Well 2009 has been fantastic so far!!

It started off with a party that I went to on New Years Eve where I knew nobody at all and it was the best New Years Eve I've ever had!! Basically I'm part of a travel website called Couch Surfing where, instead of staying in hotels/hostels etc, you stay on peoples couches for the night. They also organise loads of social events so you can meet other travellers plus locals! It was a total mix of people at the New Years Eve party from all over the world and it was a great night! At midnight we stood in the road watching the fireworks come out of the side of the Sky Tower in the city... Awesome times!

This weekend for my birthday I took a trip up North with Kiwi Experience and stayed in Paihia which is basically a touristy beach town (and when I say beach town I mean literally right on the beach - it took about 1 minute to walk from the hostel down to the sea!). We left Auckland at 7.15am on Friday morning and were up in Paihia for lunchtime. Once we'd checked in to the youth hostel we had a free afternoon to do whatever we wanted. A few people went on various boat trips but I chilled out with two English girls in the hostel then went for a walk in the town, then in the evening it was a BBQ at the hostel and a few drinks in the bar.

On the Sunday (my birthday!) we went on a bus trip up to Cape Reinga which is the most northern tip of New Zealand and it really was an action packed day!! First off we stopped at a forest and went for a walk through it to see some kauri trees which are MASSIVE trees native to NZ, then we went to the Cape itself and went for a walk to the lighthouse right on the tip where you can see the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea meet. Next up was a trip to a beach about half an hour away to go for a swim in the Pacific ocean - awesome fun but some HUGE waves!! Then it was off to some sand dunes to do some sandboarding... now when I say sand dunes, these aren't like sand dunes you see in the UK - we are talking absolutely massive hills of sand!! It was such a hike up the dune to get to the top and I was sooooo scared to go down them head first on a body board... Eventually though I managed to do it with the encouragement of the bus driver and others and I actually did it twice!!! Very scary!!! The day wasn't over yet though! Next was a trip to another beach where we went for a paddle in the Tasman Sea, then was a drive on Ninety Mile Beach (yup - we were in the bus driving on the sand and through the sea!). The photo above shows a car which tried driving on the beach but the tide came in... oops! There are a few cars half buried across the sand - including a very expensive looking Mercedes!! Silly people... We then started heading back towards Paihia but not before stopping at the Kauri tree shop which had some amazing looking (and very expensive) furniture made of these trees, and grabbing fish and chips for dinner... Back in Paihia it was straight to the pub for my birthday night out - free cocktails, twister competition, karaoke... AWESOME time!

On the Monday (which was only yesterday but feels so long ago!), it was a free day until 3pm when the bus was taking us back to Auckland so most people decided to have a lie in and recover from the night before by lying on the beach... I however decided to go on a 4 hour long, 6 mile kayak tour of the area - great hangover cure I can tell you but man alive did my arms hurt by the time I'd finished!!! Was a fabulous way to spend the morning and the best $55 I've spent since being here!

Basically it was a fantastic weekend and just the best way to spend my 25th... I met some great people and had so much fun - I'm just gutted that I couldn't stay longer with them all! But, I'm Couch Surfing at the mo with a guy who runs a very cute little hostel in Auckland (I even got a bed last night cos there was one spare!), and going to Australia in 2 days... What can I say - life is great right now!!

Anyway,I'd better go cos I'm helping to do the garden at the hostel this afternoon as a thank you for Glen for having me stay! xx