Well hello there, its been a while and as you have probably guesse4d I haven't been in Melbourne quite this long despite what my homepage suggests. I have been in New Zealand since 1am last Monday night and have been very busy since then.

Since last Thursday I have been in a campervan with Simon (guy from oz trek trip)  seeing loads of places but am finishing today. I am currently in a town called Te Kuiti which is about 200km south of Auckland but will be back in the city later today so put the blog there to make things easier. As I am on the only internet computer in town it is pretty slow so will only be able to give you a blog today but tonnes of photos will be put up either tomorrow or Thursday and if I still haevn't found a descent one they will all be put on on Sunday guarenteed as I will have a few hours free in the city to do it.

Well i will get on with it as the last time I did this was the afternoon of my last day in oz (seems so long ago)-

Last Monday (16th April), after I wrote the blog, I walked up to the bus station and got the bus to the airport, arriving over 3 hours before my flight was due to depart. I sorted out my bag then was the first person to check onto the flight (they opened check in when I asked if I could actually check in.haha). I spent a couple of hours walking around the terminal, writing in my diary as I had my last pint in Australia, then searched for food and eventually went through to the gates. As I waited to be boarded I bought a big bottle of smirnoff red vodka for the unbelievable price of $13 (about 5 quid 50!). The plane left Australia on time and was quite a comfortable flight (next to window over left wing for 3rd flight in succession)- I had a nice ravioli meal and a pint and watched In pursuit of Happines again (watched it last flight). The plane touched down on time in Auckland at 1am Nz time then off the plane I got my bag and had to completely unpack it so that they could look at my hiking boots to inspect for any Australian dirt I might be bringing over (crazy). There were no buses so had to pay 26 bucks for a shuttle taxi to the city centre and my hostel- Auckland Central Backpackers. Once there I checked in, unpacked quietly in my 10th floor room (others were asleep) and went to sleep.

In the morning I got up early and was outside the hostel at 10am to hopefully meet Simon from the oz trek who had landed the afternoon before (he doesn't have a mobile so had to email him a time). I waited till 10-15 but he wernt there so walked down the road luckily bumping into him as he walked up to meet me (so lucky). We spent ages walking around then decided to get a campervan in a couple of days time as there wasnt too much to do in the city. After a nice pint (first one in NZ) at Father Teds pub and a dominos pizza Anaick met us (hadn't seen her since Magnetic Island) so we catched up while looking in the shops then for a couple of hours in the lounge area of the hostel while showing her my photos. Simon left to go to his hostel across town and look at activities we could do on our trip. In the evening me and Anacik went for a couple of drinks in Globe Bar which is below the hostel then I chilled and went to bed about 1am.

On Wednesday I spent the morning walking across town to get a kiwi experience brochure and waiting for simon for almost an hour outisde of it as his alarm didn't wake him up then put photos onto cd's at a dodgy and expensive chinese place then in the hostel. At 1.30 me and Simon (he was checking into my hostel for the night) met Victoria (girl from Auckland who I met in Jersey through one of my mum's friends) and her friend and got in her car after I posted my package home containing all remaining things from oz. We drove west through auckland's many suburbs and poorly signposted roads to West Auckland and got some lunch which was pie and chips. After, we spent a while driving down to the coast and walking along the black sandy beach then she dropped us back at the hostel. That night we just had a few drinks in the bar, chatted about the forthcoming trip then went to bed.

Thursday morning was very tedious indeed and involved a lot of waiting for loads of things- first I had to wait half an hour for Simons washing to finish then a further half an hour for the airport bus (take us to the camper van company). The bus left at 10am (time we meant to be there) and took over an hour to get to the airport and once there waited more for the company bus to take us to their office. When we finally got there we sat down and oh yes you guessed it- waited for a women to come over and take us to the van! crazy. Luckily, as we were two hours late, they had ran out of the Backpacker camper vans we ordered so they gave us a Maui camper van which is a load nicer and newer at no exra cost!!! oh yeh. It was a 2.4 petrol Toyota Hiace van and had a big bed, kitchen area and all the necessary stuff all organised insanely well. After checking the van for marks and doing the paper work we headed off to the supermarket for some food then north along the motorway towards auckland (Simon was driving). We carried on on the motorway around Auckland and over the bridge northwards, stopping in a couple of places on the way for views or to look at the beach then arrived at a few nice beaches north of Warkworth for lunch (had cheese baguettes). About an hour later past loads of nice forests and hills down the windy main road we stopped in Waipo where you could see some islands out to see (the Hen and Chicken Islands) so went onto the beach for while as the sun was going down. As it was getting late I got in the driving seat and headed back to Auckland going pretty fast along the way, overtaking when I could. We stopped the van south of Auckland for the night at a girls house (Brianna) me and Simon had met in Alice Springs (knew her dad from there as well) so slept in the spare room there after having steak and prawns for dinner and some beers.

