So 7.10am and Katie and I were ready to board the Kiwi Experience bus for the first time. Our driver was Dave and we set off north to Bay of Islands. After a breakfast stop, ham and cheese toastie mmmmmm, we eventually arrived in Bay of Islands just gone midday. We stopped at the information centre to pick up a map of the area, we're given a quick tour of the area on the bus and then were dropped off to check into our hostel, Pipi Patch Base. Katie and I went ...

2.15am my alarm went off on the morning of Tuesday 20th April, had been sleeping on and off and was very tired but had to drag ourselves out of bed and be ready to leave at 2.30am. Sure enough 2.30am we checked out and halied a cab, the lovely taxi driver agreed to take us all the way to the airport for less than it would cost us to get the shuttle from the train station, although this meant that we arrive an hour early at the airport, it also meant a lot less h...