USA

After dropping off our rental car we were driven to the airport by the grumpiest man alive. It was a few hours until our 12 hour flight so we lounged in a bar and consumed a few gin & tonics to help us sleep on the plane. Needless to say we were sad about leaving but excited about the heat of the desert, and excited about seeing Stu who would be the first familiar face we had seen for months.

After the longest flight of our trip so far we arrived and met Stu in the arrivals lounge, he had landed a few hours earlier and already picked up the rental car. Stu led us through the car park to a car which didn't look like the one I had seen when we researched cars to hire in America. It turns out that Stu is easily persuaded by little Chinese women behind counters, this one had told him to pay a little extra to get a white convertible Ford Mustang!! It screamed road trip and I was instantly happy for his oriental weakness. We crept out of L.A on one of its congested highways for a few hours until we turned off and headed east, towards Las Vegas. We stopped in a place called Barstow for a bite to eat and leg stretch. Stepping out of the air conditioned car the heat hit us like a wall, it was below 100F but was the warmest we had been since the orchard. It seemed like a good idea to drive the remaining few hundred miles with the roof down, I think we managed 50 or 60 miles. As we drove further from the coast and further into the desert the heat rose and rose until we couldn't take it any more, we stopped in hillbillyville and put the roof back up. Driving on we watched the temperature gauge rise and rise until it peaked at around 120F. It was late when we arrived at the New York New York hotel, we checked in and made our way to the suite we had booked. After freshening up we went down to see the hotel and grab some food...this is where it starts to get a bit hazy. We drank and  gambled and stumbled around the other hotels near ours, when we got back to our room we wanted to see what the strip looked like at night, we drew back the curtains and were blinded by the sunlight glaring down on us. It was 7am!

We slept until midday. That day we explored the strip, had a huge buffet lunch in Bellagio's, went shopping in one of the outlet malls, walked along the Venetian canal, and saw the Bellagio fountain on our way back to the hotel. And then it happened again. To cut a long story short we met a tall man called Austin Powers, joined in a poker game I didn't understand (with someone else's money), watched Michael Jackson, lost Stu. We got back to the room at about 8am this time and had to check out at 11! At about 1pm we were woken up by some loud banging on our door... oops! We checked out and slept for a while in the car, then we went back into the hotel and slept in a restaurant in there. When we finally felt OK to drive we left, and headed towards the Grand Canyon, it was a 5 hour drive through some great countryside. It was dark when we arrived and we checked into the Bright Angel Lodge, it was rustic and the rooms were cosy, we went straight to bed and had a great nights sleep.

It was refreshing to have a normal nights sleep and wake up at a reasonable time. We ate a great cooked breakfast and decided the plan for the day. We stocked up on water and started walking, we walked the south rim trail for a good 10 miles. There is not much point describing the canyon itself because it's all been said before, but put simply everything that you've ever heard said about it is almost definitely true. When you see it for the first time it doesn't look real, the distances and depths involved are so far removed from everyday life that your brain struggles to comprehend them. At the end of the walk we came to a small hut that sold ice cream, we sat in the shade and watched a chipmunk skulking about while we cooled down. We got the shuttle bus back to the lodge and hopped in the Mustang as we headed to our next hotel, in Tusayan, just south of the Canyon.

We were woken up at 6am by a dog in the room next door barking. We got a Mcdonalds breakfast to make us feel better. It was good to get up so early as we had a monster drive to get to San Diego, 10 hours to go! Lauren and Stu shared the drive through the Mojave Desert, dust devils dotted the landscape and crossed the roads, one crossed right over us and shook the car, fortunately the roof was on. We stayed in a Holiday Inn Express which was surprisingly really nice. We went for dinner in the Gaslight District which was a few blocks of bustling restaurants and bars, we wandered around and sat down to eat in Fred's Mexican Cafe (I wonder how Mexican Fred is?). The food was amazing and we were well and truly stuffed. We went back to the hotel and Lauren thrashed us at Monopoly, an early-ish night was required as we had a big day at SeaWorld tomorrow. We had all been to a SeaWorld before but not for years, we chatted like three excited kids as we looked forward to seeing the animals. It was great and lived up to our expectations. Killer Whales, Walrus, Beluga Whales, Dolphins, Polar Bears and Manta Rays to name a few of the animals. The one let down was the quality of the shows, they had lost all of the education that they used to have and were now just a crappy circus show, the dancing trainers and irritating music really detracted from the animals and cheapened the whole place. It definitely isn't doing anything to educate Americans about conservation issues. We got very wet during the Killer Whale show so decided to get wetter and hit all the water rides. It was 8pm and getting dark by the time we left the park, all in all we had a great day.