On Friday we left bright and early (Brianna joined us for the day) to go East to spend the day around the Coromandel Peninsula. We arrived in the gold mining town of Thames about 11am, had some hot chocolate then drove along the coast right next to the sea stopping several times for pictures and to have a look at the rock pools (loads of small crabs). We had different varieties of chips and remaining steak for lunch at Coromandel next to a load of typically hungry sea gulls then drove right across the peninsula up and over a really steep winding road (Simon was flying on the way down) to Mercury Bay on the Pacific side. The bay wasn't as good as I hoped so kept driving south to Hahei where there was a beatuiful beach that looked a bit like Thailand as loads of little islands sat in front of you. We sat on the lovely white sand for ages talking then found a strong rope swing me and simon had a lot of fun using. Before heading back we stopped at hot Water Beach (the water was cold!) and me and Simon went for a quick dip in the ocean much to Brianna's amusement. The drive back took a good couple of hours and as I was now driving went a lot quicker than could of done (haha). The whole day we were listening to Snow Patrol- Eyes Open which we ended up playing 7 times as well as the radio. That evening we all got the train into the city centre and sampled Aucklands surprisingly limited nightlife (if it wernt for backpackrs bars there would be less than St. Helier) then got back around 3am.

On Saturday morning we said goodbye to Brianna and her family then after getting petrol (152 cents a litre) headed south east to the geothermal town of Rotorua which took a couple of hours (did some slightly dodgy overtaking manouvers on the way down that Simon found quite funny). We looked at what activities were on offer at the information centre then had lunch next to the Sulphur smelling lake (cheap hot dogs from the Mad Butcher) and took a look around some geothermal area next to the centre and the lake. We decided not to do any big activities so went to Hell's Gate which is the most active geothermal area in the whole area. It cost 25 bucks to get in but was well worth it as it took over an hour to walk around the various big hot pools, rock structures, the southern hemispheres lagest hot waterfall (not that big) and a mud volcano. Afterwards we spent a while driving past 3 of the lakes near Lake Rotorua (the big one) including Lake Okinawa which was the best of the lot as it was so peaceful and had a complete lack of people besides a couple of fishing boats. Back in Rotorua we went on the internet, grabbed some beer then drove to lake Tarawera where we spent the night in a random carpark. The bed int he back (once sorted out) is really comfortable and it wernt long before we were asleep around 10/ 10.30 (really early).

The next day we left the lake (good view out back window when we woke up), had a look at the green and blue lakes (had to walk a steep way down to both of them then back up) then drove the 80km south to Taupo. There Simon took a look at the bungy (was a really nice one over blue water and in a canyon) but decided against it due to finances, and we found there wasnt much to do in the toiwn except look at the massive lake as it was all adventure activities out of town. We carried on driving down the Eastern edge of the lake along the main road to the very south of the lake at Turangi where we enquired about hiring mountain bikes the day after then had cheese on toast in a gravel car park nearby. As we were right next to the massive Tongariro National Park and Simon wanted to see it (I would see it, like many of the other things, again with Kiwi Experience in a week or so's time) we decided to drive around it on what is known as the volcanic loop. Before long two of the main volcanoes came into view, one being a certain Mt. Doom found in a certain famous trilogy that came out not too long ago- it was a prominent black volcanic cone rising about 2000 metres from sea level. There was a road going 12km into the park up to Whakapapa (great name) ski resort (no snow yet) so drove up there through old lava fields then got out at the top in the bitter cold as we were so high up. I thought the road was good to drive down so swapped with Simon and went down it with the car smelling a bit at the bottom (awesome). Back on the main road we briefly picked up a hitchhiker who had ben in the mountains for 4 days (nuts) and dropped him off 5 minutes later at National Park then we went East to Okahune. Simon got some juice then after spending ages looking for a tiny sign, headed up a 17km hill road up Mt Ruapheu which is the tallest mountain on the North Island. The road was narrow and higher up a bit scary as there was no barrier between you and a steep vertical drop down the volcano. The views on the way up were absolutely amazing of the surrounding area then at the top could just about see the top of the volcano when the low cloud cleared every so often. The way back was a lot of fun and a bit heary at times (I was driving of course) but we made it before it got too dark to Okahune. As the sun had just set Simon suggested going the same way we came back to Turangi as the sky would be cool so I did and was such a good decision- as wel as amazing colours int eh sky I had the best fun driving along the road, probably the best road I have ever driven; there were really long straights, fast corners, no cars and volcanoes to your right (sort of sped a bit but didnt matter due to lack of cars or general civilisation; got the camper van over 100mph by accident.haha). Just down the road from turangi we paid for a powered site at a holiday park (14 bucks each) which included use of the spa pools which we took full advantage off then had the first shower in about 36 hours (nice but cool over here so dont sweat like you do in Australia). Simon cooked a nice healthy meal of pasta and butternutsquash which went down a treat especially with a few beers. We wrote in our diaries then got to sleep about midnight.

