Our next stop the Tongariro National Park which is at the southern end of Lake Taupo is breathtaking containing three active volcanic peaks, Mount Ruapehu, Mount Tongariro and Mount Ngauruhoe (which starred as the scary Mount Doom in the film trology Lord of the Rings). We had wonderful views of these as we headed out of Taupo and up into the national park. When we stopped to look back there was a large hill which looked very similar to Silbury Hill in Wiltshire but this had a moat so it definitely was not (Frances you would have liked it)! We had intended to do several small walks in the national park but the campsite manager in Keri Keri one of our previous campsites had said that they had a sister site in the national park which ... read more

Our next stop the Tongariro National Park which is at the southern end of Lake Taupo is breathtaking containing three active volcanic peaks, Mount Ruapehu, Mount Tongariro and Mount Ngauruhoe (which starred as the scary Mount Doom in the film trology Lord of the Rings). We had wonderful views of these as we headed out of Taupo and up into the national park. When we stopped to look back there was a large hill which looked very similar to Silbury Hill in Wiltshire but this had a moat so it definitely was not (Frances you would have liked it)! We had intended to do several small walks in the national park but the campsite manager in Keri Keri one of our previous campsites had said that they had a sister site in the national park which ... read more

Our first stop after setting off from the B&B with our motorhome was the supermarket to stock up on the essentials like beer and wine and of course the not so essentials like food. We headed out of Auckland travelling over to the east coast for our first stop at Waiwera, the campsite was a little basic but the location was stunning, we parked the motorhome right on the sea front with the sea just yards away. There were hot water pools nearby and we went for a walk along the sea front, it was quite cold but the sand under our feet was warm. We spotted a couple of unusual birds on the shore amongst a group of oyster catchers and then found an area marked off to the public on the dunes with signs ... read more

This was the memorable date we left the UK heading for Hong Kong on the first leg of our travels. Saying goodbye to our family was difficult but we look forward to keeping in touch by Skype throughout our journey. We were travelling with Air New Zealand and were so glad we upgraded as we had plenty of room and the service and food was good, together with great New Zealand wines. We arrived in Hong Kong late in the afternoon to extremely warm temperatures and made our way to the Eaton Hotel in the Kowloon area which proved to be a very useful location, next to busy markets and good transport links by metro or bus. Our room was on the 18th floor so great views from the windows to the busy city streets below. ... read more