The long and winding road....

The sun arrived! We woke up in Auckland on a beautiful sunny morning at 6.30am and swung open the door of our awesome camper to let the sea air rush in. With our feet sticking out of the bottom of our blanket, we said good morning to all the passing joggers and watched the swimmers and kayakers out in the bay. What an energetic bunch these Kiwis are!

After a good breakfast and nice cuppa, we set off on the first leg of our New Zealand road trip: Auckland to Coromandel. The drive took a little longer than expected as we kept stopping off for photos along the way! Arriving in Coromandel, we headed for a campsite in a place called Shelly Beach where we parked the van right on the beach again! A lovely evening spent watching the sun set and drinking nice New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc!

Moving further east across the peninsula, we parked up at Hahei beach. Again, we could hear, see and smell the sea from our van! We walked to Cathedral Cove, an hour away, and both managed to get sunburnt (that didn't even happen in Brazil!). The cove has a massive cave, beautiful white sand and stunning rock formations (see gallery!). Unfortunately the water was freezing! It took me 12 hours to muster up the courage to go for a swim...when I dived in and jumped back out (very quickly) before breakfast the next morning!

The next day was a long drive down to Rotorua, the geothermal capital of New Zealand. It was a four hour drive and Nikky took the wheel for a time while I sat back and enjoyed the ride! I also desperately needed to be in charge of the jukebox as Nikky's music choices were terrible!

We smelt Rotorua before we saw it. The whole place smells of rotten eggs because of the sulphur from the hot springs. We tried to blame each other, but it soon became apparent the smell was coming from OUTSIDE the van...not inside!

We spent the evening floating in hot pools, enjoying the last bit of sunshine. They don't call them 'hot' pools for nothing! Some of them are 42 degrees warm, all naturally heated by the thermal spring water that comes from deep underground.

Heading further south the next day, we headed in the direction of the biggest lake on the north island, Lake Taupo. On the way, we visited a thermal reserve with it's spouting geyser, bubbling mud pools, hissing fountains and, of course, that awful smell again! Another stop down the road was a massive waterfall and big white-water rapids....there is something to see around every corner, so making progress to Taupo slow.

Tonight we are having a BBQ overlooking the lake and the snow-capped mountains in our campsite. We will probably be here for a few days as we let my parents and sister (who just landed in Auckland!) catch up a bit. Next stop Wine in Hawkes Bay!