We hopped on the bus at 7.30am, ready to go up to the bay of islands! First people we met on the bus were all English- Rob, Nina, Fran and Henry. Our driver jarred rapidly bombarded us with clipboards for us to book any activities, hostels and the bus back to auckland. We had to stay one or three nights in paihia, which depended on which activities you wanted to do. The hostel we checked into was nice, we shared a room with rob, holly and nick. We all decided to have the hostel BBQ then stay in the bar to watch the all blacks play France then the lions play Queensland. The BBQ was amazing, loads of food and with the free drinks/ happy hour/ two for one vouchers we were set in for an eventful night. The all blacks and the lions won their games, we met lots of local 'kiwi's' who were a good laugh, particularly kiwi rob who took dancing and the Hakka to the next level, entertaining us a lot in the process. After a slightly later start the next day, while the others went on a boat tour, harry and I decided to catch the ferry over to Russell island- the first capital of New Zealand. We walked through native kiwi bush to an isolated beach called long beach. We played in the sand and went looking in the rock pools for crabs - unfortunately not finding any. Once we had eaten our picnic we continued to walk to the other end of the island to a sheltered harbour with lots of boats. On the way back to the ferry we looked in some shops, including a local artist gallery. We crossed the ferry back to paihia and wandered back to the hostel. Once back we chilled watching DVDs for the evening and made dinner. We had quite an early night in preparation for our early start on the tour to cape renga. The next day was the day we'd been waiting for!! We left paihia nice and early with enough time to make an extra stop at kaiteriteri, which would be our first- to see the first stone house in NZ and the oldest pear tree (200yrs old!). Next was a stop to hug the largest kauri tree in NZ, said to make you feel refreshed within 24 hours. We visited a cafe for an early lunch, then continued to head all the way to the tip of NZ. The northern most point is said to be a very sacred place, a place where you can say your goodbyes to loved ones who have passed away. The bus driver, Barry, welcomed us in the traditional Maori way (in the Maori language). When we arrived we walked down to the lighthouse took lots of photos and had our own quiet time to reflect. The views were amazing. The next stop was the one we were most looking forward to - sandboarding!! As it had just rained the sand was harder which meant we went even quicker (on average 50-60mph!) it was great fun and the dune was huge and steep to walk up, so we had four goes each. At the base of the dune you had to lift your board to skim across the stream- furthest one wins! After lots of fun and some of us wetter than others, we got back on the bus briefly to head to 90 mile beach. It was only a couple of mins away, so we were back off the bus and playing in the water! The drive after along 90 mile beach was really surreal, driving in the water with the spray coming up the windows. On the way down the beach we saw a dead whale and the famous hole in the rock (which the others had paid quite a bit to see the previous day!). The only stop on the way back was at Maurimani bay - for 'the best fish and chips in the galaxy'. Unfortunately, they didn't quite live up to expectation. We got back quite late and all pretty tired, so we watched a couple of films and headed to bed. We had three new roommates tonight- Craig, Joe and Alice. The next morning, Joe and I went for a jog along the path by the beach. We had to move all our stuff out the room then those who were leaving in the afternoon went for a stroll along the beach and had lunch, before hopping back on the bus to Auckland. When we arrived in auckland we checked back into Queen St backpackers, then headed out for $5 dominos pizza. That evening Craig, Henry, rob, harry, Fran, nina and I went for a few drinks. First to a giveaway night where Fran won a two for one skydive, harry won a trip around the north island (which we'd already done!) and nina won two teapots - which had cocktails in!! In another bar we stopped in nina and I did the marshmallow eating competition, unfortunately I was first out, nina did quite well though! We all headed back to our shared dorm and went to sleep ready to get up early to go to hot water beach. We left auckland early, stopping for a walk to cathedral cove, a secluded beach which was unusual in its shape. Last stop that day was the holiday park we were staying that night at hot water beach - rated one of the worlds top 10 beaches! They had a huge trampoline on site, so we jumped on that then headed to the beach to dig a hot pool. There was limited space left on the beach so we dug a couple small