Hello people sorry for the delay in updates been a bit lazy, i do apologise.. Anyway i have left china after a 3 day journey i arrived in Auckland where i hoped onto a bus to Rotorua where i met my mate Brian after a few hugs and a quick chat we headed to Cactus jack's Backpackers.. after a quick shower we headed to the pub for a few beers and a catch up I've not seen Brian since January when he left England to do his Sky diving course... As you can imagine the beer flowed well and we was rather pissed but it was good to see him.. The next few days he spent showing me around the area.. Rotorua is one of NZ's most dynamic Thermal area's it has spurting Geyser's steaming hot springs and exploding mud pools. but the sulphur smell is a little stomach churning at times because it smells like rotten eggs but you get used to it. Brian is on a work placement he's working for NZone skydiving so unfortunately he has to work 7 days a week so as we decided it would be cheaper to rent somewhere in Rotorua and i could use that as a base, and travel around as and when. So i decided i would hop in a hire car and head up north to cape Reinga the route took me past Auckland this was a 3 hour journey so i had a quick break then cracked on, I decided i would take a detour and head across the Island to a small coastal town called Dargaville.. The journey took me through some gorgeous mountains , through rain forests etc the drive was very long but worth it. By this point it was getting dark so i headed to a place called Baylly's beach i seen a backpackers in the lonely planet called Hunky dory travelers i gave them a call and arranged a bed for the night. Once i arrived i was met by Arron the owner he was only a young dude, i had the whole place to myself what a result so i popped up to the Funky fish and cafe bar for a few beers and a bite to eat before heading back and getting my head down.. I set of first thing in the morning i still had a long drive ahead of me so i stopped a few times for drinks etc but i finally made it around dinner time. The Cape is almost at the northern tip of NZ, standing at the windswept cape reinga lighthouse and looking over the endless ocean has a real end of the world feel to it.. But the views are gorgeous so i had a walk along the beach but it was blowing a gale and was a bit rainy at times but it was worth it though... I decided i would head down the island to the bay of Island's this area has over a 150 small island which have stayed relatively UN populated, but the bay of Islands have enormous historical significance, as the site of the first English settlement. I headed to Paihia i had a walk around the town and beach i was going to go whale watching but unfortunately i had missed the boat, i booked myself into a camp site that also caters for backpackers later that day.. In the evening i headed out to try and watch the rugby but no where was showing it so i had a few beers and some food and headed back. In the morning i headed back down to Auckland, i headed just out of town to Ponsonby booked into the backpackers and headed into the city i spent the day looking around the shops but it was far to tempting to by stuff so i had a walk back where i spent the evening chilling and watching TV with some other guys i had met in the hostel. After breakfast i headed back to Rotorua as i had to get the car back..