've been told the South Island is even better!) Love to everyone

Katie and Steve xxxxx