pools for our feet then jumped in the big one which already existed. It wasn't long before the tide was coming back in again so the pool started breaking at the edges and cold water was coming in. We couldn't believe how hot the water and sand could get, it was nice while it lasted!! We went back up to the holiday park, had showers and got ready for dinner. Tonight we ha decided to have a big carbonara with 8 of us, it was quite dramatic cooking the meal although eventually we did manage to eat!! We spent the rest of the evening just relaxing in the common area by the log fire. Next morning we were up early and on our way to Waitomo. On the way we stopped at karangahake scenic reserve to explore the gorge and caves left from the days the area was mining land. Gemma was quite scared walking through the caves as they were dark, this gave us a heads up as to what she would be like in the afternoon doing the famous black water rafting! Next stop was a place called Paeroa. A place which is "world famous in New Zealand". Purely because of the drink which originates from here - L&P (lemon and Paeroa). It tastes like posh lemonade but is made with the Paeroa spring water which gives it it's unique taste. We stopped at the waitimo cave office to pay for the activities we were doing later then continued on the check into the hostel for the night. We had a four bed room tonight sharing with Gemma and tom. After dumping our bags we were shortly picked up by the caving team. The first challenge was to get our very wet wetsuits, booties and tops on. This was quite a challenge and in the girls changing room none of us could stop laughing!! We had a safety briefing and quick team photo. Back in the minibus and a short drive away were the caves. We grabbed a tube each which was literally just big enough to fit our bums in. A few more funny photos then a practice waterfall jump off a wooden platform into the river would complete our warm up. My first jump wasn't the smoothest, we stood backwards to the water with our bums in the tubs then jumped back, I went quite far back and all the water came over my head and up my nose!! We then had to hop out our tubes before floating too far and missing the steps to get back up! Back on the minibus we drove further up the caves to our entry point. At first it was quite daunting, the hole we had to climb through was pretty small and involved a lot if manoeuvring around rocks to then open into a large cave. We sat in a circle while our guides (pirate and Mika) explained all the aspects of the cave, there were stalactites which were long dangling things growing down, and the opposite stalagmites growing upwards. Now we were in the caves we put our tubes over our shoulders so we could use our hands to climb over the rocks. When we were in the caves we did a combination of floating along in tubes on our own, floating along as a group eel (holding each others ankles), wading in the water and crawling along. We had two waterfall jumps while in the cave, the first was quite small, you couldn't see where you were landing, but once landed our head torches lit up the cave pool which went incredibly high up! We floated around waiting for everyone to jump down then continued our adventure. The next waterfall was much higher and really exciting!! After we landed we formed an eel line then turned off our headlamps, looked up to see hundreds of green glowworms. As neither of us had seen them before we were amazed!! We sat on the sides of the caves and were given a chocolate marshmallow fish as a snack. Fully refreshed we carried on exploring the caves, we all got back into our tubes then were told to turn the lights off again and follow the glowworms until we found our way out! It was fun and took a while as the water wasn't flowing as fast here as it was earlier. Eventually we ended up in a cave they called lovers tunnel, we had a quick cave kiss then hopped out the caves onto land. This was where all the water in the caves turned into a fast flowing river. Back to where we started our adventure a few of us had a warm glass of orange squash then a competition to throw the tubes back onto the posts we got them off! I narrowly missed but luckily harry won and gave me his prize - a chocolate marshmallow fish :) when we got back to the headquarters hot showers, tomato soup and bagels were awaiting us. The perfect end to a really exciting trip. My favourite part was definitely jumping off the big waterfall then seeing all the glowworms light up the cave- it was like a whole other world! Back at the hostel we relaxed, played pool, watched tv, did our washing then ate dinner and had a drink in the bar. We were up early again ready to leave for Rotorua. We got there quite early for a change as it wasn't far away. we all got off the bus to pay for the Maori meal and immediately noticed the strong smell