We took a taxi from Aspley Acres Caravan Park to Brisbane International Airport, leaving a few 'gifts' behind in our cabin for the cleaning staff. (You can't use or pack all your supplies, after 3 months in a motorhome!)

Despite a mob of rugby supporters queuing at the check-in, we found ourselves on a plane with a few empty seats and were lucky enough to sit by the emergency wing exit with extra leg-room. This made up for the (extremely) light lunch! Good to read the 'New Zealand Herald' newspaper on board, with a reference to Denis Glover's lovely poem 'The Magpies' (first heard on Australian radio when Macca went across to NZ for Anzac Day) – '… and quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle, the magpie said' goes the chorus.

The Air New Zealand 747 left promptly at 12.40 pm, landing us safely in Auckland - 2,400 km (1,500 miles) across the Tasman Sea in 3.5 hours (+ another 2 hrs time difference).

Auckland was cool (average winter temperature 13 degrees C) but dry, unlike our last few days in Toowoomba and Brisbane. Queensland's Gold Coast has just had its worst deluge in 30 years, with up to 512 mm (over 20 inches) of rain in 36 hrs. Hundreds of homes were flooded, about 3,000 people evacuated, including some caravan parks, the Pacific Motorway blocked and Coolangatta Airport closed. At least one couple drowned trying to cross a causeway in their car after midnight, 2 days ago. We read that 4 theme parks were shut down – including one called 'Wet & Wild'!

Our motorhome hire begins on Monday 4 July (the first available date), so we checked weekend car rental rates at Auckland Airport and Avis won easily. Soon we had our luggage in the boot of a small Holden Barina and drove to the Budget motel we had booked on the Great South Road in Manukau, just 7 km east of the airport. Our en-suite room is small but the reception friendly and there is a guest kitchen and laundry, as well as cheaper non-suite rooms – visit www.budgetravellers.co.nz for this lodge. For details of the complete Budget Motel chain in Australia and New Zealand, see www.budgetmotelchain.com.au.

After talking for an hour or more to fellow-guest Steve, a New Zealander who is here working for a month while his Indonesian wife and baby boy remain in Indonesia, we fetched some excellent fish & chips (price $NZ 4.50 – under £2) from the takeaway round the corner. One of our best memories of previous visits to NZ is the still-excellent fish & chips – the other is the TV programmes (mainly British), but these seem to have been replaced with the dreadful so-called 'reality TV' of the 'Big Brother' variety, like everywhere else. Unwatchable!

On the sunny Saturday we drove north into the centre of the country's largest city (population about 1.5 million out of 4 million), along the Great South Rd and the Southern Motorway (about 10 miles). We've arrived in NZ in the middle of the Lions Tour (25 June-10 July, the British rugby team losing to the All Blacks). The British supporters' organisation, known as the Barmy Army, has made its HQ on the sea front, by the Viaduct Harbour on Halsey Street and we went round there, lured by the promise of wireless internet access. The huge area (once used by America's Cup yachtsmen) has indoor and outdoor staging, with bars, food, special events, entertainment, matches shown on a giant screen, etc. Luckily, all the fans are in Wellington for tomorrow's big game, so we had the 'Chill Out Zone', complete with internet at $NZ 5 per hr, to ourselves, and plenty of free parking by the fish market. See www.thelionstour.co.nz and www.barmyarmyhq.com.

After a morning's work on emails and website, we walked across the floating pontoon to Quay Street, the main waterfront – home to the Maritime Museum, Tourist Information Centre and many restaurants catering to the wealthy yachting set. See www.aucklandnz.com for more on the city. Greenpeace's ship 'Rainbow Warrior II' is in harbour and open to the public, with a long queue.

The main shopping street, Queen St, runs uphill from the waterfront – it's a very compact city centre, which we know well. We bought 3 books of Day Walks in North Island (Northland, Coromandel and Waikato/King Country) in Whitcoulls winter sale (25% off), then wandered into 'Camera & Camera'. We left with a Canon Powershot digital camera, with more powerful magnification (10x optical then 3x digital) and a much better lens than our first Fuji digital – an irresistible special offer, complete with case and battery charger, leads and software. It will be excellent for both website and wildlife.

Going back through the Barmy Army HQ to reach the car, the early evening cultural performance was in full swing (literally) – a group of Maori men and women in traditional costume and tattooing, singing and dancing for a small crowd. Very powerful – if the war dances are meant to frighten the onlookers, it works!

