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Hello All,
So this is an update since we landed in New Zealand. Obviously flying over to New Zealand I was so excited, about to see two of my best friends. We were slightly delayed but the free glasses of wine and beer helped us :) We finally landed just after midnight, but when we had finally got through passport control we had to have our tent searched at quarantine. Lee grabbed both backpacks as he knew the second I saw the girls I would run, and thats exactly what I did, we all ran screaming towards each other, such a happy moment to see Ruth and Scouse. When I had finally calmed down we walked over to the guys. Lee and I then saw the huge banner Ruth and Scouse were holding before the running and screaming, bless them. Jeff gave us all a lift home and we said our goodbyes, only for about 7 hours as we had a trip planned for early the next day.
So 7am the next day we were up and getting ready for a day on Waiheki Island. We met Ryan and John-Paul in the morning, Scouse's friends from Liverpool, they were both staying at Scouse and Jamies. We headed to the ferry in Auckland centre, this is where we met Ruth, Jeff and Jeffs mum. When crossing the ferry Ruth pointed out where she worked, and Jamie pointed out a few important areas in Auckland. We got off the ferry and got on the bus to the other side of the island. We lay on a beach for several hours called ' Onetangi Beach', and the guys explored and jumped off the rocks into the water. Later on wee headed back on the busy bus and stopped at two wineries, the first was really busy so we headed next door for a 6 wine taster, because everyone got these the table was full of empty glasses at the end, we looked like alcoholics. We then went back to the first winerie called 'Wild on Waiheki' again we had wine tasters, the guys had a few beer tasters. When we were at the bar I was talking to the girls and the bar lady started crying, she was from Wales and really missed the Welsh accent, bless her! This helped later when the bar was meant to shut, but she kept serving us :) We finally left and headed to the beach near the ferry, we all got fish 'n' chips and sat on the beach eating. We caught the ferry back to Auckland and headed back home on the bus. When we were back we all had a few more drinks, although Scouse wasn't feeling to good and fell asleep on the floor.
The next day we were all up chatting in the front room, all except Johnson! He was fast asleep for ages, I tried waking him up three times, I finally managed to get him out of bed around 11.30am! Scouse and I went shopping whilst the guys stayed in and watched Lord Of The Rings. That evening Jamie made us a tasty curried chicken and rice. Scouse and I dyed our hair, luckly it came out really good (no green in Scouses blonde) whilst the guys watched the final Lord of the Rings.
Our next day in Auckland we headed to 'Piha Beach', a volcanic beach with black sand. Although it was a huge shame it was really windy. After us all having chips the guys walked up a hill, whilst Scouse and I stayed at the bottom taking silly pictures of ourselves. After almost being blown over in the strong wind we headed to 'Mission Bay', theis is where Ruth and Jeff live, but Ruth was at work. Everyone had a bit of ice-cream then headed back to Scouse and Jamies. Ruth came over later that evening and we all played a game called 'Tension' unlucky for us the boys won :( A lot more wine and beer later we all headed for bed.
The next day Ruth was back at work again. The guys all wanted to go out on their friends boat but me and Scouse were not feeling it. We stayed in all day watching Homeland, popping out to the shop for some sleeping bags and Lee headed out with the lads to go on the boat. Lee said it was so choppy and he spent more tiem in the air than in the water. Lee and Jeff played a bit of cricket on a private island, then they swapped with the other lads and had a go at wake-boarding. Although Lee spent most of his time getting dragged through the water and not actually being able to stand up on the water. We all just chilled in the evening and had an early night around 10pm as we were all really sleepy.
Woohoo today was the first day of the camping trip. We got up and packed up the car after a few stops on route we finally made it to our first campsite. It was right next to Kai Iwi lakes such a beautiful place. Clear blue fresh water lake, no salt in the water, it was so amazing. We put up the tents, we put up Ruth and Jeffs then put up Mine and Lee's, although it looked so funny because there was two massive tents, then mine and Lees childs tent in the middle. Ruth and Jeff arrived a little later on in the afternoon. It was Lee and My turn to cook dinner to night, so we made Steak, Tomato's, Onions, Pots and beans. When I saw Lee and I cooked I mean Lee cooked and I was 'Co Chef' and I got the drinks :). After the meal we all sat drinking and played 21.
