When I stepped out of Auckland airport, my heart sank because it felt as cold as it had done in Wales. It's actually warm here until the wind blows, and the wind blows most of the time! My hostel took a bit of getting used to. It has about 200 people - most of them being drunk 18-21 yr old Germans who come waking us oldies up at 5am after partying in the bar next door, where the music is so loud it makes our beds shake :-s

Auckland itself is quite nice. Apparently it's the same size as London, but it doesn't feel like it as there's only really one main street. One thing that is quite cool is you get to watch crazy people bungee jump off the tallest building in Australasia. I went on a boat trip to Waiheke Island, which is just off the coast of Auckland, and on my way I passed an active volcano! There were loads of vineyards on this island and nestled in amongst them was a cafe with Welsh flags everywhere, where the Welsh rugby team used to hang out during the World Cup. Another cultural thing I did was go to the cinema to watch Twilight Breaking Dawn...

I actually more or less ran out of things to do after 2 days in Auckland! I gave myself 11 days in NZ to see the parts around Auckland that I would be missing when I come back later with my sister but, without sounding like I'm moaning, the 11 days were too long. First of all, I left Auckland to go on a tour to the very north of NZ. We drove 3 hours to a place called Paihia. The drive there was beautiful. Actually, everywhere you go is beautiful here. They say the grass is always greener on the other side, but here the grass is literally more green and the sea is this amazing aqua colour. In many ways it reminds me of back home, but it's also so different. So, we arrived at this place Paihia. It was in the Bay of Islands, so right outside my door was a beach with loads of islands dotted throughout the sea. To my relief, it was also alot warmer - we even had a BBQ. I went on a speed boat to the 'hole in the rock', which is a cave 35 mins out to sea.

The following day, we went on a daytrip to the northernmost tip of NZ, Cape Reigna. To get there, we had to drive along a 64 mile beach called the 90 mile beach. There were some sand dunes which we went sand boarding down. It was so fun, but I only got to do it once because it took me like 15 mins to walk to the top of the dune and I didn't have the energy to do it again. We reached Cape Reigna and took this walk along the pathway that the Maori people believe the dead take to get to the afterlife. It was also pretty cool because you could actually see where the Tasman sea meets the Pacific ocean as they were different colours.

I was then supposed to spend 2 nights in this other small town up north, but where I got there, there was absolutely nothing there. What we call a town in the UK and what the New Zealanders call a town is definately not the same! I had no real choice but to get back on the bus to Auckland.

My next trip was east of Auckland to the Coromandel Peninsula. Once again, I was supposed to stop for 2 nights in an old gold mining town there, but there was nothing there, so I got back on the bus again! Thankfully, the next place, Whitianga, had something there for me to stay overnight for. But the town was like 30km from anything, with no public transport, so I hired a car with some girls and we drove to this place called hotwater beach. I've never seen anything like it. It's a beach that has geothermal activity very close to the surface, so the sea water is actually boiling hot in some places and bubbled up from the sand. People were digging holes in the sand to fill with hot water and make their own little hot tubs.

For my last few days, I went back to Paihia, where I lazed on the beach and got completely fried. The ozone layer here is really damaged, so you catch the sun really quickly. And now, once again, I'm back in Auckland before my flight to Fiji tomorrow. Sorry this blog is so long, I think I've actually documented every second of my life here, but I've got nothing else to do and neither have you if you're still reading lol.

Until next time!!!