Leaving the Northlands, we had 6 days to make our way to the bottom of the North Island, Wellington.

NZ’s best-known tree and a major part of their history – The Kauri is found all over the Northlands. However, none on such a scale as the 1200yr old giant Kauri tree, so of course we made a stop to see the 18m monster.

Stopping the night at the Matakohe homestay, we met a fabulous lady June who at 81 runs a B&B. She sent us of for more Kauri sights, a whole museum dedicated to the trees! Andy also got his very own chunk of Kauri gum, collected by her husband - a local legend. Andy is trying to make it into a necklace for Evie and I!

It took another pause at a vineyard South of Auckland before we finally reached the sight of Lake Taupo, in the central plateau. Basing ourselves at Turangi (Trout fishing capital of the world!!) we were hoping for lakeside tramps, but the constant rain sent us up the indoor climbing wall.

Evie helps Mum plan her way up

The weather cleared eventually, we took a walk around the River Taurangi, passing many Trout fishing enthusiasts.

A beautiful drive through Rangipo Desert, with Mt Doom in the background took us to the Kapiti coastline and on to Wellington.

Adventures begin...heading North

Our 81 day adventure began on 30^th April from Waihi beach. After packing our Chrysler voyager  car full of various baby paraphernalia, we began our journey by heading to the Northlands of New Zealand. Clare was a little fatigued having stayed up to watch the entire royal wedding the night before, luckily Andy was doing the driving!

After only 3 hours we decided it was time to stop at a Ransom Wines Vineyard just north of Auckland- Evie needed a break of course!

We finally arrived at Paihia, Bay of Islands, on a wet dark evening. It was our first realisation that a 4 hour car journey means 7 hours when travelling with a baby!

The weather clear at times whilst we did some sightseeing in the bay of Islands, but when it rained we chose to visit fascinating sites such as the Hunterwasser toilets. These were constructed by an Austrian artist and amusingly feature on the list of ‘101 top things to see in New Zealand’ (number 99, admittedly)

Evie doesn't look too excited about the toilets!

Toilet highlights - recycled tiles

 We had a great time when we took a short boat trip to Russell for the day. A colonial town, originally a whaling port, that retains its historical buildings and has an elevated viewpoint that was a bit of a challenge to drag Evie up to in the Buggy!

finally at the top with the buggy!

Flagstaff hill, cloudy day view of Bay of Islands

Clare outside the oldest hotel in NZ

We continued to head up to Doubtless Bay right at the top of the North Island. When Nelson first saw this area he announced that ‘Doubtless, it is a bay’ , hence the imaginative name.

On the way here we suffered our first puncture due to stones from roadworks. When they resurface a road in New Zealand they don’t divert you a different route as they would in the UK because there are no other roads to take! Instead they keep the road open and keep the stones as sharp and large as possible in a bid to increase business in the local car repair centres.

Anyway, the view as we entered cable bay was worth the trouble and it was sunny and 23 c again. We even put Evie in the water- much to her distaste! 

Andy tried his hand at fishing from the rocks, but caught nothing but a load of seaweed, so we had some delicious hakupu from the local fish shop instead.

The following day we decided to do what we do best- visit a vineyard. We stopped at the beautiful Mitai Bay at the top of the Kari-kari peninsula on the way.

View from Karikari vineyard

Lunchtime view of Mitai Bay

This sets the pattern of our 'travelling' so far...food, wine and relaxation !