Grand Hotel Wanganui

... this is due to the fickleness of the NZ climate or the crapness of the forecasters, I don't know.<br><br>Anyway, we were straight on to Hwy 1 and heading north before you know it. Bye-bye Wellington, maybe see you again? The original plan had been to stay on Hwy 1 all the way north, which would mean retracing some of our route down. Looking at the map we decided to branch off at Palmerston North on to Hwy 3 and head through Wanganui and Waitomo. It would ...

... is the War Memorial Tower where after climbing 176 steps we had a birds eye view of the houses in Durie Hill and a good view of Wanganui and the Ocean nearby. After recovering from the 176 step climb up and then down again, we headed off for an exploration of the shopping district and then a nice hot chocolate. After that the clouds opened and our intended walk around ...

We left the campsite after saying a cheery farewell to the crazy cyclists, they are aiming to be in Christchurch in 2 weeks time. We drove back over to Bell Block to the IVE building, I sat in the car reading whilst Robert went in and introduced himself. They were really nice to him and showed him around. There were a couple guys from UK there too. We set ...

... These narrow paths took us through the 'Central Crater' area, and as we were still at high altitude it was still very cold and very wet. <br><br>To our left was allegedly the imaginatively named 'Blue Lake', but to be honest it could have been the Empire State Building and we wouldn't ...

... canoe trip thru Wanganui National Forest was one of the most amazing things I've ever done, and it was definitely life-changing, in more ways than one. There were 4 of us that went on the journey, 4 strangers on separate paths brought together for a single, shared journey, and it was absolutely perfect. We were basically given 2 canoes and sent down the river, without much direction of what to do or what we were in for. We were off into no man ...

... 45 minuten van de hoofweg om er te komen en je komt echt niemand tegen. Die avond vrij weinig gedaan behalve rond het vuur gezeten met een paar biertjes en denk dat de hele dag rond 21.30 in zijn bed lag. Volgende ochtend was het nog kouder dan de dag dat ik de grotten in ging en dit keer stond er Raften op het programma. Busje bracht ons naar het beginpunt en na wat instructies waren we klaar voor de ...

... and Tom and pottered around the house, before doing a short tour of the local market. Once Al was back, we had a short tour of the town and views over the city, river and coast. A nice place to live, with a significant Maori population. We were now seeing far more Maori people and culture as we progressed up the N Island. Once back at the house, it was sundowners, BBQ and much wine sampling - brilliant to see old friends again.

... campsite was an immaculate lawn with flower beds. Nice. And the shower was in a real bathroom, it was as if we were living in a building again! Wanganui's nice, just been for a wander about the town and it's a very chilled out place with nice old architecture all over the place and an earth elevator which takes you up to a tower with excellent views over the city and the surrounding rolling hills. We're off again for one more stop before ...

... girl - If you ever read this, we were really grateful for your provisions - cheers! After our rest in the mud we braved it to the summit &amp; then declined to the crater lakes. Like magic the clouds disapeared, the wind died down and we were left to enjoy the views &amp; thaw our bodies. Very odd indeed! By 1pm our 18km walk was completed and we got sunburnt whilst waiting 4 hours for a bus to pick us up. But my word, what an awesome walk!!

... of other stuff. My guide was really cool and he did point out loads of other stuff but to be honest I was dangling from a harness, 6,000ft above the groud and I was far more interested in that. I was gripping onto my harness for dear life, so much so I didn't really realized, but my guide said "it's ok now, you can relax, you know, let go"... As soon as we got closed to the ground you felt a bit more like you were moving, we did a few more turns and then when we got to 1,000ft he ...