Thursday 17th December we travelled to Waitomo, the word Waitomo comes from the Māori language wai meaning water and tomo meaning a doline or sinkhole; it can thus be translated to be water passing through a hole. Waitomo is famous for the vast amounts of underground cave systems, which were formed over millions and millions of years through erosion and movement of the earth’s tectonic plates. What is left today are beautiful caves with amazing rock formations...

I’ve had a pretty packed last few weeks, and haven’t really had much spare time…which is good. The pictures have already been loaded, but here is what I've been doing in writing... Friday 3rd December I was taken up to Whangamata, a lovely town in the Coromandels, with John, Tracey, Dex and Cassie for Tracey’s birthday weekend. The journey up was very rainy, I haven’t seen rain like that in ages. Our accomodation for that night was in a police holiday ...

Monday 30th Nov I caught a train to Auckland from Papakura at around 9 in the morning, and checked in to my hostel for the night…Nomads Fat Camel on fort street. Pretty cool place ay. At reception I was able to buy both my tickets for Rangitoto ($24) and Waiheke ($30) Islands. I set sail for Rangitoto at 12.30pm, and it was a 15 minute boat trip to the island, which is situated just outside the harbour. Rangitoto is the most recent and the largest of the appro...

Sat 28th Nov Woke up fairly early as we had organised to go out on a mate’s boat and do a bit of fishing for the day. Me and Dex met his friend Scott and went drudging for scallops to begin with, pretty cool…they taste good too as we had some on the boat. After, we went to get the fish! We all managed to catch 2 snapper each, although they weren’t big enough to take home for tea so we had to put them back. New Zealand has strict fishing quota rules, if a s...

So, we move on to part two of my travels...New Zealand!Wesnesday 25th - My arrival.After a long 13 hour flight I arrived in New Zealand, excited about what the next 2-3 months may bring! I was picked up by John (best man at Mum and Rich's wedding a few years ago) and then taken back to his lovely bungalow in a place called Waiuku (about 45 minutes from Auckland). After having a warm welcome from Tracey and we'd all had a bit of a chat, we went out for a walk,with...