Back to MANUKAU, which is itself classed as NZ's 3rd largest city, home to 150 ethnic groups: 27% are Pacific Islanders (their largest centre in the world), 16% Maori - and 40% of its population are aged under 25! It's also home to Auckland International Airport, dozens of airport motels, the huge Rainbow's End theme park and about 20 shopping centres. See www.manukaunz.com. We visited the AA Centre (for a wealth of free maps and booklets) and the Pak & Pay supermarket, both on Great South Rd, just below our motel. To find other AA branches, visit www.aatravel.co.nz.

Sunday, with the weather bright and windy, we returned to the Barmy Army HQ. It was still virtually deserted, with last night's 'Live 8' concert from Hyde Park playing on the screen in the Chill Out Zone – Paul McCartney singing 'Long and Winding Road' (perhaps in tribute to its writer, George Harrison). Barry settled at a computer while Margaret went to visit the 'Rainbow Warrior II'.

The ship is here to mark the 20th anniversary of the sinking of Greenpeace's first flagship by the French, in this very harbour. Like its predecessor, it's a converted (originally steam-driven) fishing trawler, built in Hull in 1957. Bought by Greenpeace in 1987, partly with compensation money from the French Government, it was relaunched in Hamburg after a 2-year refit, sailing under a Dutch flag. (In fact, Margaret saw the original in Amsterdam.) Now a 3-masted schooner rig (diesel-assisted for 80% of the time), again in forest green with rainbow decoration, it looks good. The original bell and wheel from 'Rainbow Warrior I' are on board, and the clock, which stopped at ten minutes to midnight - the time of the explosion, is in Auckland Maritime Museum. The fish-hold is now used for the inflatable boats and their launching crane. The fascinating free one-hour tour included a talk and film about Greenpeace's current campaign, to stop ocean-bed trawling which is destroying a wealth of deep-sea life and coral. Visit www.greenpeace.org.nz for details.

On our final afternoon in Auckland, we drove over the new Harbour Bridge to North Shore and round to DEVONPORT, home of the NZ Navy. The alternative to the bridge is still a 10-minute ferry ride across from downtown Auckland.

From Devonport's ferry wharf, we went east along the Esplanade, then walked up and round North Head. This hill, the site of a Maori pa (fort), was used for naval lookouts and gun emplacements through both World Wars, though it saw no direct action. There are tunnels and other remains to explore, and panoramic views of the Hauraki Gulf, the water dotted with yachts. Visit www.tourismnorthshore.org.nz for this side of Auckland. It was a great place to try out the new camera!

July 4      70 km      HELENSVILLE, Parakai Springs Camping Ground     ($NZ20) 
Collecting a motorhome from 'Tui' and heading north to the Hot Springs at Parakai
We returned the Avis car to Auckland Airport, from where the motorhome hire courtesy van transferred us to their nearby depot in Mangere, as arranged. The little C-class Tui motorhome, coachbuilt on a Ford Transit, was well equipped - a big improvement on the Maui panel-van hired in Australia in terms of storage and living space, ventilation and comfort, including 4 gas burners & grill, as well as microwave and fridge, and even a TV. We did have problems with the staff and their lack of care, given the state in which the motorhome had been returned by 3 British rugby fans yesterday.

External damage to corners was noted, but meant that the only outside locker was unusable, as its door hung by one hinge. We were told that the diesel was full (it was over half empty) and that the gas cylinder would contain 'whatever had been left in it'. Stopping after a few miles to shop and make coffee, we found that the bottle had been left not only completely empty, but unconnected – obviously it had been swapped for one with some gas left in.

To happier things – it is wonderful to be back in NZ and following the route we cycled, heading for Northland when we arrived in September 2000, our first visit to this lush, damp, emerald green land. Now, we drove north crossing Manukau Harbour on the Mangere Bridge, round Blockhouse Bay, then joined the North-Western Motorway across Waitemata Harbour. It amazes us how Auckland fits between so many bays and waterways! We saw the well-remembered cycle paths alongside the motorways, sometimes diverting through the suburbs.
The NW Motorway becomes the narrower highway 16 to HELENSVILLE, by the mouth of the Kaipara River. We'd spent the first night of our cycle tour here, at the brilliant Mineral Park Motel (self-contained units, each with a private mineral spa fed by the hot springs at Parakai). Very well remembered!

PARAKAI, 3 km north-west, has a huge Aquatic Park with indoor and outdoor pools and spas, plus a camp ground. Details on www.aquaticpark.co.nz. Strangely, camping cost $20 for two, or $30 to include 'complimentary access to the Hot Pools'!! This contradiction had escaped the staff (admittedly we couldn't find anyone who had worked there longer than 3 weeks, and she was a lifeguard!) The camp ground was set among lovely trees, with wet grass and ducks and only one other van – this is the mid-winter low season. Parakai, like many place names, is from the Maori (para = fern-root, kai=to eat). We preferred the roast chicken we'd bought at Countdown supermarket.

