Well back to the blogging from the past month!! My next trip was to new zealand, an amazing country which I saw in the shortest time yet still managed to fall in love!! Day 1 I arrived in Auckland and it was raining like I have never seen rain before!! I mean I come from the UK but this was something else!! Anyways, I met Lana from Topdeck and went to the coach to meet everyone else and Nick the driver. Got to mee a couple of people who were doing the whole 15 day tour, namely Julian from Kent, Lan from China and Thi from Thailand. Also met Hannah from the UK but only staying with us for 5 dyas. We also got introduced to the day song, Flow by Kora, which we heard a lot of throughout the trip!! We were heading up to the Bay of Islands, with one stop on the way at Parry's Kauri Park, to see the Kauri Tree. After this we got to the town of paihia where we were staying for two nights. Due to jetlag I went to bed at 7:30pm and left my room mates Lan and Thi to their own devices! The next day I had wanted to go sailing but apparently they do not sail in the winter, so went on a dolphin boat instead!! We got to see some dolphins up close and also see some beautiful islands! We went back to the port and I had a wander around the town before heading back to the motel. Lana cooked us dinner that night and myself Lan and Thi had some wine!! We went out to the pub as Nick wanted to see the All Blacks play. We ended up staying for the evening entertainment and some how i ended up doing karaoke with a girl called Dana who was also on the tour!! I don't think I will ever be able to hear the song Low again without remembering it!! We did get a cocktail out of it though which was pretty good!! The next day we headed back towards Auckland, saying goodbye to some people from the tour and picking up some new people, notably Phil and Vicki from Liverpool, Laura from Belgium and Melinda and Belinda from Oz. That night we were staying at Traditional Maori Marae, which is like a traditional local village to the natives of New Zealand. We got to hear stories and see a Haka. We moved on to Rotorua next, famous for its thermal reserve and therefore bad smell!! Myself and Hannah decided to have massages at the local Hells Gate, although we got to explore the local Maori village of Wharewarewa (pronounced phuckawayawaya) in the morning and see some more of the Haka. After the massage we went and had a dip in the hotels swimming pool which was gorgeously warm!! We went out for dinner and stayed up for a bit watching TV and getting to know everyone! We moved on the next day stopping at the Huka Falls and the taupo bungy jump, where Julian did a bungy and nick did the swing! There was no way i was going near either of the activities!! We drove past the volcano most famous for being Mt Doom in Lord of the Rings and arrived in Wellington in the late afternoon. this was Hannahs last evening so we went to a food court for dinner and then went back to the hostel bar for a few drinks!! The next morning we said good bye to Hannah and went off for a quick drive around Wellington before going to the Te papa museum. We got a ferry across the Cook Strait and ended our time in the North Island. We arrived in Picton and carried on to Nelson, our destinatio for the evening. Myself, Lan, Thi and Ava shared a room here, which was a little like a turret!! It had a kitchen, but also a jacuzzi and sauna!! Pure luxary! I wanted to do a wine tour in Nelson but due to not enough numbers, I got to explore the town and then spend the day pampering!! Before Lan and Thi joined me in the jacuzzi and hot tub!! We had a lot of fun drinking wine and then having dinner in a restaurant just across from the hotel. The next day we started the drive towards Christchurch, stopping at Ohau Point to see some baby seals!! They were the most amazing thing ever, tame enough that we could stroke them!! The pictures will eventually be up on facebook so you can imagine how amazing an experience that was!! We eventually got to Christchurch and settled into a room at the Camelot Hotel. Due to a mix up, myslef and Lan got a room to ourselves!! Julian found out that he had passed his degree with a first on this day so we went to a nice Italian restaurant to celebrate and enjoy some of the nicest pizzas around!! The next day a large group of people joined us on teh coach, meaning we had a full bus. I will carry on my New Zealand adventure at another time!!