The next day we picked up our mountain bikes at a cost of 60 bucks for the day but the guy told us a really good route to the west of Lake Taupo. It took about 40 minutes to drive to a bridge over the River Whaihai (bikes were loaded onto the bed in the back) where we parked the car away from the road in a car park (bit worried as anyone could come down and knick it as out of view from people). Out bikes were good top end GT Avalaches with air suspension and disk brakes (great for bike hire) so after testing them out we started on the trail on the other side of the road; it said it would take 3 hours hiking it so thought it could be done in 2 (was quite wrong). The trail started off quite narrow with you legs getting wet from the grass then after riding high up along a gorge cliff 30 metres above the river (great limestone structures on other side) you crossed a tiny rope bridge (could carry one person at a time and shaked loads!). Soon after there was a long really steep bit that was impossible to ride up so carried the bikes for ages finally arriving at the top to a great view over valleys and forests (only hint of human existance was a power line in the far distance) where we stayed and got our breath back. the next bit was really good and could go quite fast down but Simons gears were screwed so he had to stop a few times to fix them; at one point I stopped and put my foot down on what i thought was the track but turned out to be nothing so fell off the side into a bush (very lucky as could of ben a cliff or something!)- simon found it hilarious. At the bottom of the other side (kept having to get off bikes as too bumpy to ride) there was an opening then a big wooded bit which I found really really tough to do as couldnt get the right balance. I was hoping the hut (we turn around at it and go back same way) would come up at any point but it didnt so felt so mentally drained and annoyed with myself i almost stopped but carried on eventually getting there after a full 2 hours 45 minutes of riding (how anyone could hike that in 3 hours is above me). The hut  had a bench and a sleepin area and looking at the visitor book very few tourists and very few mountain bike riders ever come down here- almost all names were kiwis and most either hiked or hunted in the area; I put out names down in it). The way back felt a great deal easier and at one point Simon fell off quite badly and was amazed that I thought he had badly hurt himself (looked soo bad); he had grazed his leg alot from the chaing and pedals but nothing major. We got back down to the car park with no further mihaps, besides my chain coming off, in only 1 hour and 45 minutes (an hour better than before!) arriving about 3.15pm. The bikes were put in the back then we drove back to drop them off, Simon booked his Waitomo caves trip then we paid 5 dollars each to use the showers and pools int he place we staye dthe night before- felt go good after that. It was already 5.30 so spent 2 hours driving north to Waitomo under cover of darkness then looked for a car park to stay in but eventually just drove into the Waitomo holiday park and parked at a bay without paying (so sneaky); it was dogy but no one noticed we hadnt paid. The evening meal consisted of sausage, cheese and tomato rolls (got food at Te Kuiti) and the left over pasta from the night before. We stayed up for a while with me looking at the kiwi experience brochure and Simon at the Fiji expereince stuff (he goes to fiji tomorrow after only 10 days in New Zealand), had a bit of my cheap vodka then fell asleep.

Today we snuck out of the holiday park unoticed and I drove Simon to the Waitiomo Caves company he had booked with, had some bacon rolls then he left and I dorve to Te Kuiti to use this internet computer. After I do this I will get some food, write in my diary then pick Simon up and drive towards Auckland as he leaves tomorrow and I start my Kiwi Experience going north for 3 days up to Bay of Islands and Cape Rheinga (start going south on Monday).

Well I am glad I am up to date on this and you will get loads of photos within the next few days so look forward to them.

Bye for now

Antony