After an 11-hour flight to Fiji, 3-hour stop over there and then another 3 hour flight, we arrived in Auckland. We picked up our car and then headed to the hostel - it was a relief to be on the left hand side of the road again and the roads were easy to navigate. As luck would have it, Dave's mate, Nilesh, is in NZ at the same time as us and was in Auckland that day, so we met up with him and his girlfriend for a drink and catch up.

We only had a day to explore Auckland - as we wanted to spend most of our time exploring the more scenic parts of NZ! We therefore crammed a lot into our day - visiting the Auckland Art Museum which showed fascinating artwork of the Maori culture and NZ's history, going up to the Sky Tower to get amazing views of the city, visiting One Tree Hill (a volcanic cone which still remains in the city) and going to the Posonby district of the city for some food. We really liked Auckland and it reminded us in a way of San Francisco…

We then made the 3 hour car trip up to the Bay of Islands. The roads are a nightmare around here - main roadways to / from places are small country lanes, most of which seem to be having roadworks - a far cry from the freeways in America! We stayed in Paihia - a small beach town where most of the backpackers stay… Our hostel was our first true backpackers hostel of the trip and took a while to get used to. However it was set in a really pretty garden and the outside seating areas made meeting people easy and a good place to eat dinner and have a chilled drink in the evenings.

We had 4 nights in Paihia, mostly as we wanted to chill and relax - which we certainly did! We spent a day on the beach relaxing on our first day. We went to the Harura Falls, a small waterfall nearby. We also enjoyed the hostel's free activities and played tennis…

We also had my favourite day of the trip so far - a boat trip around the Bay of Islands. The islands were beautiful (with fascinating stories related to Captain Cook's discovery of the Bay of Islands) and before long, we also saw a pack of dolphins which came right up to the boat to say hi J We also saw a 'hole in the rock' and then had a stop in a remote island, Urupukapuka. It was so beautiful with lush green hills meeting clear blue waters and cliff formations. We decided to go along some of the walking tracks and luckily for us, were the only people on the island to do so. The walk was steep but there were so many amazing views - I had to stop every 2 minutes and take photos! We both agreed it was the most beautiful scenery we have ever seen…

It has been good to recharge our batteries as the rest of our time in NZ is going to be pretty hectic to fit everything we want to see in! Here's to more amazing scenery and experiences!

Amie x