And so to Australia! But first the end of my stay in New Zealand... A week is a long time to kill in Auckland. Four months ago there wasn't much to do. The town hasn't improved. So, three trips to the cinema and a wander round Auckland zoo, which frankly is a bit rubbish, although I did get to see a Tuatara which is a type of dinosaur I believe, and I was about ready to go. My flight was booked for 6.30am, which seemed very sensible to me at the time, although ...

How things change when you're travelling... No more Taupo, no more dreams of work, time for a new country and new friends! The few days before Christmas were spent mainly decorating the hostel and buying food and booze for the festivities... Christmas Eve for a change wasn't spent on a pub crawl around Ilford (sorry guys, missed you!), but just having a few cheeky beers at the hostel. Christmas day itself comprised of a bacon sarnie and beer for breakfast follow...

Well it's a week till christmas so I'd better let you all know what I've been up to... This won't take very long.... In the past fortnight all I've managed to do is.... 1. Go trout fishing on the lake... Managed to let two escape... Still, barbied the other one that was caught which was rather tasty. 2. Spend an afternoon sailing on the Barbary, looking at Mauri stone carvings. 3. Zip up and down a local river on a jet boat, doing 360 degree turns and getting...

Well, as I said some time ago, I got a tad bored in Taupo and decided to hire a car to do a spot of road tripping around the East Cape of the North Island and check out the places I would'nt see on the Kiwi Experience East As tour. So up I got bright and early to hire out a "backpacker special". Or in real terms, a Nissan Sunny, so dented and scratched anyone with real money wouldn't be seen dead in it. Still, easy handling (like my good ole metro) and ...

Well, we left Wellington as I had come to remember it, raining and cold. A rather uneventful journey back up north, except to mention the engine of the bus overheated and melted the gearbocx. Luckily a random chap in another bus turned up and gave us all a lift into town. And so another seven or eight days in Taupo. Half of them doing very little and half doing the following (not in any particular order): Laundry. Visiting the Honey Hive, sampling free moistu...