Hello to our ever-widening fan base; according to the views on our photos, either that or the same people can't get enough of me with breasts made of sand?! Lol. We've had a very busy few days since our last blog...

On Monday we wanted to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in style so we went to an Irish pub and each had a pint of Murphy's Irish Stout (they didn't sell Guinness!) and it's safe to say that none of us will be sharing another one in our local any time soon!

We managed to get our Kiwi and Oz Experience bus tickets sorted; there was an offer on the more expensive ticket, which saved us $250 each so we decided to go with that. It also means we can go to the Bay of Islands (north of Auckland).

We also bought our ferry tickets and explorer tour for Waiheke Island, our mini holiday...

We had to get up early (for us) because for some reason we had booked the 10 am ferry! Fortunately cookies and red bull pulled us through. The ferry trip was about 30 mins. There was a tour bus waiting for us at Matiatia, the ferry port. We were told that only 6,000 people lived on Waiheke Island but we weren't convinced as we hardly saw any people at all! The island was spectacular! The views were like no other, just rolling hills and sandy beaches. Most of the houses were small and looked quite run down but they can be very expensive depending on the location. There was a small one bedroom house next to Onetangi beach that was worth $1.2 million!! The bus only took us around the west side of the island as the island is about the size of Jersey. We stopped at various locations for photos (on the blog) and were given a few minutes to walk around some of the amazing beaches.

Most people only stay for a few hours and then get the ferry back to Auckland, but not us! We were here for a short holiday! We got off the bus at Oneroa, and went to get some lunch at the "world famous" fish and chips shop. It was nice but I'm not sure it would qualify as world famous in my eyes! Ben had the greasiest burger any of us had ever seen! The hostel where we had planned to stay wasn't open until 4 so we thought we would check out Oneroa beach. It was pretty amazing, white sand, warm crystal clear water, and it was sunny! At about 3.30 we decided to leave and head to Hekerua Lodge, the hostel; we weren't entirely sure where it was, but had a rough idea. It turns out that we took a much longer route than needed but we found it in the end. It was right in the middle of a woodland area, or as they call it, "the bush" but seeing the pool and spa gave it a good first impression. We had tried to book a 4 bedded dorm but there weren't any available so for a few dollars more we had the "private suite". We were quite excited about the private suite hoping for a room that was similar to Auckland, but no, it was the smallest room we had ever seen! A bunk bed that was a double on the bottom, single on the top and a small single bed squeezed into the corner! We weren't impressed! A bit of an exaggeration by the hostel there! We remained open minded and accepted that it was only going to be for two nights so decided it would do. I think we have rather high expectations after our apartment in Auckland, I'm sure we will see worse in coming months!

The pool was looking rather appealing so we jumped in whilst getting furiously barked at by "Minnie" the Jack Russell. It was absolutely freezing! And surprisingly deep! It had a mini waterfall on one side, which we were challenged to climb and failed miserably! The spa was hot so we stayed in there for about half an hour and then got ready for dinner. Without any food or knowledge of where to get food, we wanted to go out for dinner so walked back to Oneroa; there were two places open, one with a lot of fish on the menu and one which did pizzas and steak and chips, you can guess which one we went to. All of us had the steak and chips; it was a huge meal and quite good value for money. We had noticed the dessert menu with a chocolate sponge with chocolate sauce; so naturally we followed our gut feeling! After dinner we went back to the hostel and there wasn't much to do so we went to bed at 10!

Considering the time we had gone to bed, we expected to be up nice and early to spend the day at Palm Beach, but no, we casually got up at between 10 and 11. According to our guide, Palm Beach was an 8 minute walk away and it didn't look that far on the map. 45 minutes later we on the top of a cliff looking down at Palm Beach with no clear route to the beach. Tom bet his lunch (for those who don't know, that means a lot!) that we could walk down to the beach next to Palm Beach and walk across. So we trekked down the side of the hill and found ourselves on a nudist beach. Fortunately it was cloudy at the time so there was only one person there; and we found the path to Palm Beach. We found a small shop and bought some lunch and went to eat it on the beach. The sun started to come out and it was turning out to be a beautiful day! After sitting in the sun for a few hours I thought it might be nice to have a few cold beers and suggested it to the group, naturally they obliged. We were next to a BBQ and rather than heading back to the hostel, Ben and Tom went to the shop, coming back with two more crates of beer, two packs of sausages and a loaf of bread. Using nothing but a shell and a palm-tree leaf (and of course a gas BBQ) we cooked some awesome sausage sandwiches. By late afternoon, we were the only people on the beach, with the white sand, warm crystal clear waters, and clear skies (I'm trying my best to make you all jealous, as we know the forecast is snow back in England!). We acquired a dog for a little while; don't know where he came from but he wondered off about an hour of so later. We got the bus back to the hostel and all agreed it was one of the best days so far!

We woke up having been bitten to pieces! As there were four of us in a small room, it was really hot so we had to have the window open, big mistake! We left the hostel and walked to Oneroa. Feeling a little bit worse for wear, we stopped at a café to get something to eat and drink. They had some good food! Bagels and Panini's galore! It was nice to have a real cup of coffee/tea for a change! We got a few bits and pieces from the shop and got the bus to Onetangi beach, one of the places we had stopped on the tour bus. It was a mile long, again with white sand and clear water. Nick and I were suffering a bit from the sun the day before so we settled under a tree and "chillaxed" for a few hours. There was a beach bar at one end of the beach so we went and had a few drinks and something to eat, the people were really friendly and the food was really nice! The ferry we wanted to catch was at 4.45 so we got the bus back to Matiatia and jumped on back to Auckland. We went to Foodtown, the supermarket with the intention of buying a weeks food but none of us could be bothered so we got something for dinner and walked back to the apartment.

It was quite a holiday! Hope all is well back home!