Hi now in Napier. Great campsite with ocean veiws keep looking for dolphins but haven't seen any yet. Got here yesterday afternoon after a nearly 3 hour journey, headed straight into the town which is famous for its 'art deco' buildngs (it was rebuilt after an earthquake in 1931). Stopped for lunch overlooking the sea then headed to Marineland which said in our guide book had dolphin and sealion shows, we'd given it quite a build up for the kids only to find when...

Just a quick one before I run out of money! Spent another night here in Taupo and yeasterday - our first overcast day we got in the van and drove to the Tangiriro National park. Basically Al wanted to see some real mountains so we decided to grit our teeth and do it. There was nothing for the boys to do so we just drove there looked at the amazing scenery took photos, had lunch then drove back! Let them play on the camsite for the rest of the afternoon so everyon...

Hi, now in Taupo travelled down yesterday stopped on the way at Wai-o-tapu thermal wonderland, more of the same - bubbling pools etc. but a lot more colourful, some of the pool colours looked totally unatural, they had names like the Champagne pool, devil's bath and artists palette, really stunning. We also encountered Huka Falls on the way down which is where the Waikoto river suddenly gets squeezed through a small valley and there is an amazing waterfall, we lo...

Hi busy couple of days. We left Papamoa on Thursday and headed down to Rotorua, stopped at a place called Hell's Gate on the way, an area with lots of natural geothermal activity - boiling mud pools, lakes and steam coming out of the ground in random places - it was amazing but really smelly and the kids didn't really like it - too much walking involved! Then we drove to our campsite in Rotorua - I was in charge of deciding which one - such a responsibility! It's...

Hi I'm getting all confused now - I think some of the entries have got the wrong headings - I'm a bit addled by the sun!! Anyway last thing I wrote we were heading to Tauranga and Mount Mungahi (I think that's how you spell it!) We spent the morning on the beach, had lunch in the van then headed out. The journey was ok as we put the portable DVD on for the boys - I had to go up front halfway through as I was feeling queasy in the back! Arrived at the Mount and fo...