We woke up early and got ready to drive up the coast to L.A, before we headed off we stopped at a beach in San Diego, Lauren dipped her feet in the ocean. The drive was a quick 2 hour one, when we got to LAX we parted ways with Stu, after a long flight and a lot of sleeping we landed in rainy England. Despite the weather we were excited to get off the plane and see everyone, typically our bags were some of the last on the carousel. We were greeted by a massive "Welcome Home" banner and lots of happy faces, we had all missed each other very much and it was great to be back to familiarity.

Our Last Week Down Under

One of the things we wanted to do was visit Auckland Museum, a grand old building on top of a hill in one of the city's many parks. Upon arrival we saw it said $10 mandatory donation appreciated, so we did the only sensible thing and sneaked our way in. Money was tight what can I say. The museum was expansive and interactive with a fascinating invertebrates collection, If we weren't so poor we would have felt guilty for not paying.

Over the next few days we visited many of Auckland's parks, most of which are ancient volcanoes and rise dramatically above the flat suburbs. We had exhausted much of what central Auckland had to offer, so with our last few days in the country we used the rental car to good effect and went further afield to see some great sights that we had missed on our first pass through. A few hours drive there was a waterfall marked on our map called Hunua Falls which appeared to be one of the only waterfalls marked on the map we hadn't journeyed to see. It was well and truly in the middle of nowhere and all the better for it, with no one else around we sat and watched the tumbling water as it cascaded 100 feet to the pool below. On the drive back towards the city we discovered a wonderful botanical gardens that we strolled around for hours and talked about what we would and wouldn't miss about the country and travelling around in general. The spectacular waterfalls being one of them.

We were sad to leave the country. The rivers, mountains and beaches. But with the excesses of the USA awaiting the thing we would miss most would be the tranquility and relaxed atmosphere that seems to be all around us. Nevertheless America was waiting, and even though we were nervous about jumping into a city with more than double the population of the country we were leaving, excitement had begun to brew.

Bye NZ

Hi USA

The Cape and back again...

It’s been a while since we last blogged and there is much to talk about.

We visited Whangerei Falls as it was next door to the appropriately named Whangerei Falls Campground in which we stayed. Apparently the most photographed waterfall in the country, which is probably due more to its closeness to civilisation rather that its beauty as we have seen some more spectacular falls after a few hours walking. We left Whangerei and went to see what was confidently written on our map –The Southern Hemispheres Longest Footbridge- a few wrong turns and gravel roads later we came to the spot, disappointed is not a strong enough word to describe what we felt, I’ll put a picture further down for you to share our feelings. It may well have been long but it was probably also the southern hemispheres ugliest use of concrete.

Enough whinging. We drove further up the coastline and stayed in a few beautifully located campsites where we sunbathed, snorkelled and fished, Puriri Beach was a particular highlight and will be remembered fondly as I caught my first Snapper here, it was a monster as you will see in the pictures. The Bay of Islands was very scenic and we floated our van over the gap between Russell and Paihia on the $12 car ferry, after viewing some of the areas nice beaches and staying the night practically on top of Haruru Falls we continued further towards the top of the country. The Karikari Peninsula was a particular highlight where we scoured the rock pools for creatures and found countless crabs and starfish as well as some spectacularly huge shells. I caught a big wrasse here and cooked it up for dinner. At the foot of ninety mile beach we found a nice holiday park, it was raining and we decided to wait here until the weather cleared up to head up to Cape Reinga at the far north of the country. The weather got the better of us and we stayed in one of the sites luxury cabins for two nights, the first building we had slept in since Fox Glacier over 2 months ago. We got a break in the weather and slogged up to the cape which was breath taking, the sky was clear and the sea surrounded us. This point is where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet and there is a clear line where the two currents interact causing a very strange criss-crossing of waves. After walking to the lighthouse on the edge of the island we drove back inland to Te Paki where monster sand dunes loom overhead, we climbed up some and played around in the sand on a body board we found. I tried sliding down headfirst but the board got stuck in the sand and I carried on moving so ended up with a face full of sand, on this note we decided to leave.

