Tuesday 30th - Wednesday 31st JanuaryWaitomo to TaupoAfter our black water rafting, in the morning, we re-joined teh bus and headed in the direction of the Tongariro National Park and Taupo - the adventure capital of the north! We got to admire the view of the Tongariro National Park- the cone shaped mountain Ngauruhoe (Na-ru-hoe-e) was used in the filming of Lord of the Rings as Mt.Doom. We stopped off for a short walk and checked out the famous Huka Falls befor...

Waitomo to TaupoAfter our black water rafting, in the morning, we re-joined teh bus and headed in the direction of the Tongariro National Park and Taupo - the adventure capital of the north! We got to admire the view of the Tongariro National Park- the cone shaped mountain Ngauruhoe (Na-ru-hoe-e) was used in the filming of Lord of the Rings as Mt.Doom. We stopped off for a short walk and checked out the famous Huka Falls before we arrived in Taupo. The Huka (mean...

Its an early start (yet again! not much of a holiday so far if you ask me, ha ha), in order to make a quick pit stop via 'hot water beach' to dig our own hot baths on the beach. There is a thermal outlet located by the cliff face, which expels hot water into the sand/sea. Its just a matter of finding a hot spot, digging and mixing it with some cold sea water if necessary - depends how you like your bath.Back on the bus again for another two hours until we...

After a night in Auckland (and feeling slightly worse for wear having got home at 4am and up at 7am!), we left the big smoke of the city and headed east towards Mercury Bay.En-route we stopped at Mount Eden to take in the 360' views of Auckland city, the Waitemata harbour and beyond. From there it was onto the motorway heading for the Coromandel Peninsula, which is renowned for its stunning beaches and untouched native forest.We stopped off at Hahei Beach (Ha...

Ok, so another early start, 7.15am pickup from my hostel 'Pipi Patch'. We were headed for a full on day up to Cape Reinga, which is a very sacred area for the Maori people of New Zealand. The first stop was at the Puketi Kauri Forest, where we stopped for a short break to check out some of the majestic trees (some date up to 2000 years old!). For those of you who dont know about the whole Kauri tree thing, they were used to make the best boats in the wor...