Up early and off to Turangi at the southern end of lake Taupo. The drive reminded Cas and I of the Amalfi coast road near Naples. We were booked in for a morning of high octane white water rafting and we were all very excited. Our guide was a long haired surfer type whom Ed thought was particularly cool and the coolness only deepened as he called Ed 'dude' throughout the entire journey. We shared our raft with three other people and off we set down the Tongariro River, a two hour journey down 55+ rapids and an amazing gorge that had cut its path through 60ft of pumice rock. The shrieks of fun from the kids was brilliant to hear: strangely, this seemed loudest when Cas and I got a face full of cold water? ... read more

Fried bacon and eggs had the kids cheering at breakfast. Then we set off to Lake Taupo a giant caldera lake. A quick supermarket top up and we pitched the motorhome at our new site for the next two nights. Ed and Hat were very pleased as the site had go karts for hire, a big pool and loads of other kids. It seems that Kiwis also like to head away for a long Easter weekend. A river walk to Hula Falls was highly recommended and we quite soon saw why it deserved its reputation. Clear blue waters and a gravel path that traced great view points both down close to the waters edge and right up high. There were strong currents signs everywhere, so we kept our swimming stuff in the day sack. The sun ... read more

The whole area around and under Roturua is volcanic and steam rises from vents dotted all over the countryside. We took a morning trip down to a well known thermal visitor centre to walk among the sulphur vents, fumaroles, bubbling mud pools, bright yellow pools and spouting geysers. The smell of egg mayo sarnies filled the air, but not in an unpleasant way. The visit ended at Lady Knox geyser where we saw it shoot boiling water about 30 foot into the air. We headed back to Roturua for lunch at a lovely cafe that overlooked the lake. This afternoon we all fancy trying our hand at a speedy luge track that snakes it's way down Mount Ngongotaha.... read more

Another night of high winds, this time accompanied by rain, so this put an end to our original plan to do a 90 minute morning walk to Cathedral Cove. Instead, we packed up and set off southwards towards Waihi Beach. Waihi itself is an old gold and silver mining town and it had the look of gold rush towns that we've all seen in American movies. We pitched the motorhome around lunchtime in the grassy section of a car park. Car park conjures up a crude, jam-packed and soulless image when actually it was a DOC site that overlooked the tranquil and pretty Anzac Bay with a sandy beach just 20ft away from our front door. We played some games around the table as the rain continued and then, for a bit of entertainment, we all ... read more

After the debrief on the workings of the motorhome we went to a Pak 'n Save store for a load of supplies. The kids tried to help, but you know how kids can be in supermarkets, especially after spending so much time sitting down... we survived it and remained on reasonable speaking terms... A short jaunt south from Auckland to the Firth of Thames, an estuary with a windswept DOC (Department of Conservation) motorhome park up. A strip of grass to park on, no amenities, and then you could just step down onto a white seashell covered beach with an uninterrupted view across the estuary to the Coromandel Peninsula. We sat outside in the sun and had a buffet type lunch, feeling very happy to be outside once again. After lunch we nipped 10 minutes down ... read more