The day started early! A 6.15 alarm call so that we could have breakfast and get to the National Park village to be ready to leave at 8....

On we go again, heading south on highway 5 towards our destination of Chateau Tongariro hotel in Whakapapa. Perhaps this is the moment to...

A photo for my coffee loving family and friends! Well, it made me smile, and yes we did have a coffee here before we started the days...

It was goodbye to Whitianga with its blue sea and sky and rising temperatures, and onto Rotorua, following the Pacific Coast Highway....

Now I know this is really a diary for our benefit, but on the basis that friends and family back in the UK are reading this I feel I must...

We said goodbye to Auckland this morning and following an argument with the satnav - she took us on a circuitous route that I thought...

The trouble with travelling and eating in restaurants is that you don’t get veggies like you do at home! We have eaten lots of lovely...

We said goodbye to the Bay of Islands this morning, and following an enthusiastic recommendation from our Maori guide yesterday we...

No middle of the night cups of tea, just one soon after 6, courtesy of Geoff who had pinged awake. He can be forgiven for the sight of...

We are hoping that the middle of the night cup of tea thing is not going to last forever. Either side of it though a good 3 or 4 hours so...

We thought that by having a night flight from Hong Kong we would manage a few hours sleep. How wrong we were! Even with the luxury of...

I still couldn’t wake up this morning. A very sluggish start to the day! With our flight to New Zealand later on and lots of sitting...

Following what was a surprisingly good nights sleep, apart from about 1.30a.m when we were wide awake for an hour, drinking tea and...

About 18 months ago someone in the travel industry said that if you were ever going to travel business class to do it on the longest...

A lovely family meal! Good to spend time with David, Helen and Michael before heading off tomorrow. The excitement is mounting, but also...

The journey starts! We have said goodbye to Mum, 😢, and our favourite ‘chauffeur’, Alex, has arrived to get us to the station. 10 weeks...

Well, having decided to add a bit more to our blog we have got into a right muddle! If you see this before Thursday David, then we need...

So we have spent this evening packing! A challenge! 10 weeks on the road, different climates, walking, being a tourist, a few things that...

So, Christmas is over and all of a sudden there are less than 3 weeks to go before we start our adventure. Unsurprisingly there were a...