of rotten eggs, it was gross!! Next we checked into the hostel, there were already three people in our hostel room, who we met later in the day. They were three boys all from Manchester (Adam, Benji and Mark), one of the boys went to leeds met and studied similar course to harry and I, so we had quite a few mutual friends! We spent the day looking around Rotorua, there wasn't much to see in the town itself but there were loads of activities we could do. Harry and I wanted to stay there longer but couldn't as wasn't been able to have our flight yet. This meant we only had the rest of that day and the evening, so we started off walking to a huge lake, as we got closer the smell got stronger! This lake was part of the cause of the entire place smelling so bad, it was a sulphur lake. There was loads of steam coming off the lake and on the edge of it were lots of bubbling holes full of this gross gunk. After having a look we had to leave as the smell was so bad! We decided to have a picnic in the park nearby and started drinking our ciders/beers (Gemma, Ben, joe, harry and I). Early evening we were picked up from the hostel to go to a traditional Maori evening. On the way there we were taught a few sayings on the bus Kia Ora- which means hello/good health. We also had to select a chief (we chose joe). The first part of the Maori evening was where we were welcomed in the traditional way. Next we went through to lots of different Maori houses, each of which taught us about a different aspect of Maori life. The first was a ball on a piece of string which only women used, as a form of entertainment and to strengthen their wrists. I volunteered to have a go, they taught us a routine, which we then performed to our little group. I was pretty rubbish as it was quite hard to control!! Next was a game that they played involving catching a stick before it fell over, harry and tom played with other people from the group and tom ended up being the winner! We saw other stands including how they made wicker baskets, fitness through ladder runs and learnt the tribal dance (hacker). Next we were shown how our food had been cooked underground in what was basically a smoking method. The chief got the food out for us to see before we watched their final performance incorporating all the aspects we seen, it was amazing. Then the main highlight of the evening... The Maori meal. There was loads of food and it was buffet, we had roast lamb, chicken, sweet potatoes, coleslaw, mussels and loads of vegetables. The meat tasted a lot more smokey than it usually does, probably because f how it was cooked! We ate loads, including pudding of steamed cake, custard, peach slices and pavlova! After the meal they sang traditional songs as we had coffees, teas and hot chocolates! Back on the bus to the hostel we all had to sing songs in our country groups, we chose the national anthem. The bus driver who was hilarious got us singing the wheels on the bus as she drove round and round a round about!! When we got back we were all really full so had a few drinks in the bar net to the hostel till quite late then said bye to nina, rob, fran and ben then went to bed.

On Saturday morning we got up early to leave for Lake Taupo. When we got to Taupo it was raining so we checked into the hostel then went for a little wonder around town. We found a floating golf hole in the lake so along with harry, tom, Gemma and George we watched people play for a bit. Both harry and George got pretty close to getting a hole in one, but didn't quite get there. That night we all had pizza at the hostel bar while watching one of the lions practice games. We had a few drinks during the first half there then moved to an Irish bar across the road for the second half as the atmosphere was better. After the game gobies we stayed and watched the live singer with Gemma and the three Manchester boys. we stayed out quite late but didn't hear harry or tom come in the room later. We realised Sunday morning that it was because somehow they had managed to talk their way into having their own room for the night! Unfortunately it rained all day but we were happy not to have to get on the bus! We went shopping in what was left of the morning then had lunch at the hostel. Although it was raining we decided we needed to make the most of being in Taupo, so we got the raincoats on and walked to the hot springs. There were two main pool areas at the spring area, harry and tom jumped straight in the first one while Gemma and I explored the other. Us girls decided it was too cold to get the bikinis out so sat on the side with our feet in the warm water. When we got back to the hostel (after a 40min walk) it was time for dinner, so we found George and all went round the corner to burger fuel to have amazing burgers! That night we chilled playing pool then packed ready to leave in morning.