We left Auckland on Monday morning to head to Paihia (The Bay of Islands).We went out over teh harbour bridge and followed the hibiscous coast before arriving ina place called Warkworth for a cup of tea. We then went through a place called Whangarei then up to the Bay of Islands. Staying in Base backpackers which is alright. We then booked onto a jet boat tour of the bay of islands called teh excitor. It was really fast and we got soaked and went over massive waves. One old woman was not happy and kept swearing the whole way through. then we went back to the hostel for a kiwi experience peoples bbq which was nice and a beer or 2 before heading to bed ready for another early pick up of 7.15 am.

So on Tuesday (5th Feb already :( ) we set off on a big bus to go to Cape Reigna which is apparantly a really sacred area for the Maori people. First stop was Puketi Kauri forest where we looked at some magestic trees dated up to 2000 years old (yes more bloody trees!!!!!) Apparantly these trees were used to make boats befor ethe invention of aluminium! We had lunch at a beach area called Taputaputa Bay. We then cruised up past Kaitaia before heading onto Ninety mile Beach driving along the sand. We then went sand boarding on the massive sand dunes (apparantly the biggest in the country) and when I say we went sand boarding I didn't - I didn't enjoy it on fraser island so I took photos of Loz and Steph doing it instead!!! At the top of Cape Reigna (Te Rerenga Wairua), you can see where the two oceans meet (Tasman and Pacific) which is really cool and the views are spectacular. Its really wierd though as one side you have green grassland like England then the other side beaches and sea....

We then headed back to Paihia where we ar enow. Its Waitangi Day tomorrow (when the mauri's signed the peace treaty with us english folk wayyyy bak in the day) so its going to be celebrations galore!!! Loz and i went for a run before and got quite scared with all the jeering from the Mauri people so tomorrow we're going to stick with everyone on our bus :)

Will update when we've done more... xxxxxxxxx

Been up to see the Waitangi Day celebrations which were pretty cool. Saw some Maouri men doing some chants and dances etc, but its mainly just stalls etc and members of the different tribes etc... Pretty cool still though. Heading back to auckland tonight at 4pm then to Mercury Bay tomorrow. Speak in a few days, and will upload photos later on. xxx