Our first stop in the South Island was at Lake Te Anau, the second largest lake in New Zealand and gateway to the Fiords. We stayed at a spectacular lodge, a far cry from our camping experience. As we learned , the weather here is very changeable and we experienced most things, other than snow !

Heading north from Pakiri we made our way up the coast to Whangaruru, a harbour just south of the Bay of Islands – very quiet with beautiful beaches. The site was smaller and more basic that Pakiri, but the location stunning – literally at the end of the road, unless you count the road that continues along the beach in front of the site. Among the few other campers we met a farming family from the Bay of Plenty who took us on a trip around the harbour on their boat and also caught our lunch for us.

In spite of Tim’s reservations, we booked a (six berth !) camper van for a week. Heading North from Auckland our first stop was at Pakiri Beach, two miles down an unsealed track, a recommendation from Suzanne. It was an excellent start enabling Tim to relax into the camping way of life. We met some very nice fellow campers, borrowing a corkscrew (we managed to buy one of the few wines in Martinborough with corks) and taking recommendations for our onward journey. We even coped with the “50 cents for four minutes in the shower”.

We spent a few nights in Auckland before heading North in a camper van. Our hotel overlooked the quay where we saw the Queen Elizabeth dock, arriving from San Francisco. We ate in a number of fantastic restaurants and experienced traffic almost as bad as London.

Huka falls are on the Waikato river that drains from Lake Taupo; the river narrows from 100m to 15m to form the falls.

Trout were introduced into New Zealand from the US and the UK in the late 1800s. You can only catch them with a licence and they are not commercially available as it is illegal to buy or sell them, so you can only eat them by going fishing. We both caught one, about 2.5 lb each, on a Taupo boat trip, one of which was smoked by our host and shared with the other lodge guests.

Lake Taupo is New Zealand’s largest lake and approximately the same size as Singapore. We stayed in a lodge for two nights in Acacia Bay with spectacular views. The owners had a pet sheep called Tom who eats anything (sounding familiar ?!).

Napier was rebuilt following a destructive earthquake in 1931; hence its reputation as an Art Deco capital. Our two days there coincided with the annual Art Deco festival, drawing crowds of locals and tourists dressed in period costume and a large number of vintage cars. Our packing had not stretched to 1930s attire, so we felt a little underdressed. We also enjoyed good Hawke’s Bay wines and delicious food at the lodge we stayed in just outside Napier.ŵ

We spent two nights in Martinborough; enough time to visit a couple of vineyards and sample a few more of the local wines over dinner in the Martinborough Hotel and in a nearby winebar. Little has changed since Sarah was there twenty years ago with Jo and Ben.

Our second cricket match was New Zealand v England T20. A much better contest than the Melbourne one, although still leading to an English loss. We were staying at the same hotel as the Blackcaps and Tim resisted the opportunity to incapacitate Kane Williamson in his flip-flops in the lift to breakfast !