Beach Rats

The drive from Whangarei towards the Coromandel took way longer than expected as we got caught up with all the folk heading home back to work after their New Year celebrations. Once we reached the peninsular the roads were quiet and we drove through some beautiful and quiet villages as well as Coromandel town that was crammed with heritage buildings and people alike. We passed cafes, art studios, loads of interesting shops and restaurants, but we had no time to stop as we still had a couple of hours to go further up to our destination of Port Jackson, right on the tip of the peninsular. The further north we drove the more isolated and beautiful everything was, the coastal road was lined with pohutukawa trees and luckily we didn't pass anyone! The gravel track clung ... read more

We headed to Hamilton after The Hobbit expedition and met Bobby for a pint in his local and then spent three days hanging out at the house he was sitting. It was fab; we had a double bed, hot shower, a kitchen that was fully stocked, a patio, garden, Jazz the dog and cats - bliss! Hamilton was not as bad as we thought it would be after hearing it was a bit of a dump. The public gardens as you enter are beautiful and have an impressive Japanese and Indian sections complete with pagodas and a mini Taj Mahal (well it beats East Park) and we enjoyed a take away pizza sat in them on our way in. In fact we found the whole place green and clean and you can easily miss the Waikato ... read more

We hoped for a clear sunny morning for our three hour trip on the ferry to the North Island, but funnily enough it was thick cloud and rain for the duration. The weather didn't improve as we reached Wellington and we were welcomed by gusts of wind and diagonal rain, we now know why they call it 'Windy Welly'! We parked up, and had a forty minute walk into town to avoid the pricey parking charges and made our way whilst being battered by the wind and rain to Te Papa, NZs national museum. It was a fantastic museum, we saw a great collection of Maori artefacts and we especially enjoyed the floor all about earthquakes and getting inside the house shaking as if one was taking place! After a good few hours exploring Te Papa ... read more

Our next stop was Queenstown, the adrenaline junky hotspot of the South Island and we stayed three nights on Moke Lake, a ten minute drive out of town. The weather was fantastic and we fitted in a couple of walks as well as enjoying QT centre with its hustle and bustle of bars and cafes and beautiful views of the Remarkables and Wakatipu Lake. After spending our first day walking, eating veggie pies, sitting in the sun and drinking corona we decided it was time for white water rafting and we were both well excited! No one told us that to get to the start of the rapids on the Shotover River we would have to travel on one of the world’s most dangerous roads! Can you believe it?! It was absolutely terrifying, I didn't actually ... read more

After a turbulent flight to New Zealand we arrived in Christchurch early in the morning. We hung around the airport for a couple of hours until the Spaceship office opened and we could collect our new camper, named The Hoff, much to our amusement. We spent our first day briefly seeing the destruction of the earthquake in 2011 before finding a Pac and Save (thank you Sarah!) and then heading to Woodend beach where we caught up on some much needed sleep as well as listening to some folky music courtesy of the mini festival that was happening on site! Our next stop was Banks Peninsular; the drive to our camp site at Okains Bay was via the magnificent climb up Summit road, formed by two giant volcanic eruptions eight million years ago. We looked down ... read more