Hello from New Zealand!

I arrived here five or six? days ago and am now located in Auckland city. I spent three nights in Tauranga, a beach city in the Bay of Plenty, with my Godfather and family friend. We took atrip to Rotorua while I was there, and I experienced the smelly town and it's steamy geysers!

I took the bus to Auckland from there, it took 3.5 hours and I arrived late afternoon, to horribly muggy and sometimes damp, weather. LuckilyI found my hotel quickly, and found my 17th floor room quite cosy and relatively quiet given the location.

The next day I took a guided bus tour to the Bay of Islands, 4 hours North of Auckland. The weather was s*** as, and we didn't get to go through the hole in the rock on the ferry, however we saw a pod of dolphins, including a 4-day-old calf!

Today I wandered around the city aimlessly, checking out Sky Tower and Auckland Uni, and buying a couple of books.

Tomorrow I am taking another guided day tour to the Waitomo caves, which should be very interesting. Then, my last day in Auckland should be spent at the botanic gardens and Fall Out Boy concert, before returning home very early Tuesday.

Stephanie