Saturday 23rd we arrived in Auckland from Buenos Aires. Everyone has said NZ is just like home, when we arrived it was raining so I'd say they're probably right! We stayed in Auckland one night at a hostel then took the hire car north. We stayed Sunday night on a holiday park/campsite in a place called Sandspit which was lovely. We had a cabin right on the water and took a rowing boat out the next morning with big ideas of getting out to sea but barely made it out into the bay, hard work! Monday we headed up the coast to Whangerai to another holiday camp. The jet lag has affected us quite badly because we went from being 5 hours behind the UK to being 11 hours ahead, so we've been falling asleep at 6pm and waking at 4am. Were drinking through it though! Tuesday we got to the Bay of Islands and found a place in Paihia to stay where we have our own cooking facilites, own bathroom and use of a hot tub - what more could a girl ask for! So we've decided we really like Paihia and the Bay of Island so have decided to stay for a bit longer. Yesterday we took a boat trip round some of the 100+ islands, saw dolphins but weren't allowed to swim with them as they had babies (slight relief as the water is bloody cold), we also saw penguins and seals. When I can manage it i'll put some more photos in the album so you can see but at the minute its a painfull process getting them on line, thats why there's only 4 there so far! We cancelled going to Figi because we can't find any accommodation with vacancies and in our budget so the plan is to fly to NZ's south island on the 3rd, collect a camper and bum around in that til the 21st then fly back to north island and then see what happens before we fly from NZ to Oz on the 1st Nov to hook up with Pen and Lara for a spot of sightseeing, sunbathing and a few shandies!