The following morning we woke up all slightly hung-over, not as bad as Ryan though with his 'Cindy' hangover, Cindy is a girls cocktail drink! We had such an amazing view of the lakes from our tents! The lads were making eggs and bacon sarnies and tea. We spent a few more hours chilling by the beautiful lake before packing up and heading towards our next stop Bay Of Islands and Paihia. Jamie had once again picked a brilliant camping spot with a beautiful waterfall. On route we saw a place called 'Action World' with loads of blow up slides and Trapeze bars, Water slides and mini golf, so we all headed straight back there. It was actually really fun, Jeff even had the guts to go on the high Trapeze. Before we headed back we played a bot of mini golf, Lee won obviously out of me and the girls, Ruth hit the ball of the whole course a few times! When we got back to camp the lads headed out on a kayak each, whilst Scouse, Ryan and Me went into the swimming pool shortly followed by Jeff and Ruth. I managed to throw the ball from the pool over the fence and lost it. When Lee got off his Kayak I asked him to bring up our ball, he laughed when he heard I had lost the first one, and seconds later he did the exact same thing as me!!! So thats two balls gone!...opps! Ruth and Jeff cooked that evening, a tasty spicy meat pasta. We all played Articulate and woohooo I was on the winning team, I actually did very well..... Scouse, Ryan, Lee and I won!!! Ruth, Scouse and I had some girly time catch up in the tent whilst the guys sat outside a little longer, they said they saw a comet that night!
Our third day camping started off with a early start, we headed out to 'Russell' it used to be the capital of New Zealand. We travelled across the ferry and stopped at a beautiful look out point where Lee spotted a cycada. We then headed into the town to get some lunch. Ruth, Scouse and I went to a Thai resteraunt, it was so nice to have Thai again after a three months oh and of course a glass of wine. The lads went and had fish 'n' chips and beer. An hour and half later we reached Whananaki, we had the coolest camping spot ever, there was a cliff on the beach front with small flat patches, we had our own area to put the two tenst up on. Us girls chilled on the beach whilst the lads had a kick about and played a bit of cricket. That evening Scouse and Jamie cooked spag bowl and once again we all played articulate, somehow Lee managed to be on the winning team each time so I guess he won overall. At night time we all walked down on to the beach to look at the stars, it was insane I have never seen as many stars ever! Lee took loads of pictures, but in the morning we realised all the pictures just looked black.
All night last night we heard the crashing of the waves so Lee didnt sleep to well. We got up and messed about on the beach, we had to wait a while for the lady to come round and get our stuff on the trailer to take back to the car. On route to our next stop we stopped at Mcdonalds, a much needed Maccy D's. Then headed to our last campsite in Waipu. We set up camp then headed to the beach, everyone was really sleepy but we managed to make it to the beach when suddenly the lads had energy to play keepy uppy with a football named 'Wilson' and then they went and tackled the waves, after getting bored of that they jumped into Jeffs car and drove on the beach to a spot for fishing. All this time Ruth, Scouse and I sunbathed and chilled in the sea... untill I saw some very small dead jelly fish! When the lads got back they said they had driven past a nudest beach with very old naked men and women... yuk! On our last nigth JP and Ryan cooked Chilli, Rice and Wraps...yummy! We spent the night finishing off an alcohol and chatting.
Up at 8am the following morning ready to pack up and head off. Lee was quick off the mark cooking bacon sarnies for us all. We headed off back to Auckland stopping at 'Goat Island' on the way back and a brewery to pick up a few beers. We reached Scouses house and all just led on the sofa hardly moving, everyone was so tired after the camping trip. Jamie cooked us some fresh herb chicken burgers and we all played racing sprouts (a game mum had posted over for christmas), Lees broke and started humping another sprout very funny! It was JP and Ryans last night in Auckland so we all ended up drinkin lots of spirits and a few cheeky shots.
The next day Jamie drove the lads to their bus stop and Scouse had to go to work. Lee and I just chilled out all day. We watched 'The Inbetweeners Movie', 'The Hangover', 'Horrible Bosses', 'Back To The Future 1 and 2' and very lazy film day! That night we actually didnt drink any alcohol, just had some food and chilled out.
Yesterday Jamie took us to the Kewi Experience shop to get our bus timetable and details, I booked Lee and I onto our first bus on the 24th Jan to Hot Water Beach. We went to a shop that had food just out of date, near sell by date and a while of sell by date all the food was sooooo cheap. We popped back inbetween shops and caught Scouse at home on her lunch which was nice. We then went to an 'Asian Store' where we bought food for Sat night, Lee and I are going to try cook the Thai Green Curry we learnt in Thailand. We also stocked up on food for the next week and half, and bought some booze ready for the next week. In the evening we headed to the cinema to watch 'Les Miserables' in the largest cinema screen in the world, it was so good we even go to sit and drink wine in the cinema.
Today we are having another chilled out day, we have now watched 'Backed To The Future 3' and now watching stand up comedy. Jamie is getting us insured on his car so we will be travelling out of the house tomorrow. Tonight we are all going for a curry with Ruth and Jeff as well, really looking forward to it!
Right hope you are all well and you have been updated on our travels,
I get to see my mum in exactly 3 weeks, I am sooooooooooo excited.
Love to you all,
Zoe n Lee
x x
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