Getting more used to life in a campervan, hopefully we'll become true Pikey's by the end of our 19 days! A very active day starting off with a boat tour of the Glow-worm cave in Waitomo (decided against the blackwater rafting due to time and budget. The Glow-worms are amazing creatures and the effects they make as a collection is quite magical! This was followed with a short hike to a local lookout post and a very quick retreat (I even ran along with Charlie - To stay dry). Then we were off to the very bizzare but equally interesting Angora Rabbit hut, where we were treated to a display of Rabbit Shearing! The Rabbits fur is a vivid white and very soft! After saying a fond farewell to Waitomo we headed for Rotorua (which brings ... read more

Woke at 07:00 so that Charlie could go for an early morning beach run before we headed for "Hot Water Beach" at 08:00! I was left with the domestic chores (may have to take up running to reduce my share of work)! "Hot Water Beach" has a naturally occurring hot spa (like Bath) that two hours either side of low tide can be used as a hot tub! We got there in good time to find a half started ditch / hole that somebody had deemed too hot for use. After around 20 minutes of further excavation we had a pool made for two! Though we were finding the sand & water at one side very hot (but bearable). In the afternoon we went on a two hour tour of the coastline in a glass bottomed ... read more

Today we left the amazing country of Fiji for New Zealand! The flight over was very uneventful (the way I like them), we got an airbus transfer to the center of Auckland for peanuts and were glad to find the "Base Central" hostel clean and fairly modern. We're glad to see our pounds go a long way in New Zealand with the exchange rate at nearly $3 to £1, but it also seems that the cost of living is also on our side. In the afternoon we walked around the center of the city and then jumped on to a ferry for a fifteen minute ride to Devonport. Once in Devonport I decided that we should undertake the suggested town walk (1 hour up and down dale) which included walking along the Cheltenham Beach prom! We ... read more

Well we finally checked out of Octopus (much to the surprise of some Staff and a few other guests)! We fitted in a final snorkling session before checking out and finished watching Die Hard 4.0 (having rented that and Batman - Dark Knight which we watched yesterday). Our boat transfer left at 14:00 for the Nadi. We booked into Raffles along with Lois & James. The hotel is located pretty much at the airport which will help with our early morning Tuesday flight. We all decided to act our shoe sizes by when we hit the hotel pool and watershoot! It really brought back memories of the Tropicana, remembering different methods of generating the most speed! We then decided to follow Chris's (Octopus Manager) recommendation and had a delightful Chinese at LC's with Lois & James. ... read more

Today marks a Quarter of the way through our trip! We awoke around seven (Charlie went for yet another run along the beach and the steps) and we both went for an early morning dip before breakfast. After relaxing for an hour or so we decided to extended our stay once again so will now be checking out Sunday (that'll make 10 days at the Octopus). Went for probably our best session of snorkling. We saw literally hundreds of fish and even managed to swim through a school of around two hundred! From 14:00 till 15:00 we had an awesome massage looking out on the beach! ... read more