[saraian]

Well sorry it has taken so long to get on with part two, but here we go.

[b:188be1d461]September 8th[/b:188be1d461]

After the long drive form the Northlands we were glad to park up the camper and stay in a lovely part of the Coromandel, Waihi Beach. We rested up before driving the short drive round to Papamo beach and Tauranga. Everything is so clean here and the beach is just beautiful. It is so nice that you can camp right next to the beach in most NZ destinations. We watched the surfers and the one or two people walking on the beach, before going out for a meal (Cheap as chips, and that's for steak!) and back for an early night. Of course because it was Septmber the nights were still relativley short compared to now, so we did have alot of early nights.

On Friday the 9th September we were of to see the famous Taffy and Welshgirl. On route we passed a beautiful small town called Cambridge,First place I could see myself living and only 20 mins for Taffy, perfect :icon_eek:

In all honesty we were pinning all our hopes on The south island and we really needed to see it before making anymore life changing decisions. Other than moving to the other side of the world that is!

Anyway had a fab time with our forum hosts and laughed most of the time. Next day we all went to Rotorua which was great. Smelly but great, and scary knowing you are standing above all that volcanic activity. Not sure I could live there.
We were camping at Blue lake Rotorua which again is stunning. Sad to say bye to Taffy, Welshgirl and Rach, but we will see you soon, no doubt.

I was and continue to be amazed at how friendly and open Kiwi's are. The lady at the campsite just told us to help ourselves to a canoe if we wanted to go out onto the lake, and chatted to us for 20 mins about NZ.

Everywhere is so quite. It could be due to the fact that we were travelling out of season, but it is wonderful to get parking and not hit any queues etc. All the things that are standard in the UK.

On the Sunday we travelled further south to Lake Taupo and grabbed a few property mags and newspapers. Didn't seem to be much in the line of work but property seemed to be very reasonable. We didn't stay long enough to make any acurate comments but it seemed another nice place. I think looking back we needed to spend more time in each place. It was a bit of a rush and in all honesty it was because of our eagerness to see that south that we did it.

Now the road from Taupo to Napier was out of this world you could see straight ahead for miles and the road was just tree lined. The roads started to twist as we climed higher and although we have lots of photos they don't do it justice. The Ahimanawa and Maungaharuru ranges are spectacular. It took an age to get anywhere as I kept telling Ian to stop so I could look at the view. As we reached the top it started to get foggy we were driving into the clouds and we were a little dissapointed as we couldn't appreciate the views coming into Hawkes Bay. We arrived in Napier safe and sound but I have to say it all looked glum as the cloud and drizzle has followed us down the mountain. Maybe it would look better in the morning.

Part three coming..............
Sorry if it's not really telling you anything factual, maybe when I get to the part of living and setting up home it will help someone. :icon_confused: