Hamilton

We drove all the way up to Cape Reinga, right at the northern tip of the north island. It was a fairly long drive, especially the last 20km which was an unsealed gravel road, but it was worth it. Cape Reinga feels like it could be the end of the world, with nothing but vast ocean as far as the eye can see. It was also good to visit the 90 mile beach on the way back down. We spent a night in a small town called Ahipara before heading south through the Waipoua forest to see the giant Kauri trees. We're currently on our way to Cambridge and have stopped in the biggish town of Hamilton for lunch and shopping.

Everything's going smoothly with the campervan - the heating is more than sufficient to cope with the cold weather (getting colder as we move south). The toe is now less sore although the nail is still hanging on - not sure if it's gonna fall off or not to be honest. It's looking decidedly manky, but Emma won't let me post a photo of it (if anyone wants one, please email me).

Northern NZ Pics

Bay of Islands

Camper vanning is great! We drove just north of Auckland for our first night at Waiwera by the beach. Then, yesterday, we drove all the way up the east cost to Russell, at the Bay of Islands. It's pretty cold here but we have heating in the van so it's OK. Heading further north today to the 90 mile beach. Photos coming soon...

Leaving Auckland

Despite my near constant pain and inability to walk properly, we are picking up a camper van and heading north today. As it's winter here, and there's such intense competition between rental companies, we can get a modern two berth diesel auto camper, with fridge, gas cooker, microwave, DVD & CD players, heating, all utensils etc for just $39NZ a day (about 15 quid), compared to $100NZ+ in the summer!

To those who are interested...you may have known that we were thinking of possibly getting hitched here in NZ. I think we've pretty much decided against it as now we're here we realise it would probably be a fairly anti-climatic and ultimately quite lonely (not to mention cold) experience. And, when we do get round to it, we'd like our friends and families to be there.

Anywho, enough rabbiting, we have supplies to buy.

California Photos

Auckland

Well, it's all gone a bit wrong. Firstly, the afore mentioned computer fiasco, then we got absolutely soaked to the skin walking back from town (the first time it's rained for ages apparently) and then we decided to head to the supermarket but, despite having a perfectly adequate map, we failed to find it. Then, last night, the icing on the cake - I got up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet and managed to stub my toe really badly so that the nail is now hanging on by a thread. It's excruciatingly painful for such a seemingly minor injury and we're heading to the doctor's this afternoon to see what can be done, although I suspect it's just going to be a matter of waiting for the bastard to drop off. Joy.

Auckland, NZ

Arrived after a turbulent 13 hour flight from LA. Just uploaded loads of USA photos only to inadvertently delete them all before posting. This blogger app is utter shite to be honest. Anyone looking to start a blog should probably go elsewhere. Grrrr....

Santa Barbara

Today we left San Luis and headed south down highway One. We stopped off to visit an incredibly well restored Spanish Mission from the 1820s, before stopping in Solvang (a Danish settlement) for lunch and a bit of wine tasting. After lunch we drove down past Lake Cachuma and into Santa Barbara where we are spending the night. We went to the cinema this afternoon to see Oceans 13 and have just eaten Thai food. Santa Barbara is a nice town, but, like many towns along the Californian coast, is totally geared for tourism and can feel a little like an up market version of Yarmouth. We drive down to LA tomorrow (which should involve some "star spotting" in Malibu and Hollywood) and then fly to New Zealand in the evening. It's an odd mixture of feelings - a little disappointment at leaving the US so soon, which is immediately displaced by the excitement of going to New Zealand (a bit like ending a holiday only to immediately go on another one!).

San Luis Obispo

We picked up the car and headed out of San Francisco down highway one. We had asked for an "intermediate" but I think we got upgraded as we have a Buick Lucerne CXS, which is an enormous beast (4.6 litre V8!!!) with all the whistles and dials. We drove down as far as Pacific Grove on Thursday and visited Monterey Bay Aquarium on Friday morning (which was really, really great) before heading down through Big Sur to spend a night in San Simeon yesterday. We started today with a truly epic breakfast at a traditional US diner (neon sign, darkened windows, booths, chairs that spin round etc) and then went walking in Montana Oro State Park. We're now in San Luis Obispo, a biggish town a little further down the coast. It's graduation weekend apparently, which is why all the motels have been booked up in advance and means we have to spend the night in a dorm (but in quite a nice hostel). I would try to describe the beauty of the California coast but I don't think it's really possible, so hopefully the pictures (when we finally upload them) will do it some justice.

