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!

Kia Ora!

Or rather... Hello (in Maori, and that tasty tropical fruit drink of course..yum!).

As Ady said we're now in New Zealand - the 3rd leg of our trip! We're travelling with the Kiwi Experience which is kind of like a cross between Trek America and National Express from home. The company basically takes you from one location to another in a big group of travellers - but rather than staying with the same gang from start to finish you can hop off one if you want to stay somewhere longer and just catch the next bus that comes (pretty much 7 days a week depending on location). So far everything seems pretty good with informative (and funny) drivers and a nice bunch of people. If you wait a while to book they always seems to be having some sort of offers as well so don't rush - we managed 20% off ours!

Everything in New Zealand is kind of like home with an American twist. Its green, hilly and forest-y; best of all the temperature is like home. Getting off the plane was incredible; for around 7 weeks I've been uncomfortably hot in America and Fiji so it was pure relief stepping in to temperatures of below 20C - and finally time to make use of those 2 jumpers I've been carrying around for no reason what so ever!

Our first couple of days were spent in Auckland - the biggest city in the whole of the country. I'll be honest, its a bit shit. Apparently it is close to the top of the top 55 'best quality of life' cities in the World but I don't see it myself. It has everything you need (if what you need is Internet cafes, pharmacies and Chinese takeaways) for a short stay but we just made use of the cinema and a few shops to get stocked up for the rest of the New Zealand trip. The best thing about the city was possibly the ACB hostel where we stayed. Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays have what is called 'the big eat' where you pay $10 for a beer and as much pizza as you can eat - Ady and myself both managed 2 whole ones before we couldn't eat anymore - they then brought out about another 30 pizzas; for the cost you can't go wrong!

After 2 nights there we took our first Kiwi experience bus up to the Bay of Islands at the northern tip of the Island. Stunning scenery and loads of activities on offer; but rather than the usual speed boat trips around the islands etc we decided to do some sea fishing - It was amazing!! We went out with Spot-X fishing; they use high speed boats so that you get to the fishing spots quicker so the ride out was pretty cool in itself. Once out there I managed to catch 2 Snappers and 1 HUGE Barracuda!

Barracudas are unfortunately full of worms which makes them crap for eating so we had to make do with 2 Snappers for dinner... but they were bloody lovely! So some advice for the Bay of Islands... if you're going to do a cruise around the islands do something on that cruise as we've heard from quite a few people it can be a bit dull - so go sailing, fishing or kayaking then you get to see the islands and be entertained... perfect!