So after a great time in Australia it was off to Auckland. I'd left Fos sleeping off his hangover and was left to contend with my own at the airport! Thankfully it was only a 3 hour hop to New Zealand and the flight was smooth so all was well once my raging headache had dispersed! I lost 3 hours with the time change going to New Zealand so after a trouble free trip through immigration at the airport and an equally good shuttle bus into the centre of Auckland, I had a quick wander around town to get my bearings,gave in to the temptation of the golden arches once again before heading to the hostel for an early night. I must have had a premonition when I booked my accomodation as I found myself in a single room with a big double bed so I happily hit the hay for some much needed sleep.

After a good lie-in the next day I was up and out to take in the sights of Auckland. Several people had told me that Auckland wasn't great but I had a good day looking around the Americas Cup village and Skytower and then took a harbour tour which was most enjoyable. After weeks of sunshine the temperature was a fair bit cooler than I was used to so the shorts and t-shirts went to the bottom of the backpack and the long trousers and jacket were dusted off and brought to the top. I even put my beanie into my rucksack just in case! After a couple of quiet beers and phone calls home that evening, I decided to break from the norm and ventured to the cinema. After resisting my usual comfy chair induced urge to nod off, the film (Pelham 123) turned out to be pretty good and it made a nice change to do something different than eat or drink the night away. It also set me up nicely for another early start the next day to catch the Stray bus outside the hostel. I'd booked on a tour which would take in all of the main towns,cities and sights around the North and South islands for a minimum of 26 days but I could also hop on and off as much as I wanted so hopefully I'd get to do everything I had on my mental checklist for New Zealand. We set off South with 26 people on a full sized coach and the driver introduced himself as Seagull(!) before attempting to kick off some party games! I (along with several others) wasn't keen and after the nickname revelation and the games, I started to have my doubts about the trip as I'd purposely tried to avoid the 'younger' 18-30 type crowd on an alternative tour company in an effort to avoid this kind of action. Either that or I was just getting old and grumpy!

Unsurprisingly with 20-odd strangers, the journey was a little subdued and we made a stop in a town called Thames for lunch and to do some supermarket shopping. Seagull warned us that not everywhere we stayed along the way would have a restaurant,shop or worse still a bar so it would be wise to stock up. I hadn't been shopping for food or planned any meals since I left England so this proved to be a bit of a shock to the system but I focussed on the essentials and left with some bread, fruit,chocolate and a big case of beer! After an increasingly rainy trip south we arrived at our first stop, Hahei, which is famous for it's hot pools on the beach. I'd had visions of donning my boardies and digging myself a nice thermal hot tub on the beach but the time of arrival and the weather worked against us. After a bracing walk to Cathedral Cove we headed back (in the rain!) to our camp where we had a BBQ and got to know each other a little better over burgers and beer. It was certainly a mixed group but my initial reservations about the trip dwindled as the night went on. This was made even better when Seagull informed us that the rain had stopped and suggested we go to the beach anyway. It was pitch black and after stopping along the way to pick up some shovels we headed to the beach. Once we'd navigated our way onto the beach and to the water's edge by torchlight, Seagull told us where to dig and within a couple of scoops the sand became too hot to even stand on. I was amazed and set about digging a hole big enough to sit in. It must rank as one of the oddest things I've done....standing on a pitch black beach frantically digging a hole with a German, a Swede and a guy from Oxford while the waves lapped all around us and the sand frequently too hot to stand on resulting in us dancing around like loonies! Great fun though and a good start to the trip. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all.....

The next day saw us head to Raglan which is famous for it's surfing but the weather was again rather wet and windy. A few hardy souls went to the beach but having already surfed in the warm waters of Australia, I decided to stay in the comfort of the lodge. I'd got friendly with a chap called Mark from Oxford and we rummaged through the collection of old videos (yes, they do still have videos in New Zealand!) and dug out Dirty Dancing in honour of poor old Patrick Swayze. Needless to say as soon as it came on all the girls at the hostel dropped what they were doing and joined us which made for a very pleasant afternoon although Mark's singing left a lot to be desired! It was a real league of nations at the hostel and I got chatting to a group of surfer 'doods' from Brazil,Finland and the US later that afternoon who invited us all to a party at the barn behind the hostel later that night. They also offered to drive to town and buy beers so we clubbed together and sent them off into the wild weather to get supplies. The night turned out to be brilliant with one of the Finnish guys hooking his laptop up to two huge speakers and acting as a DJ and the rest of us drinking and dancing until the wee small hours like we were in some sort of super club rather than a drafty barn cum sports hall in the middle of a forest in New Zealand! Against my better judgement, I even joined in with a few of the guys smoking a bong (filled wih fruit tobacco!) which was surprisingly tasty. Two days in and my initial reservations about the trip had all but disappeared......good times!