San Francisco Part III

Firstly, if you ever find yourself with some obscure currency that you can't exchange anywhere, find the nearest Travelex as they will buy almost any currency. We've been trying to get rid of 157 Belize dollars for a couple of weeks now - no banks in Mexico were interested and even the main HSBC branch here in San Francisco would not change them. In fact, no one we've asked has even heard of Belize, which is a bit sad really as it's only a few hundred miles from the US (it's like a British person having never heard of Belgium or Holland or Luxembourg).

Being unable to resist the bargains, we went shopping again this morning down at Union Square. Emma bought some trainers, sorry sneakers, and I bought some more clothes for NZ. We also nearly bought one of these but decided to wait to see if we can get it cheaper elsewhere. It's a great camera - pocket sized but with a 10x optical zoom - perfect for our needs really. After lunch we made a few calls home (only $6 for an hour) and then took a walk down to the Ferry Building on Embarcadero and then up to the Golden Gate bridge. We checked out the City Lights bookstore on Columbus Street, which is a really cool and interesting place to hang out. Alcatraz was sold out for today so I guess we won't get to visit it on this trip. The car is booked for tomorrow morning and they even pick you up from your hotel, which saves us a half hour trek to Fisherman's Wharf with our backpacks on. So tomorrow we're probably going to drive down to Monterey and visit the aquarium and then spend the night in or around Santa Cruz.

San Francisco Part II

San Francisco is just great....absolutely bloody fantastic in fact. I think we'd move here without a moment's hesitation if one of us were offered a job here or something (unlikely, I know...).

Today we walked around solidly all day, for a good 8 or 9 hours. We went winter clothes shopping at Union Square (we lucked out - Macy's had a one day, morning only, sale on) checked out Fisherman's Wharf (very touristy, sea lions, pier 39, Clam Chowder, Alcatraz, etc.), then took a walk up to Lombard street (the famous steep, twisty road), then went shopping at Safeway, did some washing, booked a rental car for Thursday and now we're cooking dinner (well, Emma is...but under my supervision, of course ;o)). Prices of stuff here seem to be roughly 50% of British prices (aided by the current exchange rate), which is cheap, but expensive compared to central America.

Hostel is great - we're in "The Annex" a separate building a block or so from the main hostel and much, much nicer (by the receptionist's own admission). Whilst there are other's staying here we virtually have the Internet and a whole kitchen to ourselves. Tomorrow we may take a cable car ride, hire bikes and/or visit Alcatraz. There's so much to do here I think we'll have to return some day.

Won't be posting any photos from here as it's not possible with this computer set up.

San Francisco

We made it. Green Tortoise Hostel is great - free breakfast, free Internet, free dinner 3 nights a week and free beer tomorrow night apparently (and a great view of the bridge from the roof terrace!). We have literally just arrived, so only seen San Francisco at night from the window of shuttle bus. Feels like a bit of a shame to have left Mexico City so quick. We were a little intimidated when we first arrived six weeks ago but I think we were just a bit wet behind the ears. It really is an interesting and vast city - kind of like a cross between a big Eastern European capitol and Bangkok and I think it would take a good week or two to properly explore it. Still, it's good to be somewhere where you can drink water from the tap...

Cancun

After three days of making merry (and drinking a fair amount) at Hostel Candelaria, we took a three hour bus trip from Valldolid to Cancun. Cancun is an unremarkable place....not worth so much as a photo to be honest. Flying to Mexico City early tomorrow morning and then to San Francisco on Monday - can´t wait! Internet is very pricey in the US so might not be too many posts next week, not sure yet. Lots of stuff to do in the US - buy winter clothes for New Zealand, get a hair cut, change money, post stuff home, make phone calls and possibly get a new camera too - our compact takes nice, clean, colourful photos close up and around town, but is fairly limited when it comes to long distance shots or anything less than 100% light.

