Day 9

Rained all night and still raining in the morning – but we decided to go for a swim in the hot pool anyway! We were going to get wet either way and it saved having a shower!!
The rain also made it a bit of a challenge to get our campervan off the site and Chris got some fellow campers to help push the van off leaving them covered in mud!
After all that excitement we hit the road to Rotorua. First stop the Rotorua Museum of Art & History- very interesting and well presented museum and a good way to spend some time on a rainy day. Next we went for a walk and checked out some of the sights and SMELLS of Rotorua. Souvenir shopping and then back to camp to get ready for a night out.
Tonight we went to a Maori cultural experience at the Tamaki village. We were taken out on a bus and greeted in a traditional way and then explored the maori village. This was really special being dark with the fires blazing and all the people in traditional dress explaining the maori culture. Really well done. Next they move us on to watch the Hangi being pulled up from the ground. It smelt amazing! Then we watched some performances including the Haka of course, followed by eating the Hangi. The Hangi food was almost as good as a Kangaroo Valley Hangi! Almost. Great night out.

Day 8

Up early for breakfast before heading out on our White Island tour. Very exciting day. White Island is about 50km off the coast from Whakatane (note wh is pronounced f – more laughs!) and is an active volcano. There are vents constantly releasing gas and we are issued gas masks and hard hats before stepping on to the island. They warned us that the island could have an eruption at any time which would have meant rocks being thrown into the air and falling on our heads! This did not happen thank goodness but it was still very exciting and a bit nerve wracking being inside a volcano. There is a lake in the crater with water temperatures up to 68 degrees! And it was pretty smelly in certain places so we were glad to have the gas masks as it did sting the eyes a bit. Really cool.
Afterwards we drove just a bit further North to Awakeri Hot Springs to camp for the night. The campground has a thermal pool which is 38 degrees! So we all soaked in there for a while before cooking dinner, having a game of cards and going to bed.

Day 7

Waihi Beach to Ohope
Took it easy this morning and spent some time swimming in the lovely pool at the Waihi Beach Resort. The kids fed the eels that were swimming in the stream running through the campground. There were so many of them all sitting on top of each other- it was a bit freaky.
Drove on heading east towards the Bay of Plenty. Stopped off at Tauranga and Mount Maunganui for fish and chips and a fabulous coffee (at Providores Urban Food Store) and a cool playground.
Visited Kiwi 360 at a town called Te Puke (many laughs along the way at the funny town names). A kiwi farm and packing plant with lots of kiwi products to sample including kiwi wine and kiwi spirits (this is the fruit not the bird or the person).
Next stop our camp ground for the night at Ohope for dinner and bed.

Day 6

Day 6
Woke up to the full moon setting over Shelly Beach. The Coromandel Peninsula is absolutely beautiful. We checked out Coromandel town and bought ourselves some smoked products including mussels that North Island seems to be famous for (they sell them fresh in every supermarket!). Not huge fans but we will try some other varieties as we go along...
After leaving the town we headed up to a stunning lookout which gave us ocean views in both directions. Next stop Cathedral Cove where after having a picnic lunch (the mussels) we headed off on the walk to Cathedral Cove – the natural arch formed in the sandstone. Absolutely beautiful walk and amazing beach when we got there. Paradise.
Kids had a play and a swim there and then walked back UP the hill to get back in the van and drove to Hot Water Beach. It should be called Extremely HOT Water Beach. The water is so hot you can barely stand it! That is only in certain places after people have dug a hole with a shovel (too hot to use your hands). Once you have found a good hot spot and dug a hole and mixed it with the right amount of sea water you can sit and enjoy the warmth for a while until the waves come crashing in and ruin your lovely hole! It was well worth it 
After the hot dip we drove on to our park for the night Top 10 Waihi Beach Resort. Very flash caravan park. They have eels swimming throughout the resort in a stream! We will be checking it out thoroughly in the morning as when we arrived the full moon was rising again...

Day 5

Day 5 – Bay of Islands to Coromandel Peninsula
Today we drove all the way from Paihia to Coromandel. Leaving Paihia at 9am and arriving at Coromandel at 6ish. Along the way...
• Really cool toilets designed by a famous Austrian artist in the town of Kawakawa. Toilets worth taking a photo of!
• One tree Hill in Auckland while playing the U2 song of the same name. We were almost blown away while checking out the monument!
• Scenic route around the Firth of Thames along the South Pacific Highway. This last part of the day was absolutely spectacular. The drive along the coast line and I mean literally along the coast line with the mountain views and the choppy sea along side, windy narrow roads and log trucks coming the other way – beautiful and thrilling.
• Arrived in Coromandel in time to cook ourselves a yummy dinner in the camp kitchen and put on a load of washing. Kids are happy sitting watching the TV in the lounge.
We are loving the freedom of travelling in the campervan – particularly being able to stop and snack along the way whenever we feel like it and making a cup of tea.

Day 4
This morning we checked out the Kerikeri farmers market. So many yummy things and so little time to eat it all! We also visited the Makana chocolate factory in Kerikeri. Yum.
After the markets we took a bushwalk to a waterfall through a beautiful forest. We snacked out of the van after the walk before heading back to Paihia for another go at a Bay of Islands tour. Because yesterday was not a success they gave us a voucher to come back at any time. The weather was looking good today so we thought we would have another go. We are sure glad that we did! It was a completely different experience to yesterday. The dolphins were leaping and showing off their fish catches. We were able to take the boat right through The Hole in the Rock. Awesome.
After the tour we stopped off at Russell – an old whaling town – for a wander before returning to Paihia for more fush and chups for dinner.

NEW ZEALAND NORTH ISLAND DAY 1-3

On the road again...

Arrived in Auckland on Thursday afternoon and picked up our campervan. We were all very excited to see what is to be our home for the next 14 days. It is very cool. Compact and tidy.

We travelled North to Orewa where we had fush and chups for dinner and bought some supplies for the camper.

Day 2 - we travelled further north via the Kauri Museum and the very very old Kauri tree (2000 years old!) in the Waipoua Forest. Obviously the tree is HUGE and very impressive and still growing strong.

A bit further north along the west coast where we saw a spectacular sand headland and then we started heading east - right across to the other side of the country. So weird that we were looking off the west coast at lunch time and then looking over the east coast at dinner time!

Our next site is at Paihia (pronounced pie-here - the place names are really twisting our tongues!).

Day 3 - up early and out to sea in the beautiful Bay of Islands. Unfortunately the weather and sea conditions were very rough today so the captain would not take us all the way out to Hole in the Rock. We still got to see lots of the islands and stopped off at Urupukatupku Island and took a walk up to a look out for a spectacular view.

This afternoon we visted the Hururu falls.

Delicious dinner at Only Seafood - feeling very full.