Lauren’s 25^th birthday was fast approaching so we headed back south, we revisited Goat Island of course to say hello to the big snapper once more, and stayed another few nights at Tawharanui. This was probably the last time we would camp on the beach before we get into Auckland and sell the van so we made the most of it and got into our wetsuits and snorkelled with the eagle rays again. We eventually tore ourselves away and carried on south to the city. We had booked a hotel that had caught our eye on our first drive through Auckland, the Copthorne Hotel on the harbour front. Two nights of luxury were on the cards, I lost count of how many baths we had. On Lauren’s birthday we visited Kelly Tarlton’s Underwater World where we spent a few hours watching King Penguins and sharks. Later on we went into the very cool Freddy’s Ice House, a bar crafted entirely of ice, even the glasses you drink out of are made of ice. Several cocktails and shots later we went to the harbour for a meal and ended the night in another bar in front of a nice warm fire. In the morning we had a cooked breakfast and then embarked on a day of exploring Auckland’s shopping streets. Unfortunately we couldn’t stay in the hotel for another two weeks so we went to the motel we had booked. It had good reviews and was a good price for a week’s stay, when we arrived we realised why it was as cheap as it was next door to a building site. We stayed a night out of courtesy to the friendly owners but when we were woken at 8am by noisy builders we got our money back and found another motel.

The Mount Albert Lodge, a clean airy motel with full kitchens in the room and sky TV. Hooray! This will be our home until we fly to the states. For the weekend we had two car markets lined up where we would try to sell Maggi, the van’s warrant of fitness (MOT) was going to run our soon so this was our only chance to sell her. On Saturday we took the van to Auckland City Car Fair where we sat in our van in a miserable car park and watched the rain pour down, about three people looked at the van and none showed any real interest. We left disheartened and didn’t hold out much hope for the market tomorrow, it was looking unlikely that we would sell Maggi. The Market the next day was a completely different story, the sun was out and there were hundreds of cars for sale and dozens of vans, as well as a lot of buyers. Our van was priced low as we needed the sale and we got attention instantly, we held of finalising any sales until the end of the market just in case we got any higher offers, but settled on a friendly guy who would turn the van into a minibus for his charity. It was a shame that she wouldn’t remain a campervan but we couldn’t be fussy. Money was exchanged there and then and it felt good to have sold her, it was hard to say goodbye to our home of 6 months however and was very weird using public transport again. We didn’t suffer the public transport for too long and in two days picked up a rental car, an automatic Hyundai Getz, which we are using to scoot around the city and visit some of the sights further afield. Auckland Zoo was great and has some of the best and biggest enclosures that we have seen. We also took the stomach churning lift up the Sky Tower to the incredible panoramic viewing platforms with views all over Auckland and to faraway mountains and islands. Auckland has a ridiculous amount of Westfield shopping centres of which we have visited nearly all picking up bits and pieces for Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. Today we went to Piha, a surf town to the west of Auckland and known as one of the most dangerous beaches in the country. It has even spawned its own TV show about how dangerous it is called Piha Rescue, and after seeing the size of the waves it’s not surprising why. We wandered along the beach and then grabbed a bite to eat before driving around the coast to some other sights, all in all a very enjoyable and relaxing day.

There is a lot to do around the city so hopefully we won’t run out of things to do before our flight one week from today. We are very excited to get to America and seeing our friend Stu, and are excited to trek down into the Grand Canyon although less happy about the walk back out.

See you all soon.

 

Hobbits and Rays

So we realised when we were leaving Coromandel that we had missed a vital piece of our New Zealand Tour. Hobbiton of course. For those of you who do not know, the Lord of the Rings films were filmed in New Zealand and the set for Hobbiton lies just outside of Matamata, about 2 hours drive south of Auckland. We altered our route slightly and swung by. We spent a few days getting there and visited a few backwater towns like Te Aroha, home of the most pathetic geyser in the world, I've seen water pistols with more force.

Hobitton itself was great, it included a tour across scenic countryside before a guided tour around the set itself. The film The Hobbit was filmed recently so the entire set was exactly as it appears in the films, complete with 53 hobbit holes. We danced on the party field by the party tree, and saw inside Frodo's house, Bag End. After a few hours hobbitting around the tour ended and we returned to the Shires Rest Cafe where we fed some sheep. It was a very fun day.

After staying the night in Matamata we drove to Auckland and spent an enjoyable day wandering around the maze of harbours as we chose a restaurant to have lunch in. We decided to not see too much of the city just yet as we would have plenty of time to explore it in full when we return and sell the van. So we drove north to Whangaparoa and stayed at a great campsite on Red Beach where we met a few English people and swapped stories as well as swapping movies, we managed to get our hands on Lord of the Rings much to Lauren's delight, and that night we watched it and pointed out all the places we had been to. How sad we are.

The next few days were set to be sunny and warm so we chose to have a few beach days, we found a great park called Tawharanui which was a 600 hectare park surrounded by a predator proof fence, allowing rare native birds to thrive. We were surrounded by the cartoon-like Pukeko's and were informed by the ranger that there are Kiwis in the park, despite searching at night we didn't see any unfortunately. The beach here was great and as the wind was blowing from the south the water was flat and calm. We squeezed into our wetsuits several times over the 3 days we stayed there, and at one point saw 3 eagle rays through our goggles. Initially we were a little unnerved as we thought they were stingrays but after being reassured by someone we were actively searching them out.

On the recommendation of one of the English couples we met earlier in the week we went snorkeling in the Goat Island Marine Reserve. The water here was even clearer than the beach we just left and the coastline was a mixture of sand, rock and kelp. A haven for all sorts of marine life. We swam with huge Snapper, Red Moki and even more Eagle Rays, as well as loads of other small fish... it was fascinating. To get a wider view of the Marine Reserve we jumped on the glass bottom boat that left from the beach and got a guided tour around the reserve which covered 5km of coastline and stretched for a kilometer out to sea.

This evening we drove to Whangerei (all the towns sound the same) and are staying at a nice holiday park near Whangerei Falls, reputedly the most photographed waterfall in the country. We'll let you know if it lives up to it's reputation.

Me being a nerd!

Sam's House

Hobbiton..for all you nerds Frodo's house is the top left one!

This is where Robin sleeps when he has been naughty!

Goat Island

Big Snapper!

The crystal clear waters around Goat Island

Hell's Gate and The Coromandel Peninsula

Hell’s Gate was brilliant. We walked through a fascinating geothermal landscape admiring all the bubbling mud and sulphur pools that filled the air with steam. About hallway around we reached the steaming cliffs where we were able to pull clumps of hard mud of the walls and rub it between our hands. By doing so it transformed the mud into a gloopy liquid that magically softens and moisturises the hands (and makes a mess of cameras too!). It was very odd stuff. After learning all about the processes at work beneath the ground that create the pools, we were basically standing on a magma spike below a thin area of crust (reassuring), we went for our mud bath and spa session. For 20 minutes we sat in a warm private mud pool and coated each other in thick chocolate coloured mud, and against the advice of the people in charge completely covered each other’s faces. It was very funny. Funnier still was watching Lauren hop around under a freezing cold (mandatory) shower afterwards, that was until it was my go. Afterwards we lounged in a lovely hot mineral pool for as long as we pleased enjoying the blazing sunshine before setting off again, thoroughly relaxed and rejuvenated.

We had decided beforehand that we would return to the great campsite on the beach at Matata, we couldn’t get enough of the long white beach, the warm water and the fish and chips in the village. So we stayed for another two nights before continuing our journey towards Coromandel and Auckland, one of these nights Lauren was on a praying mantis rescue mission after witnessing a lady in the toilets trying to stamp on one, she scooped it up and released it into some bushes near our van, job well done. So after lazing on the beach for two days, both of us getting slightly sunburned despite it being the middle of autumn, we drove into Tauranga, a vibrant town full of character and surrounded by the sea on nearly all sides. The harbour was full of fancy boats and we enjoyed lunch in a café on the harbour front. We agreed that we would need some decent sized carry-on luggage when we leave the country (a little premature perhaps) so we took the chance when we saw a sale and bought a nice wheelie bag covered in butterflies, Laurens choice not mine. We really enjoyed the day in Tauranga but we had miles to cover so we headed a bit further along the coast to Waihi Beach where we found a nice holiday park and sat on the beach enjoying the afternoon sun until we were chased of the beach by the rising tide. We returned the following morning to the same spot on the beach and sat against a huge piece of driftwood, in the afternoon we drove up the coast and into the Coromandel Peninsula. The drive was scenic and passed through huge forests and twisted around the Coromandel mountain range, the journey was longer than expected and dusk was upon us as we climbed a steep gravel road outside of Whitianga to Otama Beach. The campsite there was little more than a field but was all we needed after the long drive, in the morning we were greeted with views of a sweeping sandy beach of spectacular yellow sand hemmed in by rugged rocky headlands at either end. We could have probably stayed here for a few days but an intimidating weather front loomed over us and we chose to escape over the somewhat dodgy road before we got rained on. That afternoon we set off westwards, crossing the peninsula to the town of Coromandel itself. A very quaint little town that reminded us of Arrowtown where we spent a few weekends whilst fruit picking, crammed with heritage buildings it looked like a scene out of a spaghetti western, we didn’t know whether to get a drink from the Golddiggers Liquor Store or go into The Saloon Bar. Finally we picked a campsite just out of town on the shelliest beach ever, it was called Shelly Beach unsurprisingly. The tide was out and the beach seemed to go for miles, we walked to the water’s edge and saw some locals digging for what we assumed were clams or cockles, we had a go ourselves but came up with nothing. The campsite was nice and had a great TV lounge so we treated ourselves to an evening of sky TV.

