Days 49-56 18-25 March Queensland An afternoon flight from Auckland to Brisbane, an overnight stop in the city and we were on our way to the tropics. We flew Business Class to Brisbane, thanks to Emirates’ free upgrade. I nearly messed this up. In the departure lounge we were called to the desk and told we had ‘different’ seats. Thinking we were about to be given dodgy seats on the wing tip, I went into challenge mode for about 10 seconds before R realized this move was definitely to our advantage. A shame this was one of our shorter flights - 3 hours or so - , but it was good to be able to stretch the limbs, listen to the refrain of ‘More champagne, madame? and its inevitable reply of ’Yes, please’ from the lady ... read more

Days 43-44 12-14 March Coromandel Peninsula Frost on the car as we left Taupo reminded us that summer is running out of time in New Zealand. One more stop before Auckland. Another p******e. Captain Cook had beaten us to it again. Is there anywhere that man has not been? His suitcase must be sticky as hell with all the bag tags from his travels. The Coromandel Peninsular, east of Auckland is spectacularly beautiful. We headed for most people’s must-go destination area: Mercury Bay. So named because Cook stopped off in the bay to observe the transit of Mercury for some reason. Round here, the NZ tourist board must love him. There’s Cook’s Beach and there’s the lookout point at Shakespeare’s Cliff with a well forged plaque to JC, complete with a description of QE2’s visit (that’s ... read more

Day 39 8 March Wellington-Napier The road to Napier on the east coast of North Island still gave us plenty of hills to make the Sunny use second gear occasionally, especially in the first hour out of Wellington. A sunny Sunday morning drive through sheep shearing country. World championships are held around here. Lots of places advertise demonstrations. You can even have a go yourself. I amused myself by trying to spot the ones who had been shorn by a ham-fisted tourist. Maybe they’d have bits of loo paper stuck all over them to staunch the bleeding from the shaving nicks… Needless to say, I looked in vain. Napier looked good in the sunshine. Our B & B, on top of Bluff Hill, overlooking the sea and the town centre, was a haven of luxury. Instead ... read more

Feb 28 - March 3 Wanaka, the West Coast and Hokitika Three nights in Wanaka was going to be too long when we arrived in the grey drizzle, but things got better. Wanaka is well liked because it has a friendly climate, sits on a beautiful lake and is surrounded by impossibly handsome mountains and hills of all shapes and sizes, from hillocks and outcrops to near vertical mountains layered into the distance. Looking north from the ‘town’ is what you’d get if you asked the average 8 year old to draw some mountains and then embellish them with a bit of snow on top. From Wanaka you can see some snow on top. When the clouds are too low to see any of this and you have to make do with looking at the BP ... read more

Mon 23 Feb - Wed 25 Feb Arrowtown & Queenstown With the New Zealand petrolhead revolution quashed, presumably because the hoons had either run out of petrol or beecause Dad wanted the car back or there’d be trouble, we left Christchurch on Monday morning, looking for signs of a military coup and a place to have breakfast. There were none of either. A dreary drive south from Christchurch in the rain on Highway 1. Drizzle turned to rain and memories of an abandoned, rain stopped play holiday in Scotland sprang to mind. The mountains were there on the map, but hidden under low cloud - it could have been Norfolk. A quick stop in Geraldine gave us the impression that the most popular activity there was quilt making, if the range of magazines in the newsagents ... read more