After the excitement of Rotorua, we drove up the Coromandel Peninsula. This area is very popular with New Zealanders, and is their number one place to go on holiday themselves. It is also popular with city folk from Auckland, many of whom have weekend cottages in the area.

We had reserved a spot at the Mercury Bay Winery, Cooks Bay for our first night, we can only say it was like a small piece of paradise. Captain James Cook apparently beached the Endeavour on a sand bar for a few weeks while they removed all the barnacles, I think this was in 1769, 250 years ago. There was no light pollution, so the stars were incredible that night, with the milky way stretched right over our heads.

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Then onto Hot Water Beach, where we spent a couple of nights. And, true to its name, if you dug a large hole on the beach at low tide, there was the possibility you would connect with a hot water spring, 60 degrees centigrade, and fill your hole with very hot water. We tried it, but unfortunately, having dug a massive hole, all we had was lukewarm water, but there were others who clearly had tapped into the right place, in some cases the water was so hot they could not go into their hole. It was so funny watching a hundred people digging frantically to find hot water, while the sea was doing its best to fill their holes with cold sea water.

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Then came the day when we had to return our perfect campervan back to its owners. We had become quite attached to our home on wheels, so it was a little sad to give it back, but all good things must eventually come to an end. So, after 2 hours drive, we arrived in Auckland, handed back the keys, loaded our luggage into the back of a taxi, and headed for the centre of the city for a couple of days rest and relaxation.

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Thursday 7th March, and we are on our way back to the UK. Door to door it was 32 hours of travelling, but everything went smoothly, we even managed to get some sleep, and at 9.30 on Friday morning we arrived home to a wonderful welcome from Josh. We have really appreciated his efforts in building our blogs for us, and with this last one he can sign off, at least for now.

Thank you to all of you who have followed our amazing trip to the other side of the world, and particularly to those of you who have posted comments, they were really appreciated. From our perspective it has been the most wonderful journey, but as one ends, we are already starting to think about the next one.

All our very best wishes, Chris and Deb.