Heading down South!

Thats me... jumping off Mt Eden!

After another brief stay in Auckland we got back on the Kiwi bus to begin out journey south through the north Island. We first had a quick trip up Mt. Eden which over looks the whole of Auckland, its pretty breathtaking, and really shows you some scale of the city (seems A LOT smaller when you're actually there).

We then began our main journey down to Mercury Bay via the beautiful 'Cathedral Cove'. 'Cathedral Cove' is the place that took the Pevensie children on there second trip to Narnia in the film version of Prince Caspian. It was an amazing beach with beautiful scenery, something that New Zealand seems to do VERY well! After we'd had a swim in the sea it was time to hike back up the cliff to the bus and on to Mercury Bay; named because Captain Cook took his boat there to watch the transit of Mercury. We stayed in a nice little homely hostel called Turtle Cove where we met a couple of lasses from the Uk - Beth and Helen, as well as got to know some of the other guys from the bus. After an evening of drinking, playing pool and winning some games of poker it was time to go to bed ready for the journey to Rotarua (or Rottenrura as some of the locals call it!). Ady mentionned most of the stuff we did here but suffice to say it was brilliant! Racing driving, sledging (with wheels...) and relaxing in one of the top 5 Spas in the World.. can't get any better than that!