On a very sunny Saturday, we headed out to Banks Peninusla to visit the Onawe Pa site. This is situated on an incredible natural promontory/island (depending on the tide) and was established as a Maori Pa (fortified site) in 1831. Unfortunately, in 1832 it was the site of an horrendous massacre of the local tribe by another local tribe and as such is an area that must be treated with much respect. There is little to see now except the stunning landscape, but it is one of those places that looks purpose-built, and in fact, is the sort of natural place [View Full Entry]

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We left Whakapapa on Saturday morning and headed south via Wanganui, back down to Wellington. We spent the night at "Moana Lodge" in Plimmerton and headed into the capital for a meal and the chance to see Quantum of Solace again on a big cinema screen. The next day we caught the ferry across to South Island and drove home via Marlborough and Kaikoura, stopping to see the seal colonies and 'Cobb Cottage' - an original settler's cobb cottage that has miraculously survived the years of earthquakes that have flattened all it's contemporaries. In total, we covered [View Full Entry]

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We camped for two nights in the Tongariro National Park - halfway between Auckland and Wellington. We had planned to attempt the 'Tongariro Crossing' which is one of NZ's great day walks across the still active volcanic region, but having been on the road for more than two weeks and feeling the effects of the heatwave we didn't fancy getting up at 5am to start the walk, nor spending the whole day exposed to sun! Instead we drove from our camp-site in Whakapapa, where we'd pitched our tent with great views of the two major volcanos, first to Whakapapa Village where [View Full Entry]

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On Wednesday morning, we packed up and decided to drive to Auckland via the long way (i.e. anti-clockwise around the Coromandel Peninsula). This gave us the chance to revisit Kuaotunu where we had spent Em's birthday last year, and also revisit Coromandel Town. This gave us the opportunity to chill out and have (vegetarian) breakfast at Tim's favourite cafe in the whole of NZ the Driving Creek Cafe . Afterwards, we drove south, along the stunning Coromandel west coast, with views over to Auckland in the distance, picked up [View Full Entry]

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On Saturday, we left Taupo and drove up to Hahei on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula. We stopped at 'The Talisman' cafe in the Karangahake Gorge and noted that it was getting a lot warmer and more humid the further north we travelled. We arrived at the camp-site late afternoon, set up camp in the intense heat and then, typically, when everything (chairs, tables et c.) was out and all the tent doors were open, the sky opened and deposited a lot of rain on us. We are rapidly coming to the conclusion that it only rains: a) when [View Full Entry]

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The next day (Friday) we reluctantly packed up and left 'Airini Lodge' and set off on our drive up to the Coromandel where we were camping for the next four nights. On the way, we stopped in at the 'Craggy Range' and 'Te Mata' wineries (where we picked up a rather unusal bottle of Gamay Noir) and then stocked up on fresh fruit at one of the many Orchards in Hawkes Bay. The drive to Taupo (our stopover location) was very pleasant and it was nice to head inland again. We arrived at the lake, late afternoon, checked into our backpackers [View Full Entry]

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On Monday, we got up at 5.20am to drive to Picton in order to catch the 8am BlueBridge Ferry across to North Island. Emma was driving because Tim's feet were still not quite operational. We found a Bakehouse open very early and grabbed a coffee while waiting to drive onto the ferry. Once on board we headed straight for the galley cafe for a cooked breakfast (an essential part of any sea voyage). The 3-hour crossing was very plain sailing and we were delighted to count seven penguins swimming in the water as we sailed out of the Marlborough Sounds into [View Full Entry]

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Late on Christmas Day, we packed up the car and on Boxing Day we headed north, bound for Anakiwa in the Marlborough Sounds. We drove SH1, following the Pacific Ocean's stunning craggy coast and stopped to eat leftovers from Christmas as a packed lunch just north of Kaikoura. In contrast to the rainy Christmas Day we'd just experienced the weather had decided to become summer again and we had a great day road tripping. We passed through the towns and vineyards of the Marlborough wine region (resisting the temptation to stop at Wineries) and then bought provisions in [b [View Full Entry]

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Not really travelling, but just an update... We started off our first Christmas in Christchurch with "Carols by Candlelight" in Victoria Square on Christmas Eve. We had originally planned to have Christmas dinner that night and then spend Christmas Day on the beach with a picnic. However, strangely, the weather forecast predicted rain (despite the scorching days we'd been having up to that point) so we thought it was not worth taking the chance and reverted to a more traditional itinerary - breakfast and presents at home, Festival Eucharist at the Cathedral followed by a roast dinner and [View Full Entry]

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On Monday, after breakfast in Darling Harbour, we walked through the CBD and took in some shops, before arriving at Circular Quay to meet Dan and Nat to catch the ferry over to Taronga Zoo to see some Australian animals. Taronga Zoo is a great place to catch Wombats, Kangaroos, Wallabies, Platypus, Quokka etc. etc. if you only have a short time in the city. Towards the end of the day we got caught in quite a heavy rainstorm, just in time for the ferry cruise back to the city (which went via Watson's Bay and Luna Park). In the evening, [View Full Entry]

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