Arriving in Auckland, New Zealand, to heavy rain and a mid day temperature of 6 degrees , was what we could only describe as a severe shock to the system, having aclimatised nicely to the average 36 degrees we had just left behind in Fiji!!! Both freezing cold and looking like Brits abroad dressed unsuiatably in summer clothes, we got the bus in to Auckland to find our first proper hostel, BASE.

Walking through the town and of course round some shops, we got speaking to the locals who gave mixed weather reports; some say its freak for this time of year and that its been bought on by the tsunami in Samoa, others say its normal, so its a lot like England!! Also they suggested that it probably wont be warming up for a while so we should invest in some warm clothing.

After two days in Auckland, and not managing to see much (other than shop) because of the depressing terrential rain and freezing temperatures we collected our camper van (a very basic modified old nissan van) and began our adventure! Heading to the middle of the North Island to Oahkune for our first stop, (a lovely little sking town) as they have snow which is unheard of at this time of year! Andy was really excited at the prospect of sking! Our chosen campsite was full so found a small place just out of the town with good facilities, and settled in with the van, although when it came to bed time we had no power, so no heating!!!! (Not good when its below freezing so we had to wear loads of layers and huddle together to keep warm!) I think Andy managed to sleep, but thats not unusual, he will sleep in any condition, i on the otherhand kept waking up hoping that the weather would soon warm up!!! (No such luck though, we have been here two weeks now and it still just as chilly!!) We managed to get a couple of days Skiing in on Mount Ruapehu (Mount Doom, from Lord of the Rings) which was amazing! Andy put me in Ski school and much to his releif and amazement, I took to skiing quickly, managing not to fall over too many times!!! Loved skiing although neither of us enjoyed arriving back at the camper van parked at the top of the mountain to find it had a flat battery, bearing in mind at this point everyone was leaving and nobody had any jump leads!!!!

Andy - Got on the last shuttle bus to see if they had any jump leads and the driver tried to radio for help but nobody was answering. He assured me he would sort something out and drove off. Next thing, a hippy kiwi teacher from Wellington turned up in a suped up chav car and offered to run me down off the mountain, into town to fetch some jump leads, and drive me all the way back as his good deed for the day! Decided to try it and leave Laura with the van incase the bus driver came up with the goods. The dodgy teacher sounded creepier the further we drove down, offering to cook a meal for us that night and then offering to let us stay over at his place as he ‘could use the company’!! Sounds like something out of the movies, so i was more than a little relieved when Laura phoned to say the driver had sent his mate from Yorkshire down with some jump leads and we were back up and running!!! All was well but i still cant believe i left the lights on, never done it before ever!! Checked in at the Top 10 camp site in ohakune for a warm shower. Great camp site.

Next day the weather turned quickly and a big storm was hitting the area which would also bring more snow. Sadly it meant the resort was closed so eager not to waste any time we decided on the advice of the girl in the camp site office to head to Wanganui for the day to see some surfing etc. Beautiful drive down there only to find a place that resembled Coalville By the Sea!! Stayed for about 40 minutes and decided to make our way back to Ohakune. More Wroot luck when we got back as it was raining really heavily and as soon as we parked up we fell asleep and were woken by cold rain water falling in on us through the skylight in the van!! A plastic bag and a wet towel would have to do until morning and fortunately it held out.

The following day we woke to bright sunshine and no wind, so headed up for a days skiing. Fresh powder, bright sunshine, it doesnt get to look any better than that!! Had an awesome days skiing and Laura came on no end!! Last run of the day and she decided she wanted to see the top of the mountain so we headed up. The blue run i had intended to take her down on was closed due to the time and so we had to go for the black diamond! She managed really well but took a few tumbles (my fault of course!!!), but then the sweeper came to hurry us up. In the end he let me ski on to the bottom and called for a snow mobile to pick her up and take her to catch a chair lift down.

I reached the bottom and waited til she came into view, and watched as the lifty who was messing about with his mate, saw her at the last minute, ran over to press the stop button for the lift, missed it, grabbed hold of the chair and told her to run (in ski boots), he than let go of the chair, it swung forward, scooped her up, hanging off the side as it swung round the corner, bashed her into the uprights and threw her off. They then managed to stop the lift and dumped her onto a chair by the hut. I ran over to see if she was ok and they carried on!! We got her checked out by the medical team, no help from anyone getting her there though, and she had mild concussion and some nice bruising. Without wanting to over or understate the whole thing, she had an incredibly lucky escape, but the good news is she still enjoyed the skiing and cant wait to go again!!

Laura - Leaving Oahkune we headed to the waiotomo caves, to see the glow worms, which were amazing, they looked like thousands of twinkerly stars! We decided to head all the way up North to The Bay of Islands, stopping at Wangarei Falls to break the drive! Decided to do an afternoon cruise of The Bay and predictably true to form as soon as we boarded the boat the rain came down, so the majority of pictures are crap and i was horrendously sea sick as it was so choppy, so a thorough waste of money!!! (We have both been spoilt in Fiji with the picturesce islands and the clear weather, if we had done the bay first we would have been impressed had the weather been good!) Headed back down to Rotarua to the thermal pools, and mud baths, these were great, although it smells a bit rough around this area as there is so much sulpher. We went to Wai-O-Tapu and saw Lady Knox geyser erupting to 10 meters high, this was pretty impressive and the areas around here look only how you would imagine landing on the moon to be, with boiling pools of water and creators everywhere and all natural! Heading on to Taupo, we called in to Huka Falls, which where incredible. We then pressed on to Napia for an over night stop before Wellington to see Gomez play at the Opera House. Napia was a fantastic town with buildings from the 1930’s. It had a nice relaxed hippy sort of atmosphere, a bit like Brighton back home. Would love to spend some more time there someday.

Andy – Checked into the Mercure Hotel in Wellington, changed and headed straight out to get some dinner and to the gig. The restaurant we stopped at was called Floriditas on the famous Cuba street, and we were given a table just behind where the band were sitting having some bottles of wine!! Couldn’t believe it and Lolly went over and had them sign a $5 note for me!! Great food and some NZ wine, then off to the Opera House where a few rounds later we positioned ourselves right at the stage! Never been that close before at any gig and the sound quality was amazing. Gomez were awesome as usual and at the end a roadie gave me a set list from Ians keyboard and one of Ben Ottowell’s plectrums. We then managed to charm one of the ticket office girls for a gig poster for the full set. Thanks to Sue and Brian for an awesome night, a great early Birthday present!!

One thing we can both say about New Zealand is that the scenery really is stunning, just driving along the main roads from place to place stoping to take the odd photo we have found amazing water falls just tucked into the mountains, which are a real beauty and totally unexpected! Travelling down to the South Isalnd should be a real treat as we have been told that its even more beautiful there, so for now we are enjoying partying in Wellington, and aprechiating staying in a nice hotel for a couple of nights, although tomorrow its back to reality of life in a the shonky old camper van!!!!! Thats it for now, thank god we are up to date so these blogs will be shorter, we promise!!!