I spent 3nts here in total, 1nt before heading off to Pahia and then 2 on the way back. The 1st night we were there, me & Alma met up with Cloie who we'd met on a few of the Kiwi buses at the start of our trip and also Christina, Katie & Rachel...so it was a nice little reunion! My last day in Auckland, Me, Phil & Alma did a sightseeing trip around the City, which took us to the Auckland Harbour bridge, where we were able to climb part of it and t...

After spending 1nt in Auckland, I headed off to Pahia for 2nts in the Bay of Islands. From here I took a day trip to Cape Reinga at the very top of New Zealand..this is where the Pacific and Tasman Sea meet. On the day trip we drove along Ninety Mile Beach (however it's not 90miles?!), this was similar to Fraser Island in Oz and also visited the giant sand dunes where some of the group went sand boarding..I decided to give this a miss as it looked a bit too s...

I spent 2nts here aswell...The day we arrived me, Beth and Sam head to Te Puia & saw the geysers erupt and the mud pools, was really cool to see, but boy did it stink! In the afternoon we treated ourselves & went to the Polynesian spa for a few hours...well deserved me thinks after the dreaded hike yesterday! This was so nice and relaxing! In the evening we went to the Tamaki Maori Village to watch a cultural show and have a hangi (a meal which is steamed...

I spent 2nts here, so thought I would do the Tongariro Crossing, which is an 8 hour walk across a volcano. The views up there were supposed to be fab, so I thought why not! Anyway, the morning I was due to do it, it was cold, raining and windy...but I didn't let that put me off, so off I went....well BIG mistake! I managed to get up to what they call Devils Staircase, which was steep and got to the South Crater, where the lovely emerald lakes are supposed to ...

So back to Christchurch as I start heading up to the North Island. En route to Christchurch we stopped off at Lake Pukaki & Mount Cook look out, it was gorgeous! It was Dave's last night with "the team", so Me & Alma had a night out in Christchurch with him and also Danielle and Helen who we'd met on the west coast. Due to the pass I booked I ended up going back to Kaikoura twice (this is where I did the whale watching before). I was gon...