ThamesWe arrived here via Miranda where we had lunch by the side of the road because we thought we had got lost. The view across to Thames from the car was wicked vast blues waters with a backdrop of hills/mountains. All was good and we found a nice friendly hostel; Sunkist International Backpackers. It was quite a large buliding and 140 years old though had been modernised quite alot. We were also invited to have a welcoming complementery cup of perculated coffe...

Piha(pea-ha); Lion RockArrived savely in the new car!!! Didn't get lost too much either. Such extremely windy roads drives you crazy after little while around all of the huge hills. Though there are many gorgeous look outs over the coast, you wanna stop and pull over all the time. Camped for the night on site with plenty of room and flat ground!!!(so no slipping to bottom of tent). Piha is only a small place but has a rugged and impressive coastline. On the f...

Orewa 2 Arrived back in Orewa for couple days; for a rest before returnig to City of s***e (Auckland). Not a lot had changed there, the batchelors appeared to still be milling about being weird. Went for evening run on beach followed by briefest dip ever in water due to crab underfoot(Sam's) and sighting.This time we took advantage of the hot tub, was almost to hot to handle. Played cards and went to bed. Woke in the morning to find luxury choc dessert gone a...

Whangarei (pronounced fang-ar-ray by the locals, it appears wh is like an f??)Well we mangaed to land on our feet yet again, got dropped at the info centre havin not booked a hostel and havin no idea where we were, but low and behold there was a hostel 800m up the road. We just about managed to stumble the 800m, our bags appear to be getting heavier and expanding, mind u packing in the dark doesn't help matters (tried not to disturb people as sleeping in dorm...

Paihia (Bay of Islands) 90 Mile beach and Cape Reingaall done from distant memory. so bear with me. may whitter a bit.First eve in PaihiaArrived in Paihia (said pie-he-ya) at Mayfair Lodge. In room with 6 others. By far the biggest place we stayed so far. Lovely and homley tho and decorated with lots of bright fish. Dutch couple also stayed here which was nice as no got travelling friends. Eveing bbq at nearby Pipi Patch ( all the lame brits all stay togeater her...