The next morning we were on the move again, this time to Waitomo where there are famous gloworm caves you can explore. We all picked the most adventurous tour option so mid afternoon 9 of us pulled on a full wetsuit (some with more difficulty than others (Lise was given the wrong size and had a 10 minute struggle getting it off again)) and set off for stage 1 - a 35m abseil down into the cave! It was good fun but a bit scary when the hole got very narrow and rock...

After Bay of Islands we returned to Auckland (via a trip to a local garage when the bus broke down a few minutes into the journey). We spent the evening at Kristina's again before grabbing the last two seats on our kiwi bus headed to Hot Water Beach, where you can dig yourself a thermal pool at certain points on the beach! On our bus were Tim, Vicky and Amy who we'd met in BOI as well as Leo, a globetrotting German, and Louise, a girl who Lise knew from home! Sm...

Cape Reinga We were SO lucky on our Bay of Islands trip as after bagging a free parasail, Kristina received further good news that we could get onto the Cape Reinga trip for FREE!!! We just had to help them out by taking part in a little photo shoot for their new brochures, apparently we were doing them a favour hah! So we started our trip with AwesomeNZ up to Cape Reinga the most northern point of the country. The name Reinga is translated from Maori to 'under...

Kia ora! So after 6 days and nights in Auckland Kristina, Day and I boarded the kiwi experience bus for the first time heading up north to the bay of islands! It started to rain after we got on the bus, but it didn't last long and within 15 or so minutes we were surrounded by gorgeous fields and a massive rainbow that you could see end to end! The bus journey got pretty bumpy towards the end so we were pleased to arrive and get off the bus after 5 hours. Once of...

Arrival Kia ora! Day & Lise are in New Zealand! But what a journey - Frodo & Sam would be proud - 2 buses, a train, 2 aeroplanes, one minibus and 37 hours later we arrived in Auckland at our Ponsonby hostel. The flights weren't too bad actually - four seats between the two of us meant we were able to get a few short sleeps between free alcohol, film-watching and food. The drama was saved for NZ immigration... Whilst I was welcomed in by a Scouse immigra...