Hi Everyone! Well we set off on our journey to the most Northern point of New Zealand. Knowing that the Kiwi experience can often be very '18 to 30's' we were delighted when we got on the bus to see that everyone was just very chilled out. This may have been because it was only 7.30am! Anyway...we started to back our way up the island to a place called Paihia where we would be staying for 2 nights. Our driver, Baa Baa (they all have names like this) provided commentary for most f the journey...well i say commentary, it was more like babble. He kept losing his train of thought and just ended up talking to himself...but that was entertaining in itself! We stopped off at a honey place to have some breakfast. They have plenty of these strange but wonderful little places throughout the country. I mean, this place is really in the middle of nowhere so you have to wonder how it keeps going. The other thing I cant get over here is just how cheery everyone is...and i do mean everyone. You can enter any shop or merely walk past it and people ask you hw you are and how your day is going etc. You genuinely feel like you've known them for years after a very short conversation..its great!! We arrived in Paihia around 12pm and got ourselves booked onto the 'Excitor' - a speed boat that takes you around some of the 144 islands and through the 'hole in the rock'. There was the options to sit in the seats up front on the boat as they are more extreme..so obviously we choose those. Once in our beautiful red rubber suits....i think we looked like Mrs Santa Claus in bondage...we got on board the boat. The skipper explained that these seats can be quite bumpy and in fact 3 people had actually broken their backs on it and were now paraplegics (sp?). Now you would think after hearing this that we would have moved back to safer seats. Well the problem was we thought he was joking because he was smiling while telling us all of this. So we stayed where we were. I was later to find out that he was clearly just a little sadistic or hasnt worked out yet which facial expressions go with which tone of voice. The first part of the boat ride was pretty smooth so I thought that this was how it was going to be for the rest of it - a little disappointed I must say. Anyway that was short lived. As we headed further out the waves just kept getting bigger and bigger which was brilliant...until we hit one really hard and I jarred by back really badly! Hoorah! We were told that if we had any problems just to raise your arm and the skipper would come and see to you. Well he did come and see me but while I was struggling to breathe (I honestly thought I might have broken something) all he said was 'I told you so'. Yep that was just what I needed to hear when I couldnt move an inch without pain taking over my whole body! As you imagine the rest of the journey wasnt overly comfortable, especially when we hit a few big waves but I made it back in one piece..just. For the rest of the day I just attempted to walk around...it was easier to walk than sit. I would still recommend the boat ride, you just have to be careful and possibly sit a little further back! We had a bbq that night which was nice and sat in the bar talking to other people who had been on the Kiwi bus. All good fun!