DAY 5 (31st October)

Woke to a cool sunny day having spent many of the early hours at the local hospital receiving excellent free treatment for the aforementioned bite. Was told to rest my fat foot and come back later so we hung around the sleepy town, got haircuts, bought DVDs, did laundry, drove to the shores of Lake Taupo and back and discovered emails from home.

DAY 4 (30th October)

A nasty looking Fijian mosquito bite on Kate's ankle sent us back to New Plymouth in the morning to find a doctor. A bottle of antibiotics later we headed down the 'Forgotten World Highway' and armed with the wrong leaflet, we've forgotten we were meant to see. We did get our passports stamped in NZ's only republic in Whangmomona while stopping at their infamous pub for a swift half. Ended up in Taumarunui where the campsite owner sported a fabulously large moustache and an equally large sense of humour!

DAY 3 (29th October)

Seriously awful weather as we drove into New Plymouth town to get supplies and 'put mulk en the frudge, Brudge' (Mindfields joke). Visited the local art gallery called TART and was impressed by the standard of creativity. Took off inland towards the volcano that shapes the south western corner of North Island - Taranaki or Mt Egmont. It was snow capped and at 2518m, attracting cloud. Freak gusts of wind almost flipped us off our feet as we climbed above the tree line to take in the views before returning through tropical forest to the melodious tune of a pair of bell birds. This was after the back doors of the van had slammed back in the wind, smashing the van key into many bits and spending a couple of hours piecing it back together before finding another part on the tarmac to add in. The cloud formations were spectacular as we settled down to our first night 'free camping' finally feeling buffeted enough by 3am to move the van to a more sheltered spot.

DAY 2 ( 28th October)

Armed with an itinerary, tips and books on New Zealand we said farewell and motored south. Stopped at the Kiwi House and saw our first kiwis (the feathered kind) and a tuatara - an ancient dinosaur lizard. We commented on how like England the rolling green countryside is, camped on a bluff in New Plymouth and watched the wet weather roll in, just like holidays in England.

DAY 1 (27th October)

Landed in hot, sunny Auckland and taken to pick up our super new white house on wheels in Auckland. Emptied our suitcases into it and drove straight to Hamilton to land on the doorstep of Kate's Aunt Ruth, her husband Gavin and their three children, Angel, Ryan and Luke. Angel made me my first friendship bracelet, we enjoyed a lovely dinner, had a great time catching up before spending our first night camping in a van on their drive.

News at last

At last, time to begin telling you all about our adventures whilst upside down! Don’t forget to click on the picture button on the right for additional beautiful (and more sensible) shots of all things New Zealand.

NEW ZEALAND

Oops! Sorry faithful readers, we have been properly upside down from you all now for 22 days now and are having too much fun to update the blog. Internet access is not as widely available as Canada and, well, it’s just busy travelling in the place you’ve been planning to come for a decade, alright?!! Must just say HAPPY BIRTHDAYS to Denise, Andrew, Greg, Rachel and my lil’ sis and congrats to KP on getting married!! More after we’ve thrown ourselves a mountain… Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!