A nice 7:30am bus awaited us when we left Hot Water beach and like when we left Auckland we had a couple of planned stop off's on the way to our next over night stop, our first was Karangahake Scenic Reserve. Here we went on a 40 minute walk through the scenic gorge, following a track which crossed over a river on swing bridges and through a dark, railway tunnel (obviously not still in use). It was nice to stretch the legs and a nice bit of scenery before we...

After another very brief stop over in Auckland it was time to head back on the Kiwi Bus and down to the first stop on our 'pass', Hot Water beach. So, after leaving grey Auckland we were about 15 minutes down the road when we arrived at our first sight seeing stop, Mount Eden. Mount Eden is a dormant volcano which looks over the whole of Auckland and the surrounding area. All that is left there now is a grassy crater and 360 degree views. Although the rain h...

At 7:30am on a windy, damp, grey morning we boarded our first Kiwi Experience bus and started on our journey north up to Paihia and the Bay of Islands. This part of our trip around New Zealand was thrown in for 'free' when we booked our Kiwi Experience bus pass. The Kiwi Experience is basically a bus company which travels around New Zealand, where you stop at designated places, which are on the specific pass you have bought. The pass we have is called the 'F...

After a short 2 hour and 45 minute flight we touched down in Auckland, Kia Ora New Zealand! One thing was clear straight away, New Zealand is rugby made - everything was rugby or world cup related, as you would expect. It was gone midnight by the time we had left the airport and headed over to our hostel, so it was a quick shower and then bed for us. One of the first things we needed to do on our first day in Auckland was find a supermarket and get some food ...