We're now staying in Coromandel Town having left Northland and driven through Auckland and out east onto the Coromandel Peninsular. This is an area we should have visited some weeks ago but we detoured south to avoid the flooding that struck the area and destroyed some of the roads. After visiting Dargaville and the Kauri Museum at Matakohe we spent one night in Helensville as a stopover and were delighted to find an outdoor hottub from which to view the stars. We're in the countryside at "Tui Lodge" (surrounded by noisy Tuis) where we're making full use of the outdoor trampoline. We're also near some great beaches and coastal walks (including 'Cathedral Cove' where we picnic-ed on the beach in a tree while the tide was coming in and 'Hot Water Beach' although the tide was ... read more

Leaving the Bay of Islands we travelled north, stopping in Keri Keri to visit an ancient Maori Pa (fortified village site) and associated European mission house and stone storehouse (both purportedly the oldest examples of their kind in NZ). We had sunday lunch (fush'n'chups) in Manganui on the wharf before continuing on to Ahipara in the far north. We stayed most of the week at the "Endless Summer Lodge" on the most amazing surfing beach and had the most amazing sunny winter weather. We took a daytrip out to the Kari Kari peninsular and the awesome Matai Bay (which is very popular with Kiwis in the summer but we had the place to ourselves) and ended the day with a visit to the wondefully unique "Swamp Palace" cinema in the evening. This cinema, complete with full ... read more

We had pretty much written off visiting "Hobbiton" on our round-middle-earth-trip because of the weather but the sun was shining today so we followed the tracks of Gandalf's wagon to Matamata and had a guided tour of the movie set. Although many of the structures were intentionally demolished after filming finished, more than a dozen Hobbit holes remain, including "Bag End" (which we went in!!!). The "Party Tree" and field, the lake, "Bagshot Row", and views are all quite clearly Hobbiton and our guide filled in any bits which were missing for us. It was quite a special and unique experience for us both.... read more

Instead of Skydiving we donned wet suits and gumboots and went caving in the Waitomo region - including a 27m rappel down into a gorge, lots of underground blackwater rafting (on truck tire inner tubes), being swept away by the rapids a few times (don't ask), dodging stalagtites (some can be quite sharp), squeezing through holes that were not designed for squeezing through, admiring glowworms, generally getting wet in the dark and finally rock climbing out again in the driving rain and darkness. Superb! And followed the best hot showers and chinese takeaway ever!!... read more

In volcanic Rotorua - you smell the sulphur before you reach the town - we dove straight into Maori culture attending a hangi (Maori feast cooked in a buried earth oven) complete with scary Maori welcome (think the All Blacks haka with less clothes, more fire and sharp weapons) and a nightime visit to some natural sacred springs (home to various eels and trout). We also visited a village buried in the 1886 eruption of Mount Tarawera (which is still being excavated) and spent the best part of a day at the amazing Wai-O-Tapo thermal reserve (plopping and boiling mud pools, craters, steam and gas).... read more