July 5     167 km     DARGAVILLE HP – Kiwi Group     ($NZ 21.60)         

Ever northwards on a rolling road in the rain

In Helensville we got a fill of both diesel and gas. The man at the BP filling station was astonished that Tui had sent us off with an empty gas cylinder. We'd also found that 2 of the motorhome's 5 internal lights were broken, as is the external light and the cab cigarette lighter (needed to recharge our mobile phone and to use our GPS). We bought a reading lamp at Mitre 10 (hardware chainstore), where the assistant was not surprised about our lights, saying he'd heard about Tui before.

Unimpressed, we phoned to ask again about one day's refund, again refused. We had booked and paid in advance (no choice on that) for 50 days, but found our onward New Zealand Air flight to Rarotonga had been rescheduled, meaning we could only enjoy 49 days touring. Although we had telephoned Tui with a new return date as soon as we knew, on 2 July, their 'policy' made a refund impossible! As our list of complaints grows, they might change their mind?
Continued north on highway 16, a very hilly route, keeping Kaipara Harbour (NZ's largest harbour) on our left. We had tough memories of the climbs on this day's cycle ride – the first ascent to 512 ft, dropping and climbing again 3 more times before the welcome of Brynderwyn Motel.

Today, we turned inland after about 30 km to follow a gravel track, climbing 3 km to a car park at the start of the Mount Auckland Walkway (described in our 'Day Walks of Northland'). As we ate lunch, the wind and rain increased in intensity. The planned 3-hour return walk to the summit (305 m) was abandoned, but we had already reached 676 ft and had good views of Kaipara Harbour and its entrance.

We dropped back to the main road for another 26 km to Wellsford, a small country town with a well-remembered café. A typical North Island landscape: hillsides dotted with sheep, vividly green fields of dairy cattle, the odd deer farm, wild turkeys, giant ferns and cabbage trees, huge white lilies – all a stark contrast with the red dust of Australia. If only they could share this rain with the Outback. A stiff climb up to Cleasby Hill Lookout at 689 ft, where the road runs along the crest of a narrow ridge before dropping to WELLSFORD, down at 300 ft. Here we joined the busier highway 1 (direct from Auckland), for the next 28 km to BRYNDERWYN, a tiny place at the junction with highway 12, dubbed the Twin Coast Discovery Highway.

Turning west on road 12, we paused after 26 km at MATAKOHE, home to a Kauri & Pioneer Museum, as well as a Top Ten group Holiday Park. The HP asked $NZ 28 per night (less 10% if we paid $20 to join), so we continued to Dargaville, the next night's stage on our cycle tour 5 years ago. (Kauri is a giant tree, harvested by settlers for both its timber and its gum, native to the 'Kauri Coast' to the north and shipped out via Kaipara Harbour.) Matakohe has a range of heritage buildings (eg post office built of kauri in 1909, pioneer church/school of 1867). More on the Museum, complete with Gumdiggers Tearooms, on www.kauri-museum.com.

A final 44 km to DARGAVILLE on the long winding Wairoa River (which flows into Kaipara Harbour). We passed through an area claiming to be the Kumara Capital of NZ (Kumara is a kind of sweet potato, introduced by the Maori and still widely grown). In the town, we went directly to the Kiwi Group HP where we'd previously taken a cabin, 2 strenuous days' cycle ride from Helensville - now one leisurely day by motorhome, despite the strong NE wind and rain. The Kiwi Group gives reciprocal discount to Australian 'Top Tourist'  members, so we qualified for the 10% reduction here. (Whereas the NZ 'Top Ten' group reciprocates with Australia's 'Big 4' – confused?)

All NZ campgrounds, in our experience, are well equipped with indoor kitchen, laundry, dump point and hot showers, as well as a variety of cabins and units, though prices have risen considerably in the last 3 years.

July 6/7                     DARGAVILLE Campervan Park     ($NZ 25 en-suite)

Time out in Dargaville – Happy Memories and Tragic Events

We went up the hill to Harding Park, site of a Maori pa (fortified site), with a view over the town and the Northern Wairoa River. The hill-top museum of Maori and pioneer history has a maritime section with relics from the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour, as well as more historic shipwrecks. The 3 masts from the original Rainbow Warrior ship stand tall outside One of the exhibits is a 'pre-Maori carving', which set us wondering who was here first? Some Taiwanese Aboriginals, apparently, according to a recent TV programme.