Life in Hawkes Bay

Our plan since leaving Auckland was to explore the North Island for a few weeks and then head over to Napier in Hawkes Bay to try and find some work. That’s the trouble with traveling really, it costs a fair bit of money. Hawkes Bay has a lovely warm climate (most of the time, anyway) … Continue reading →

A Trip to Taupo: Swimming, Cycling and an Unbeatable Quiz Team

With the lake and the snow covered peaks of Tongariro National Park in the background, Taupo (correctly pronounced toe-paw) is incredibly beautiful. The Waikato river (the longest in New Zealand) originates from Lake Taupo, which is a whopping 266sq-km. it’s no surprise that holiday homes surround the lake, but as we weren’t in any school … Continue reading →

Sulphur City: A Trip to Geothermal (Stinky) Rotorua

After our camping weekend in the Bay of Plenty we drove south to the geothermal hot spot of Rotorua. There are two things we’ll remember about Rotorua, the really pungent odour of the thermal pools around the city (it smelt a lot like fart most of the time), and a bunch of great people we … Continue reading →

The Bay of Plenty: Tauranga and Climbing The Mount

We reluctantly left the beach town of Raglan and headed north east to the Bay of Plenty and the town of Tauranga. We fancied a few more days by the sea (which isn’t difficult in New Zealand, where you’re never more than about 120km from the ocean), and were looking forward to our next stop. … Continue reading →

Raglan: Birthday Surfday

After saying farewell to Auckland and our Auckland pals for the second time, we drove south to the surfer town of Raglan. It was John’s very first journey and it went swimmingly (apart from the bit where we had to go to a mechanic a mere 5 minutes into the journey because a bit of … Continue reading →