Wellington - Nelson (via Picton) Monday 4th January We had to be up really early to catch the shuttle to the ferry at 7.10am. The bus drove us to the Interlander ferry terminal. We checked in and boarded the ferry. It was huge! The journey was about 3 hours long and we arrived in Nelson late afternoon and checked into Paradiso Hostel. Tuesday 5th January. Alison's Birthday! Oh My Goodness, one of our earliest starts yet, the bus came to pick us up a...

Taupo - Wellington Friday 1st January The magic bus picked us up at 8.40 to take us to Wellington. We stopped along the road just outside of Taupo to take amazing pictures of Mount Doom and the surrounding area which was stunning. When we arrived in Wellington we drove up Mount Victoria for views over the Harbour and the capital city. We checked into the Cambridge Hotel and squished into our room for 5 with double buck bed, one single bed and a mattress...

Waitomo - Taupo Wednesday 30th December We spent the morning watching 'The Lion King', jumping on a trampoline and eating pasta. We were picked up at 1.30pm (meant to be 1pm and had to phone magic office to check they hadn't left us behind) and driven to Taupo. Before we were dropped off at Urban Retreat Hostel we stopped off at Huka falls which has 220,000 litres of water flowing over every second. At the hostel we moved into our 6 bed dorm. The hoste...

Tuesday 29th December Slept well last night which was good because today is going to be hard, climbing, abseiling and tubing through a blackened cave!! Bus was early, and we were still eating breakfast. Weather was terrible, rainy and cold. The bus journey from Rotorua was windy and I wanted to eat chocolate cake. The other four were sleeping, or had their eyes closed and I just bobbed to the coach music. The landscape was stunning, once you could see, when t...

Auckland - Rotorua (via hobbiton) Sweet as…Glen Monday 28th December We all slept terribly, apart from Gareth, because our floor decided to have a party in the kitchen till 1am and then the German guy in our dorm started snoring the loudest snore you have ever heard! The magic bus was picking us up at 7.40am but we all managed to eat breakfast before it arrived. We set off towards Matamata where we were going to get off the bus to do a hobbiton tour. On ...