New Zealand - or is it England????

We have now safely made the trip across to New Zealand, arriving in Auckland to find it was wet, windy and cold!!!! At least the trip was once again on time and all the luggage is still intact!

We have now spent 24 hours in Auckland and it has rained continuously with visibility very poor, so a trip up the Sky Tower was a non-starter! The museum was the only place to go where we wouldn't get wet, so we headed off there, only to find that everyone else had come to the same conclusion!!! Did we say we wouldn't get wet?? The bus driver missed the stop and we got soaked walking across the park to the museum!!!

At least the history of the Maori people made it a worthwhile trip, but unfortunately after working at the OU Museum of Natural History, their displays were no match to those in Oxford.

This is the first time of our 80 days travelling so far that we have had to get the waterproofs out, so I suppose we shouldn't really complain - should we!!!

We have now hired a car and left the city, with the weather clearing slightly as we headed south and round to the Coramandel Peninsula. By the time we had completed the 200km journey the sun was shining brightly and we were able to visit the Hot Water Beach, an interesting volcanic phenomenon where you can dig a hole in the sand and find hot water springs to sit in!!!

We then continued on to our overnight stop of Whitianga where we found a lovely harbour and a large bay with several places for swimming, fishing and boating.

In this short time we have already seen mangnificent views of forests, mountains and coastal regions, which augurs well for the next 4 weeks. We only hope that the predicted rain holds off, or as we move south we keep ahead of it's advance!!!!