Blogs from Bay of Islands, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 10

The Best Button Of All GPS's have made a remarkable difference to self guided touring.... both for the worse and for the better. Picking up my campervan this morning, and with little to no idea of where I was going to end up but knowing that I was wanting to head north, I plugged in the name of Orewa into the GPS. This little seaside town to the north of Auckland allowed me to negotiate traffic and motorways safely to the other side of the Auckland Bridge and then depart the motorway as soon as possible. Her's where GPS's are bad.... they take the adventure out of trying to drive, hold an unfolded map, and instinctively know which lane you need to be in. Here's where they're brilliant.... Once in Orewa and the nerves of driving ... read more

Hi All, just a blog test run as I hope to create another blog for our 2 or 3 months in Australia starting in 3 weeks starting in Perth, and travelling sort of diagonally, then horizontally across the middle!... read more

Up early and have a lovely mooch over the bridge to explore the opposite side over the river, which turned out to be just a campsite. So I headed back over and into town for a wander there, though noting was open. I pack up and jump on the shuttle back to Hamilton, which apparently is a new service, otherwise, no way in and out of the town on public transport at the weekend. In Hamilton bus station much to my surprise and joy I find some luggage lockers, so lock my bags away 11am – 1pm and go for a walk along the river path for a couple of hours. Mixed path, mainly alongside the large river, along by the rowing club, by the road, and through some forest, not all scenic but so nice ... read more

After check-out we rented bikes and cycled out towards Whaitangi, this is the spot where the treaty was signed between the Maori chiefs and the British. The meaning of the original treaty is thought to be very controversial and is still debated in court to this date. Before boarding the bus we had a quick scoot around the town centre; Pahaia is a quaint beachside town and most importantly had TipTop ice cream! The bus to Auckland took just over 3 hours, so we arrived at the hostel just in time for dinner. Bailey's bit: Pahaia is a small quaint seaside village whose main industry is tourism so holiday homes, hotels and restaurants galore! Today's ice cream flavours were; Cat: Pure passion (fruit), James: Orange chocolate chip and rum & raisin. All 3 very good, we ... read more

Kia Ora! Friends & Family So we left Australia after 11 glorious months. Sydney was fantastic, a great place to spend the festive season plus it had a climate which I prefer to the ffffreezing UK. Equally it was great to spend almost 4 weeks there and not spend a cent on accommodation! New Zealand has been another place we'd long wished to visit and for F it was a hope to enjoy some cooler weather. Arriving in Christchurch it was soon raining & windy so she was happy. Since then though it has been glorious weather here in NZ. Christchurch is a sad city. It has suffered greatly from the recent earthquakes (2010 & 2011). Whilst many of those who remain are trying hard to rebuild, it certainly has lost the soul of the major ... read more