Hey Guys, Its been a while, but what can I say... I have had better things to do. Since the last blog entry, we have made stops in Auckland ...again, Whitanga, Rotorua, and Whaitomo, now we are in Taupo. We have had the luxury of an extra day here. I have been to the top of more volcanoes, swam in hot pools, including a natural hot spring (Photos to come) in a national park. Witnessed the haka and eaten a traditional Maori feast and participated in a traditional...

We did actually manage to do something in Paihia this morning - we got the bus-ferry-bus to Russell, a local township we were told we good fun. Well, Russell is now the by word for "complete crap". We stayed 20 minutes. Luckily the rain had the effect of pulling everyone together and now we've got a really good group heading South! Looks like we're going to have a lot of fun!

We did actually manage to do something in Paihia this morning - we got the bus-ferry-bus to Russell, a local township we were told we good fun. Well, Russell is now the by word for "complete crap". We stayed 20 minutes. Luckily the rain had the effect of pulling everyone together and now we've got a really good group heading South! Looks like we're going to have a lot of fun!

We're in Paihia. I think the bus driver (Fly) did so well to get here. there was a storm warning at about 6am, and it hit about 7, all over the north island. So we're spending the day in a hostel rather than out doing some amazing activities. Apparently the Bay of Islands is very beautiful, but all the locals are saying they've never seen the water so rough (it's flooding everywhere) and a lot of signs have bit the dust during the storm so far. According to the r...

We decided today to go over to the islands around Auckland, on the advice of a Canadian girl in our hostel. So we went out for Breakfast again, and then got on the Ferry to Devonport (after some delilberation about which island...Waiheke was an option too). Turns out that there are two extinct volcanoes on Devonport, so we climbed the first (Mt. Victoria) and then the second (North Point). The views were pretty stunning, it's got to be said. The mountain in the p...