Sunday 27th January

Our night in the cell was not too bad and we both slept well - not surprising for Tom after the twists and turns of yesterday. Breakfast was pretty standard continental style and we set off from the lodge at 10.00am. The clouds covered Mt Taraniki (Egmont) completely so we weren't able to get any photos and it was quite cool although bright.

After his marathon drive, we decided that today's travel would be less arduous and aimed for Palmerston North about 230kms away. Thanks goodness the roads were straighter and as it was Sunday, traffic was light. But as it was Sunday, nearly all the shops were closed everywhere we pased through. However, at Patea, we stopped to photograph a replica of a war canoe mounted on a high plinth,

and found a Museum of local history - what a place! We've never seen so much stuff cluttered about but it was very interesting and some of the exhibits brought back memories of our youth. It was a real mixture of household, transport, farming and the history of Maori versus English in the 1800's. We then found a tatty little cafe where we had a snack and coffee and had a long chat with the lad who was running it. He'd visited UK about 5 years ago and was interested in our travels, giving us some pointers for the South Island.

Our travels continued on through Wanganui before we stopped in Bulls at a craft shop - some wonderful quirky items in wood and pottery, and a great advert, but resisted the temptation to buy. We phoned ahead to Palmerston North to a motel from the AA accommodation book and succeeded at the first attempt!....rather better luck than yesterday! We arrived here at the AAbode motel at just after 3.00pm. We would definitely reccommend this one - it's very new, spacious and the propietor is so helpful and friendly and onlyNZ$115 per night.

We're getting quite adept at unloading the car and getting out only what we need for the night but as there's a free laundry facility here, I stuck a bagful of washing in the machine while we went for a wander into the town, about one and a half km away. We found a good cafe/bar for a drink then returned here for a chicken salad - fine healthy eating for a change.

Tom has uploaded some photos onto the blog, so you can go back over the entries for previous days and have a look. We paid NZ$7.50 for unlimited internet access till 10.00am tomorrow and it has taken him about 2 hours to sort out the photos and upload them. He's now having a rest while I do this. We've phoned ahead to the B&B in Wellington we'd booked for Tues evening before sailing to S Island and we can stay there tomorrow as well. I was going to ring Nick Edwards tonight but have left it too late so will give him a ring tomorrow. (Some of you will remember Jane and Peter Edwards from RAF days - their son, Nick now lives and works in Wellington and we'll try to get to see him and meet his wife Louisa and their children Jacob and Violet).

Wellington is only about 130kms from here so we can have a leisurely morning and get to the B&B early afternoon. That will give us a day and a half to explore the city and we'll have another day and a half when we return from S Island.

We hope you're all still enjoying following our travels. It' s a great way to remind us of what we've done every day . I can't believe that we've only been in NZ 12 days - we've packed so much in already and have another 4 and a half weeks.

The internet phones we bought have been great although we still haven't managed to talk to Andy yet, but left one message for him. We've spoken 3 times to Amy and the line is very clear. Please feel free to put your comments on the blog - it's a little contact with everyone. Anyway, Tom is desperate to put on todays photos so bye for now.