This was the view from our picnic site on the way up to Hahei Beach in the Coromandel Peninsula. As you can see, I (Andy) haven't quite got the hang of creating panoramas with my whizzy new phone (if you're reading Sandi, tell Diana I got the HTC Touch HD in the end).

Coromandel was beautiful - huge, empty sandy beaches with backdrops of subtropical vegetation (think "The Piano" without Holly Hunter or a piano and you're close).

Just beginning to realise how far apart everywhere is here - roads are fine, but they're all windy A roads, and it takes hours to get anywhere. Spent 4 hours driving down to Rotorua today - too long. Stopped en route to look at an open cast gold mine (pictures may follow), which was fascinating for adults (less so for Pippa, I think). We even got to see them blasting, which was ... a blast. Now only 6.5 hours drive from Wellington, whence the ferry leaves to the South Island.

Geysers and mudpools tomorrow ... love to all in the UK.

Weds 26th Nov '08

Beaches, beautiful beaches! Now on another campsite next to the beach on the Coramandel Peninsula. Being hassled by birds and seaguls - boy are they cheeky. As soon as we open the campervan door they are there. One cheeky seagul tried to pinch our picnic lunch out of the rucksack on the beach today! Went to the beach in front of the campsite last night - brrrr - it was freezing. About the temp of the sea around the UK, I'd say. Bit of a surprise, that one. Went on a lovely walk to get to Cathedral Cove this morning on a little track through the forest/bush. Beautiful near-deserted beach - still bloomin' freezing sea though! Girls got straight to their task of erecting some sort of sand palace (we Browns don't do mere castles!). Pippa did her usual of needing a wee when there is no toilet in sight (at least a 45 min walk away). Andy took her to the sea and then promptly held her over it like some 2 year old on the potty - not quite what I meant when I said to do it in the sea! Decided to take the passenger ferry over to Whittianga where we met an English lady who emigrated in 1988 with her 2 children. She spotted straight away that we were English - how do they do that, before you even speak? Reckon it must have been the gorgeous honey colour that Andy's legs never go! Didn't see the dolphins that Andy reckoned he saw here 22 years ago! Think we'll be off to Rotarua tomorrow - must get the girls some clothes pegs if we don't want the constant "smelly" comments everywhere we go. Will be another travelling day tomorrow - fairly slow going in a campervan this size. WIll set off once we've done the girls' school lessons. They started looking forward to these, not so sure now! Andy and I find it quite draining. The girls are also learning touch typing from Mavis ("Mavis Beacon Teaches Touch Typing" came along with us). Think they enjoy this more than anything! Adios for now from the typing Browns.

Monday 24th Nov '08

Rain, rain go away! Sat listening to the rain drumming on the roof of the campervan. Made it to New Zealand. Yeah - the trip has started "proper" now! LA done.
On Friday we visited Venice beach which lived up to it's bohemian reputation. Girls had lots of questions! Some very interesting people around to say the very least! The highllight of the day for the girls was probably getting attacked by seaguls whilst trying to have a picnic near the beach.

We drove up Sunset Boulevard through Beverly Hills and on up to Hollywood Boulevard to see the Walk of Fame. I think the girls were very unimpressed by this. At least we got to see the Hollywood sign on the hills - shame (and odd) they don't illuminate it at night.

Summary for last week: Unusually hot in LA for Nov. Parks v. quiet mid-week but boy did we notice the difference when we went back for a short visit before we flew on Saturday! How anyone thinks it is a fun day out to stand in a queue in the hot sun for 45 mins or more beats me! Very unimpressed by how little recycling is going on in places like Disney. At Universal Studios they kept goign on about "green your routine" but there was little evidence of it as we walked around.

First thing I noticed at the campsite here in NZ was the abundance of separate recycling bins. Good on you Kiwis! Had a lazy day as we are all a bit wiped out after the night flight and losing a day. Had a lovely swim in the hot springs here at the campsite - the girls did go on a little about the "bad egg" smell! 9pm approaches and we're off to bed now, to the sound of the wind and rain. Feels like home...

Thursday 20th Nov '08

Universal Studios - Still hot and sunny. Hired a car and drove to Hollywood (not nearly as scary as we thought it would be). The entrance fees to the studios were truly terrifying! The studios tour was quite interesting but a little disappointing that you didn't visit any live sets. Still managed to frighten Pippa with the pretend earthquakes etc! Pippa and I played cards in the Californian sunshine whilst Andy, Jo and Katy went on the "thrill" rides. Katy is now a Hollywood Star! Her stage name is "Casey"! She volunteered during the Special FX show and went up on stage to do sound effects - I have a video clip but we're having trouble downloading images so will add later when better connection speeds. Off to an unscheduled stop to a mall - Andy has broken his glasses. Hoping to hit the beach and the Walk of Fame today.

Wednesday 19th Nov '08

Oh no, not more rides! Well, you may as well use the tickets... Yet another day when Pippa is terrified by a supposedly harmless ride. This time a 3-D cinema screen presentation from "It's a Bugs Life". Good job I got her out of there before the spiders dropped down from the ceiling!!!!

Fortunately the High School Musical 3 stage show was passing to distract her when we got out... more torture! Highlight of the day (apart from the bus leaving) was accidentally catching the evening "parade". Akin to a carnival in Rio and was pleasantly surprised. More friendly Americans chatting to us on the bus home - from Alaska this time.

Name that Disney princess!

Nice tacky day in Disneyland - not sure how you could do it for much longer than a day, though. Pippa went on the Adventures of Pooh (a ride) 6 times. She also got upset when she lost her balloon, but a kind chipmunk went to get her another. Katy got soaked going on Splash Mountain one last time at the end of the day, while Joanna bravely went on Indiana Jones (but swore she'd never do it again).

We're off!

Monday 17th November 8:41am

Despite the best efforts of Microsoft to delay us (Andy got a nasty virus on his PC on Friday afternoon and spent the next 36 hrs trying to resolve this), we caught the train to Paddington and then Heathrow. We're now sat at the Gate waiting for our 11hr flight to leave and fly over all the fires in LA! Thanks to Nanny and Grandad and Auntie Jacqui for making sure we got the right train (Jenny doesn't have a good track record for this!).

Tour starts in 2 weeks!

Preparations so far ...

1. Two weeks to go, and we've already given Katy's toys to Naomi to look after!

Bought universal sink plug