Central America has been great, especially Guatemala, and we´re both really glad we chose to travel through this fascinating part of the world. We´ve seen so many amazing sights, incredible wildlife and met some cool people - many of whom we intend to keep in contact with. It´s just been such a great experience and we definitely have no regrets about leaving our lives behind in the UK.

Valladolid

With only a few days left in Mexico we decided to head in land rather than hit the beaches of Playa Del Carmen or Cancun, neither of which really appeal. So we headed to a small town called Valladolid, which is a much more Mexican experience. We´re staying a fantastic hostel – certainly the best one we´ve stayed in in the whole of Central America. We have a nice room, breakfast´s great and we met some cool people (and there´s free salsa lessons!). In this part of the country there are lots of underwater caves, called Cenotes, which it is claimed were created when a huge meteor hit the Yucatan peninsula some 65 million years ago. This morning we visited two of them - Cenote Dzitnup and Cenote Samula. They are both stunning caverns with bright blue freshwater pools in which you can swim. They both have small holes in the ceiling which let a shaft of sunlight in and great long tree roots hang down to drink from the water.

Only a couple of days left in the Yucatan before we catch a flight from Cancun to Mexico City. Then we head up to San Francisco for a week in the US which should be really great - every American we´ve met seems to love California and Big Sur particularly.

Tulum

We´re in Tulum and it´s very, very hot (30-35 most days!). We´re staying in a cool hostel called the Lobo Inn and we have air con again which is a bonus in this heat. We went to the ruins today which was pretty good. The ruins themselves are hardly impressive compared to Tikal or Lamanai, but the setting (right on the beach) is spectacular. The beach is beautiful and swimming in the Caribbean sea was great fun. Not a lot to do here though apart from see the ruins and go to the beach so I think we may head off somewhere inland tomorrow, possibly a small town called Valladolid.

Orange Walk

We managed to drag ourselves away from Caye Caulker and headed north to the superbly named Orange Walk. The next day we went on a tour to another Mayan site called Lamanai. The trip involved a 2 hour boat journey up the river which was a really cool experience, although it did rain very heavily about 5 minutes before we arrived and we got completely soaked. The ruins are located in the jungle which made the experience even more impressive and our local guide had an encyclopedic knowledge of the local history, plant and animal life. Wildlife we saw included tarantulas, lots of different birds, crocodiles, toucans, iguanas, black howler monkeys (a protected species) and loads of other stuff that I can´t remember now. We were also fascinated by a German Mennonite settlement on the river - basically a community of German´s living almost self-sufficiently, with no electricity or telephones. They can be seen fishing on the river or sometimes in town buying or selling food. They speak 18th Century German, travel by horse and cart and dress in traditional clothing (they look like extras from Little House on the Prairie!).

We went out with a couple of English girls last night, had Chinese food in the weirdest little restaurant/bar/hovel and enjoyed the gifted local karaoke enthusiasts (and a few cocktails). As there´s not much to do in Orange Walk other than visit Lamanai, we headed out of Belize today and caught a bus up to Tulum in the Yucatan province of Mexico. There´s a beautiful beach here and yet more Mayan ruins, but we´ll probably only stay a day or two.

Caye Caulker

Just got back from a snorkelling trip on the barrier reef which was great fun. We saw loads of interesting coral and tonnes of different fish of all shapes, sizes and colours. We also saw nurse sharks, barracudas and loads of Sting Rays - at one point you couldn't get out of the boat without fear of treading on a ray as there were so many swimming around the boat! Two guides accompanied the trip and they both swam in the water too, showing us different types of sea life and chasing people with sting rays in their hands. All in all it was a great.

The last two nights we've eaten at a place called "Fran's Grill". It's basically a small hut with a couple of wooden benches out the front. Fran, a big, friendly Belizian woman, cooks your food on a barbecue in front of you. Options include barracuda, snapper, prawns and the biggest T-bone steak I've ever eaten. For your 20 Belize dollars ($10US or 5 quid) you also get a rum punch (well, rum and orange squash) and cherry pie for pudding. Bargain. There's been big storms the last two nights (a disaster for Fran's business) with incredible lightening and heavy downpours, but it's quite refreshing at the end of a scorching hot day.