Our plan was to go and see some of the more remote parts of the peninsula, specifically the northern tip. This area is only accessible by what are shown on our map as orange lines, or unsealed roads. We have had some experience of these, the last orange road we drove on for any distance was 2 weeks into our trip to a place called Paurakanui, we got a puncture. Nevertheless we decided to brave it, half an hour of bone shattering driving later (along the scariest road topped with what looked like the sharpest gravel), we reached the end of the road and had arrived at Waikawau Bay. It was worth every mile, we pulled into a Department of Conservation campsite (the only sign of human presence around) that gave access to the beach along a nice walk through some sand dunes. The beach was golden and deserted, for four days we had the huge bay all to ourselves, it was paradise. On the first day I had a quick go at fishing and in just 2 hours had caught 5 nice sized mackerel, it was loads of fun! We collected shells and poked at sea anemones in the rock pools, before returning to our van and soaking up the last of the sun with a cold glass of gin and tonic, that we got from Golddiggers. After 3 nights and only a cold shower to wash in we began to smell a bit so we drove back along the gravelly track to Coromandel. Here we contemplated our next move and decided to head back to a section of the peninsula we missed on our drive up. Our first stop was Hot Water Beach, we checked into the nearby holiday park and rented a spade (it will become clear why), we walked along a beach to a steaming section of sand where we dug a hole and sat in it. A hot spring bubbles up from beneath the sand and fills the hole with hot water, this on its own however is far too hot at 62 degrees so the hole must be open to some of the seawater that flows in, getting a balance proved to be very difficult and there was a lot of inconspicuous syphoning of other peoples warm water from nearby pools. It was great fun and a nice atmosphere, one big wave destroyed my carefully constructed pool so we decided it was time to leave. We returned to our campsite and cooked something Lauren and I had been craving for a while, a ham and pineapple pizza. Yummy!

Over the next two days we visited some more of the Coromandel’s spectacular east coast beach’s including Hahei Beach and Cathedral Cove. At Cathedral Cove we bathed in the sun surrounded on all sides by tall cliffs and enormous archways, staring out at the tropical uninhabited islands off the coasts. The water was rough but that didn’t stop us from swimming and jumping through the waves before rinsing the sea water off under a nearby waterfall.

We left Coromandel after a great week where we were treated with nice warm weather for the most part and glorious beaches.

Next stop Auckland.

Hell's Gate

Me at Hell's Gate

Me and Lauren in mud at Hell's Gate

Praying Mantis not at Hell's Gate

Fishing at Waikawau Bay

Hot Water Beach

Cathedral Cove

Lauren at Cathedral Cove

The Cove at Cathedral Cove

Hahei Beach

The Pacific Highway

The last time we blogged was in Taupo, right now we are in Rotorua a mere 50 miles away but it has taken us all this time to get here. I’ll explain how.

Instead of taking the easy option and drive up Highway 1 to get to Rotorua we opted for the much longer and much more scenic coastal route. On the night of our bungy day we drove to Hawkes Bay on the Pacific Coast and spent a couple of days in and around Napier. The region had just had a week of none stop rain but fortunately for us we brought the sunny weather from Taupo with us. On one day we wandered around the town’s Art Deco streets, where there seemed to be more cafes than shops, while on another we simply strolled along the beach and watched the rather rough waves crash on the shore. Somewhere in between we visited a honey making centre called Arataaki Honey where we watched live hives and then got to sample loads of different types of honey, by the end of it we both had eaten too much honey, felt sick and didn’t want to buy any of it.

