Yo ho ahoy!!

well it seems the past week i have spent a lot of times on boats, lucky i don't get sea sick!

So i have arrived in new zealand and been here a week a one day now. It is as amazing as everyone says, so pretty and had everything on your doorstep really, all you ever need, looked at the estate agents when i've walked past them and there are some gorgeous houses!!! Anyways i am dreaming now...

so i shall take you through day by day:

Day 1

pretty much a complete write off! i was so jet legged and it was chucking it down and so cloudy you couldnt even see the tops of the high buildings, so i might have a tinsy bit grumpy and went to bed at 5pm thinking i'll wake up at 6ish go for a wnader get my bearings and have some dinner...but oh no.. i woke up at 8 am the next day thinking it was like 6pm the night before because it was light only to find out i had slept solidly for a good 15 hours!! that was a very odd sensation i tell you.

Day 2

i was very cultured on this day, rather a bit of a tourist geek. Went to Auckland museum and learnt all about the native Maori's and they're history and about the volcanoes and wars and pacific people and all sorts. Was very intriguing actually :) Then i had lunch in a huge park which was very pretty and over looked the city and had a wander through the park, and it was slap bang in the middle of the city but it felt like you were miles from anywhere! Then i walked back and wandered around teh city centre and to the habour :)

Day 3

I took a 4 hour bus journey alll the way up to the Bay of Islands which was beautiful!!! i arrived and it was glorious sunshine and everyone was on the beach sunnign themselves so of course after dumping my humungoose rucksack at the hsotel i joined them too :) and i met some local Maori's who introduced me to some welsh lads and a canadian girl and we all had a barrel of laughs together and quite a few beers into the night :) The Maori pronounce there name as "mouldy" like in mouldy bread.. very peculiar.

Day 4

it was chucking it and very cloudy! i took a boat trip out to all of the islands in the bay but we couldnt really see alot cause of the clouds and you can tel lit is really pretty when the sun is shining but hey ho we made the most of it. didnt see any dolphins and didnt go for a proper swim but still it was good. We had an island stop over and i paddled in the ocean waters which were 21 degrees celcius.. .lovely!!! So basiaclly i spent all day long on very choppy boat in the rain, but it was good, met some people and they made it much more enjoyable :) and then we got back to solid land and it was still raining alot so i went back to the hostel and had a film marathon and attracted alot more hostel go-ers and by the end of the night the room was crammed with everyone watching lord of the rings with popcorn, lovely :)

Day 5

Raining. Again. Actually when i say raining i mean more of a terrential downpour!!! In the mornign when it was dry and not raining i decided i would go for a walk to Waigtimi treaty grounds and Haruru falls, so i did and i started walking and got the treaty grounds and found they cost a fortune to get into to walk around a feild so i missed that one and carried onto the falls... and that is when i started to drizzle... so i carried on with no coat or umbrella or dry bag for my stuff and only a tshirt and shorts... it was a pretty walk through like a rainf roest setting type thingy. then it began to rain a bit more, but i thought "mehr bit of water what can it do" so i carried on alogn the muddy paths and it started to belt it down, i got SOAKED! like cant even explain how drenched i was, not one single bit of me was dry, my camera got wet, my phone got wet, my books in the bag got wet, not to mentions my hair. It was pretty much like i dunked myself into the waterfall already and stood there for a good 15 minutes to make sure i wasnt dry at all. But i trundled on like a true english person!! and i arrived at the falls after 10km of walking in the pouring rain and to be honest they weren't up to much, a bit of water going over some rocks not that high... but hey ho. The up side of the story is i met a lvoely english couple from the hostel who had a car and they drove me all the way to hostel in the dry, YIPEEE! :D And then we had another film night in cause i was too wet to do anything else really.

Day 6

It was raining again so we couldnt sun it up on the beach :( So me and a few girls from the hostel drove down to the next town called KeriKeri and went to the market there and then to a maori village and to some huge waterfalls!! Rainbow falls they were called and because it had rained so much they were so powerful and gushing down very hard! And then.... we got back to Pahia and i caught the next bus back to Auckland and arrived at the hostel later that night and went straight to sleep :)

Day 7

hmm didnt really do much today, was feeling pretty lazy to be honest so i sorted out lots of internet stuff and clothing stuff and then took a wander into town and worked out what to do for the bext few days and that was that really. Lazy day :) gotta love them

Day 8

Well this was one heck of a energtic day! Got up very early like 7.30am (super early i know!) met one of the lads i met in the bay of islands at the ferry terminal and we go tthe ferry to Rongitoto island which is a volcano and that is all pretty much. So we walked and walked and walked all day long bu tit was very fun :) We hiked to the summit and to my disapointment there was no lava bubbly in the crater just trees and soil. Then we went to the lava caves and boy they were scary. I got forced to go inside and it was so dark, no lights at all and you couldt see a thing and things kept tickling my neck and feet and i was very freaked out! but eventually we got through to the other side and i could see day light and i go tout of there as quick as i could! Then we walked some more along feilds and feilds of lava rock to wreck bay, which is like a graveyard for ships. So there was lots of sucken boats that were also a bit creepy but we stopped for lunch on a cliff top and went for a swim in the ocean with all the ship wrecks (bit creepy but i was brave!) I did wimp out and get out of there after 20 minutes though, the waves were getting huge! So then we walked aaaaalllllll the way back to the wharf where the ferry picked us up. And then we still werent done for the day and we stopped off the ferry at Devonport and went round all the old miliatry bases and the tunnels and guns and all that jazz. I need to get over my fear of the dark! Then we actually had some proper food and went out for dinner to proper resturant :) Got some really good photos of the Auckland skyline on the ferry back to the mainland.

Day 9

Well had a lazy morning didnt really know what to do, then met some people at the hostel and went to the beach for the day. Mission Bay it was called and one of the lads i was with had never been in the ocean before, crazy! So we went swimming and then we hired some kayaks and went sea kayaking :) and had some lunch and relaxed in the sunshine! it was glorious sunshien today, makes a change from all the rain! And now i am writing this whilst waiting for my washing to be and going to make some dinner soon.

Start my Haka tour tour tomorrow and diving with sharks! I think i am more scared about the scuba diving than i am the sharks!