Flag Inn Snowgoose Lodge Napier

... and see what the town was about. We had a look at some of the hot springs in the town and the formal Government Gardens, but then Wendy, whilst reading the brochure for Wai-O-Tapu thermal park, saw that the Lady Knox geyser was due to erupt at 10.15am. Quick fill with petrol and then a mad dash in the car 20 mins down Hwy. 5 to the park. Made it with 5 mins to spare, at which point the incredible timekeeping of the geyser was ...

... I thought that sounded good for a sunny day and set off for the scenic drive. Man - it was like a road up the front of Table Mountain in Cape Town! The road got windier and windier and thinner and thinner as did the air as I climbed up the steep track round hairpin bends and along precipitous cliff-hugging road until all I could literally see out of the windscreen was sky. The view from the top was just breath-taking in all directions from ...

... Dolphins in the area so it was canceled for the day. Instead we signed up to go whale watching in the afternoon. The type of whales we were looking for were the absolutely massive sperm whale. The way it works is that they take you out on the boat for about 90 minutes and if they can't find a whale in that time then you get an 80% refund. Although apparently their success rate is 98%. The first hour was spent cruising around while the ...

15 Feb I was up 6am today, hoping to catch the sunrise, I wore my fleece jacket and head down to the beach just 200m away. Cold as ever and I am shivering under my jacket, 14 degree outside, that is my guess. I wasn't alone, 3 Japanese girls from my hostel went for the sunrise as well. Sky was partially cloudy, might not be able to catch the sun from the Horizon. The sun greeted the world at 0630 in the morning. Of course the first place to see the sunrise ...

... just enjoying New Zealand's great outdoors, which pleasantly enough, do not appear to have any mosquitoes (at least so far). It's an outdoor lover's paradise, with well marked hikes in every town. The treks can range anywhere from 30 minutes to 4 or 5 days in length, and hiking (or in "Kiwi speak", tramping) is a very popular pastime. We've been on a number of shorter hikes, and in our travels we have come across the following: · Aratiatia ...

... every time now I'm taking the bus because of my stays. In Napier, for example, I'm gonna stay for several days. Originally, I planned to stay 3 days, because I was told that there is no bus going after 2 days, but this is not true for this week. So I changed plans again, and I'll leave Napier already on Thursday, 18 December. This way I can have another stop at Rotorua to get on the Hobbiton tour from there, and I'm back on ...

... doesn't appear to be a "natural " route to cover the sights of the island so after getting yet another leak in the van fixed, we head off in yet more rain in the vague direction of Napier on the West side, but starting along the eastern road. The rain is getting heavier so we decide to stop overnight at a DOC campsite at Otaki Forks as we cross country. Having wised up to the fact that some of these sites are very muddy and that it is easy to get ...

... was all about the cricket! It cost us $22 each to go for one day, that's less than £10. We took our picnic blanket, and some food and set up for the day, on the grassy bank. I also took a book, just to read inbetween the exciting bits. Apart from the weather being quite cloudy, the day was brilliant. I saw a total of 15 wickets being taken, and the whole NZ team being bowled out. I also got a chance to experience the Barmy Army singing, and some strange people dressed up!

... and I decided to do a big hike around the coastal line. It meant climbing rocks and jumping rocks... quite scary at points. There was a short and long way round but I stupidly decided I wanted to see the flat rock so we went the longer scarier way! It brought us into Stingray Bay which is where Daniel used to surf when he lived here. He used to run across the rocks with his surfboard after school, surf till dark then run back ...

... day and their steaks were superb! After dinner we drove to Hastings to see the Fiesta of Lights show. I wasn't sure what to expect but it sounded a bit like Walsall Illuminations but on a much smaller scale. It only cost $3 to get in, so we weren't expecting huge things, but we were pleasantly surprised. The lights were pretty decent, even if the music entertainment was lame!