Flat whites and Jarvis Cocker

Well we've just about got to the end of the first half of our New Zealand journey, having toured 1,000 miles from Auckland and the Bay of Islands at the top of North Island down to the capital at Wellington. We've got used to asking for a flat white when we order coffee, although I sometimes forget and ask for a flat top.

After our idyllic stay in the Coromandel Peninsula we drove down through Rotorua to Taupo, where we relaxed in the thermal pool in our room, hoping to gain from its medicinal properties. The lake was beautiful, great to walk home after our evening meal and look at the silhouettes of the black swans and even people swimming in the evening.

After Taupo we drove east to the coast again to Napier, but the weather became grey and wet. Napier is another Art Deco town because of rebuilding in the 1930s after an earthquake. Then we did a long stretch down here to Wellington yesterday, where we're due to catch the ferry to South island early tomorrow morning.

Wellington has been surprisingly chilly and wet so we've tended to spend time indoors today. We visited the splendid national museum Te Papa, which is very hi-tech and interactive, although a little dark for Ralph. Then we took advantage of a free tour of the Beehive, which is New Zealand's Parliament, and that was really interesting. Then the weather cleared up a little so we walked up to the Botanic Gardens. We keep bumping into an American couple we met on the plane from LA to Auckland, so that's really weird as there's a lot of empty space in New Zealand. And Jarvis Cocker is appearing tonight at Wellington Town Hall but we haven't bumped into him.

We've had a lot of discussion about routes in South Island and how best to see a few places without spending too much time driving. It will be a case of making it up as we go along.