East of Auckland across the Hauraki Gulf extends the Coromandel Peninsula. Coromandel Town home to a few thousand lies in an area of really attractive countryside. I managed to get to Coromandel in my new car. I purchased a car in Auckland, $1400 NZ, 1987 Mitsubishi Lancer estate, I should be able to sleep in the back of the car, save money on hostels occasionally, sell the car on at the end of the trip. I get to go exactly where I want to, when I want to, and New Zealand is really nice to drive in, the roads are mostly empty. So I drove to Coromandel, 3hrs from Auckland, enjoyed the freedom. Stopped in Thames, found a really nice hostel in Coromandel, Lion’s Den Hostel, run by Lynda. Lynda is really nice and gave me ... read more

The most northly and western point of New Zealand is not Cape Reinga. We realised this after reading the full description in the Lonely Planet. However it is the most northerly accessible point of the North Island. Cape Reinga is the point where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet, with swell 10m high at certain times. At the tip of the Cape is a Light House, and the freshest air I have breathed for a long time. It takes about 3hrs to drive from Paihai to Cape Reinga, if the trip was solely for the light house and the cape it would be a little excessive. Fortunately on the end of Ninety Mile Beach are some magnificant sand dunes. Walked through the dunes feeling like an extra from Star Wars. Wondering if Cape Reinga ... read more

Vanja, Claire and I went to find some sunshine. The leaflet for Robinson Crusoe Island looked pretty good so I phoned. To get out to Robinson Crusoe Island, or Likura Island as its really called, we had to catch a bus to a police station in the middle of no where. The middle of no where was between Suva and Nadi, on the coral coast. Called Vatu Dradra (pronounced Vatu drandra), or translated, "red stone". Waiting for the bus a truck stopped and the driver said he would take us there for $4 Fiji each, a little less than the bus and a lot quicker. So we took the ride, chatted with the driver, lives in Suva in his sister's house and drives from one side of the island to the other most days. True to ... read more

I've always wanted to go to Fiji. Just the name summons up images of pristine white sandy beaches, cocconut palm trees and lazy days just swinging in a hammock. My first recollection of hearing about Fiji was in the British Sci-Fi Comedy "Red Dwarf" - Dave Lister was saving to go to Fiji, whilst working a dead end job on an interstellar mining ship. The theme tune of the program incorporates all sorts of references to the Fiji trips... lyrics here: It's cold outside, there's no kind of atmosphere I'm all alone, more or less Let me fly, far away from here Fun, fun, fun, in the sun, sun, sun... I want to lie shipwrecked and comatose Drinking fresh mango juice Goldfish shoals, nibbling at my toes Fun, fun, fun, in the sun, sun, sun... Fun, ... read more

I arrived in Honolulu airport with very little knowledge of Hawaii save Magnum PI in the 80's and I used to work for a company that choose an Hawaiian name for itself - Kokua Communications - the word Kokua in Hawiian means Help (more or less). The company went bust after about 18 months, after a long and drawn out funding process that from one day to the next changed from "We're funded" to "We're doomed". So long dot com. Arriving in Honolulu on Wai'ki'ki beach I instantly realised that this is a big tourism centre. I have never seen so many Japanese people congregated in one place before, and I lived in London. I'll one-day go to Japan so I expect that to change, but for now Honolulu holds the record. 90% of the rest ... read more