New Zealand has so far been very action packed. I have been away from home now for over a month and it has passed so quickly.

I flew into Auckland which is New Zealands largest city although it still seemed pretty small to me. I had been told it wasnt the nicest city ever but I liked it there. After I landed I spent most of the time just walking about and doing a bit of shopping. I randomly bumped into a couple of girls I had met in Fiji in one of the shops its very strange how you keep bumping into people you have already met as most people are doing similiar routes to me. It transpired that the two girls were going to be doing the Auckland day trip with me the next day and travelling up to the Bay of islands at the same time so at least it meant that I knew people there already.

The day trip around Auckland was pretty cool. We started off going over to Auckland bridge which we got to walk under. Some people decided to do a bungy jump off the bridge. It was only a small bungee jump so I decided not to bother with that one. Im going to do the big one when I get further down New Zealand although I dont know how Ill cope with it as I was a little freaked out by the height of the small one. I figure that if Im likely to only do something once I might as well do it right. After going to the bridge and watching people jump off we went and had lunch by the beach and then walked around a dormant volcano which New Zealand had used to build tunnels in to protect themselves during the war as they could shoot guns all around the coast from there. That evening I went up to the top of the sky tower in Auckland which is taller than the eiffel tower. You got amazing views all around the city although it felt strange looking down over it all especially when you could stand on glass to look directly below you.

The next morning I started my Kiwi Experience bus tour and my first stop was the bay of islands. The bus rides around are pretty relaxed and the drivers tend to talk to you a lot about what things your driving past so that makes it slightly more interesting than just a standard bus journey. Also the buses stop quite often so you get to have a break and see lots of places on the way. The Bay of Islands is further up North than Auckland and we arrived there about lunchtime. In the afternoon some of us took a boat ride out around the bay of islands. We got to see Dolphins swimming around on the trip and also went through a hole in the rock which I was convinced the boat was going to fit through. It was very tight! Once back at the hostel we had a bbq and then took part in a quiz in the hostel bar. The hostel bars seem to be the best places to go in the evening as they are usually pretty cheap and in the quiter towns seem to be the busiest place to go.

I didnt stay up too late that night though as it was an early start the next day to go up to Cape Reinga. I was glad I had a good night sleep as it was a very long day. The first stop was for a walk around the Fuketi Kauri forest which had some of the biggest trees I have ever seen in it . Then the bus was driven along 90 mile beach. I have never driven along a beach before so enjoyed the journey as well as seeing a load of cows being herded down the beach. The ramp used to access the beach was quite a tense moment though. Our bus driver had never driven down it that way before usually using a ramp that goes straight down in one direction. This ramp had been washed away during the winter and hadnt been repaired yet so we had to turn at the bottom and go down a very narrow ramp. I think even the bus driver was scared as he even put his microphone down for a moment which he had been talking on for the entire journey around very tight bends up until that point. We all felt the bus tilt slightly to one side and there were a few gasps but we made it ok and the bus driver soon got his confidence back throwing some wild turns on the beach. He did the same thing when we were driving up a steam later on. I thing he enjoyed scaring us slightly. At the end of the stream were the biggest sand dunes I have ever seen. The bus stopped and we all got boogie boards out of the back so that we could go sandboarding. Sandboarding is basicly where you wlak upto the top of a sand dune then throw yourself back down it layed onto of a boogie board. Great fun! Although the walk up the dune was hard walk and you did end up with sand all over you. During the day we also went to the Northest point of the North island where the Pacific meets the Tasman sea.

During my time in the Bay of Islands I also went for a walk upto a lookout point on the top of one of the hills and walked around the town which was tiny. Then all too soon it was time to get on a bus back to Auckland. As everyone had already done the journey up from Auckland there wasnt really anything the bus driver could point out to us so instead he put some DVDs on and it was a very chilled out journey. Arriving back into Auckland the bus driver managed to clip a park car when trying to pull the bus into one of the bus stops. Very embarrasing for him as he had to go out and have a chat with the woman he whose car he had just bumped but very funny for us we couldnt see how much damage was done to the car though.

The next morning it was another early start for the journey departing Southwards. Our stop at the end of the day was mercury bay but on the way we stopped at Mt Eden to have a walk around, Cathredral Cove and Hot Water beach. Cathredal cove was a lovely little beach which a lovely long walk to get to it and hot water cove is a beach where you can dig down in the sand and find hot water. Unfortunately when we got there the tide wasnt right for digging down to find the hot water and we couldnt swim as the water was freezing. Mercury bay was a tiny little down but the hostel was nice and modern and they made a lovely spaghetti bolagnaise for the evening meal. Our bus driver informed us that the next day would be another early start to get down to Rotorua at a decent time.

On the way to Rotorua we visited a an old gold mine and got to walk for old tunnel mines and over swing bridges. The bridges were great fun to jump around on and try and make them sway to scare everyone in front of you. We also stoppped off for some food in Matamata which was the filming location for Hobbiton in Lord of the Rings. Once we arrived in Rotorua I decided to go Zorbing. Zorbing is where you get pushed down a hill in a big ball filled with water and although you start off running in it you soon fall over and end up bouncing all the way down. I loved it and spent the whole way down laughing my head off. That afternoon we also went Luging. We got a gondalo ride up one of the mountains and luging involves goiing down on tracks in kind of a sledge on wheels with handlebars. Easy to fall off if you dont brake enough which I noticed on the first corner when I nearly came flying out. I slowed down a bit after that. We then went and checked into the hostel cooked oursleves some dinner and went to the bar. Kiwi Experience are offering $500 each month to the people that submit the best photo of their trip so we sat there discussing what would make a good original photo in a bid to win the money. One of the girls came up with the idea that a photo of us all on top of the green Kiwi experience bus would be a classic and we all agreed. As the group was going to be seperated the next day due to us all being on different time constraints we decided that there and then would be a good time to do it. Luckliy the bus was in a car park next to a wall which enabled us to climb. I didnt think we would be able to get up there but we managed it and got some pretty good photos even though I doubt we'll win the prize money.

I am in Roturua for a few days and am pretty much just relaxing. Rotorua is a town built in a place where the Earths crust is very thin so you can see steam coming from the ground in certain places and there are a lot of hot water springs about. It does make for a funny kind of eggy smell though which puts you off at first but you soon get used to it. The weather had been a lot better today today than it has been previously so hopefully the summer here is kicking in. I have found that the weather here can be as unpredictable as England with sun one minute and rain the next.