North Island as planned as it's going to be...

North Island plans are a bit looser than South Island, with a few bits still to be confirmed. That said we have an itinerary that will give the journey some shape, as well as building in some great things to do and tying up with some people who we haven't seen for a long time!

As per the 'South Island' post, we arrive back in Wellington and link up with my Auntie Heather. It looks hopeful that we will be going to Kapiti Island with Heather & Denis while we're in Wellington; Kapiti is a wildlife haven with all predators having been eliminated and has the world's largest population of little spotted kiwi (adolescent NZ'ers?).

From Wellington we head North a little way via Cape Egmont and to the Whanganui river. It's here that we'll be canoeing one day and jet boating the next, gaining very different perspectives of the river I am sure. Then it's across to Lake Taupo and the thermal wonderland and glow worm caves of Rotorua, camping by the beach in Papamoa and meeting up with an ex-student and subsequently colleague David Croft. He admits to owing me several beers so that's a "must do"!

From there we make our way North in a nomadic sort of way to Cape Reinga and Karatia at the most Northern tip of the Island before heading South again down to the Bay of Islands where the plan is to meet up with my Uncle David. After a few days there we'll head back towards Auckland where we will say farewell to the camper van and book into some rather nice accommodation at Quay West for four nights before ending our New Zealand tour.

The Earthquake

As followers of this Blog will know, we have plans in place to visit South Island and spend some time in Christchurch; it's also where we are planning to catch the trans-alpine railway from, and where we're due to collect our camper van..... I'm sure that you'll also know that Christchurch has recently been at the centre of a significant earthquake (7.1) and subsequent after shocks (up to 5.4). Reports on the web via news sites and forums give a varied picture, and it is apparent that some areas are severely damaged, others are unscathed. Clearly for anybody losing their home, their possessions or the building that contained their business it was disasterous; it is incredibly fortunate that nobody got killed.

We have been in touch with the companies with whom we have contacts and ALL of them were back up and running within 24 hours and the hotel we're booked in to has not been touched at all. We have been assured that all should be fine, though clearly Christchurch is going to have a few sights that are a bit different than we were expecting!