There were a few sore heads (and juicy stories) on the bus the next day as we headed across to the other side of the island in yet more rain. Seagull had promised us that tonight would be much the same as we were visiting a real Maori village for a 'cultural experience' involving more eating and drinking. He also mentioned that he had something special lined up for me but wouldn't say anymore than that which made me slightly nervous. The plan for the day was to go black water rafting at Waitomo but due to all the rain, the caves had flooded meaning it was too dangerous. Abseiling in the caves was offered as an alternative but only a few people went for this meaning the rest of us went on a couple of nearby walks to waterfalls, took in a trip to a bird sanctuary where I saw my first Kiwi bird and then went to a cracking coffee shop where I had possibly the best chocolate cake I've ever tasted. Feeling a little sick after the cake, we headed off to pick up the rest of the group and then visited a rabbit shearing farm...yes, rabbits! This all seemed a little odd and rather hard on the poor bunnies but we were told that the rabbits grow very thick,long coats and have to be shorn twice a year or they overheat and die! We watched in amusement as this poor rabbit was stretched out by it's front and back legs and basically shorn like a sheep. The fur is used to make jumpers, gloves and hats amongst other things and we were assured that the rabbits feel no discomfort. I found this hard to believe given the twitching and wriggling the rabbit was doing throughout but it all made for good entertainment.

It was on to Uncle Boy's Maori village after this and we were welcomed inside with a traditional Maori welcome of "kia ora" which means hello. I coldn't help thinking of the fruity drink from the nineties though! My surprise turned out to be being made chief of my 'tribe' for the evening due to being the eldest on the bus and I was also told that anything I said was law which set my mind racing! We had a traditional Maori meal (with mine being served to me by my tribe) and then watched the local men and women perform their traditional dances. The rub came when we were told that we had to learn the dances and perform them for the rest of the bus! The lads had 10 minutes to learn the Haka (the scary dance the All Blacks do before they play rugby) and then perform this to the girls in costume. The costume consisted of nothing more than a wrap around grass skirt so we reluctantly stripped down to our underwear and tried to learn the dance. Being the chief I had to learn the words and the dance which was doubly hard but we did our best before being rolled out in front of the baying crowd! It was nerve wracking but good fun and we were told we did a decent job for beginners! The video is available on request for anyone who wants to see it by the way. Once that ordeal was out of the way we kicked off the drinking games and drunk until the early hours with flip cup a raging success as always.Uncle Boy woke us up at 7am the next day with Abba at full blast and I was reminded by a few of the guys of jumping around on everyone's bed before I finally settled down and crashed out. Not really the behaviour of a chief!

We then headed to Rotorua to do some white water rafting which was great fun with part of the trip involving a 7m waterfall which is supposedly the biggest commercially rafted drop in the world. The bus schedule meant we only had half a day in Rotorua so a few of us decided to hop off and catch the next bus in a few days. I was a little sad to leave the group as we'd all bonded really well and were having a great time but the quality of my trip had to come first so I just hoped the next bus would be as much fun. Despite the weather the scenery so far on the trip had been truly spectacular and had totally lived up to all the expectations with the rolling greenery, beautiful mountains and lakes. People had told me that there was a great photo around every corner and this was proving to be the case too. Thankfully I was on the bus so our stops were limited because if I'd gone with my original idea of renting a campervan, I'd be here forever taking photos! I've also realised that this blog will be 100 pages long if I carry on at this rate so I'll try and compress the rest of the trip as best as I can!

We stayed in Rotorua for a couple of days and rented a car meaning we could explore the thermal parks around the area. I was a little apprehensive as I hadn't driven since June but it turned out to be a breeze as the traffic in NZ is almost as laid back as the people and they drive on the correct side of the road too! The thermal parks were one of the main things I wanted to see in NZ and the hot mud pools, geysers and lakes were remarkable and made me realise how fantastic nature can be. We met some great people at the hostel too including a puppeteer from Canada who was fascinating company. The next bus turned out to be as much fun as the first one although the weather continued to worsen and we missed out on a couple of well known walks due to them being snow bound! This was apparently the worst Spring weather in NZ for 30 years (typical!) and it was absolutely bloody freezing. A few of us did brave the elements to do a walk in the Tongararo National Park but my face had literally frozen by the time we returned and I couldn't talk properly for about 30 minutes afterwards. Our journey further south was in doubt at one point as some roads were closed due to the snow but we managed to make or way through to Wellington where we met up with a few girls from the first bus and had a couple of cracking nights out. One night involved visiting the southern hemisphere's only Welsh bar which is housed in a converted public toilet. It wasn't as bad as it sounds and we managed to have a great night drinking some weird cocktails made by the eccentric owner.

Despite the weather the North Island lived up to the hype and I'd had a great time so far. The decision to jump on the Stray bus was proving to be inspired and that coupled with the promise of even better scenery and warmer weather on the South Island had got me looking forward to the next couple of weeks. With the North Island done the next hurdle was the ferry across the infamous Cook Straight to the South Island. The journey is renowned for being choppy and we were told you're lucky if you don't get seasick. Having never been seasick before I took this as a challenge.........