After enjoying Napier and its surrounds we drove northwards along Hawkes Bay and stopped here and there to see some of the beaches that the region is known for. On the way we had to skirt around a boulder of astronomical size that blocked most of the road, which had become dislodged from the cliff above in all the rain, it was a very odd sight and quite unnerving. That evening we stayed in a town called Wairoa, about halfway between Napier and Gisborne. Which strangely we learned on the news that same night has over 20% of its residents on benefits, New Zealand’s highest claiming town. I think this was the only interesting thing about the town, and it’s a stretch to call that interesting. In the morning we drove to Gisborne, ready to be dazzled by the country’s most easterly town, but after spending a few hours driving and walking around we left thoroughly unimpressed. But hope was not lost as we were now about to embark upon a 400km drive around the East Cape which began with a visit to the longest wharf in NZ at Tolaga Bay, it was huge (660m to be precise) and jutted straight out into the sea. Built in the 1920’s it was in constant use for many years but in recent history had fallen into disrepair and was off limits to any traffic from 1998. In the last few years it has been made safe again and is now open to foot traffic only. We walked to the end of it, watched a few people fishing off the end, and walked back again. A little bit further along the east cape we left the main road and wound our way down to Anaura Bay, a brilliant flat golden beach, as luck would have it there was a campground right on the beachfront, although the grass area that made up the campground was completely saturated from the recent downpours and so we picked our parking spot very carefully. At the same time a Dutch couple, who we had briefly met in Napier and again seen on the wharf, were picking their spot too, when we were all settled they invited us over for a bottle of wine and we spent the rest of that afternoon and evening eating, drinking and chatting with Joyce and Edgar, who I’m quite sure had better English than most English people and we were surprised to hear the words ‘quaint’ and ‘jiffy’ pop up. It was nice to hear about other people’s travels and experiences and they agreed that Gisborne was vastly overrated which made us feel better. In the morning, after a very early but truly spectacular sunrise, we exchanged details and went on our way, we probably wouldn’t see them again on this trip as they only had 2 weeks left so were in a bit more of a rush than us.

The further around the East Cape we got the more spectacular the beaches and scenery got and the sadder and more depressing the towns got. But we weren’t here to see the towns and before long we found another campsite on the beach where we stayed all day and swam and fished in the lukewarm sea. That night we ate dinner next to a monster of a campfire that we created until the unexpected rain forced us inside, the fire valiantly burned on in spite of the downpour but after 65mm and several hours of heavy rain it succumbed. It had stopped by morning however and we awoke to clear skies once again. We continued and had now left the East Cape and were driving along the Bay of Plenty with a great view of White Island across the water, NZ’s most active volcano, as we drove plooms of steam were rising from its centre before being dragged off by the wind to create wispy clouds. After a night in a great campsite in the seaside town of Opotiki we drove to a fantastic Department of Conservation owned beach near a pretty little town called Matata. On the way we passed through Whakatane, which isn’t at all pronounced how it should be, probably the nicest town we’ve been to yet. Instead of the uniform American style street system there was a wiggly high street, the first we’ve seen since England and a welcome change. The shops were bright and well-kept and the streets were buzzing with locals and tourists alike. Back at Matata beach we had paid to camp their the night and wandered into the town where we got a hot steak pie for lunch and bought some fish bait, half a kilo of smelly oily pilchards that should do it. It didn’t, and I didn’t get anything, except sunburnt. We loved this beach, it was long and sandy with plenty of shells to find and a nice calm sea to swim in. We decided to stay another night and spent the whole next day reading, writing and drawing on the beach, with the odd trip to get fish and chips in between. After another peaceful nights kip we made a tough decision to leave the beach and head back inland to Rotorua, and that is how we got here.

The first thing that strikes you as you near Rotorua is the smell, it reeks! A cross between rotten eggs and vinegar. A sulphuric stench that stings your nose and you can taste on your tongue. We knew that we wanted to enjoy a mud bath and some of the thermal spas while we were here so we booked at trip to Hell’s Gate at the towns visitor centre, it was an open ticket so we decided to do it the next day and go for a nice walk somewhere outside the city as the weather was fine. We drove a little way south of the city to a Redwood plantation and spent a few hours strolling around the hilly forest, marvelling at the enormous foreign trees. Later in the day we visited the Blue and Green Lakes, although to our eyes they seemed to be the same colour. As the sun began to get low in the sky we found a nice campsite outside the city but still on the lake, and most importantly away from the awful aroma. We played table hockey and watched sky tv (a first for some time) while we ate our meal and drank some wine, a few episodes of Top Gear later we retreated to our cosy little van where we, as usual, popped open the laptop and watched a film, before falling asleep safe in the knowledge that tomorrow we would be immersing ourselves in a gloopy pool of hot mud.

We’ll let you know how it goes.

x x x