Helloooo all, this is em and davy here. This is purely for family and friends so they can see what we have been getting up to - without having to make expensive phone calls! J

So, we boarded our plane from London heathrow at 09.45am after an emotional goodbye to our parents, to set off for 10.10am! our first landing after 6.20 was in dubai, then too brunei and then lastly, to new Zealand!
After a very loooong flight of what felt like 3 days but was really only 22 hours, we finally landed in new Zealand at 2am, both exhausted but excited and relieved we were finally here!
We checked into our budget hotel, a few miles away from Auckland city centre and finally managed to get to sleep. (bad jet lag!) we woke up at 7am after 4 hrs sleep feeling on top of the world with heaps of energy (madly), so we started our first day in Auckland!

After familiarising ourselves with the hotel and people, we grabbed a quick breakfast (fatty bacon & eggs) and headed off down the street to catch a bus "downtown" - that's into town for you!
after a 45minute journey and loads of water, we arrived at the city centre! Considering it's new zealand's largest city, there was nobody about! We had a leisurely walk round the shops, stopping off at some café's and mcdonalds too use the free wifi, and grabbed a starbucks before heading back too the hotel completely exhausted by 3 in the afternoon!
It was incredibly hot the next 2 days we spent in Auckland and we were still recovering from bad jet lag, so we took it easy before our real travelling begun and hired our beautiful Nissan sunny which would be davys beloved car for the next month!

After leaving Auckland, picking up our car and davy getting used to driving a manual, we set off heading straight up north into our first place of visit - Helensville.
The cars and driving is exactly the same as what it is in the UK, but the motorways are instead of being M1/2/3/4, are all numbered! So finding a town/city is extremely easy J - plus, the roads and motorways are all set out like it is in the "Cars" film! So unreal, and so pretty!

Unfortunately, I was put in charge of the map! And, admittedly, I cannot read a map to save my life!! And didn't we no it!. After literally ten minutes of driving, we were already somehow lost down a backstreet! But thankfully with Davy's iPhone map, we found our way out and continued our journey to a tiny little town called Helensville.
Once arriving there, after 45 minutes, and yet again, lots of sun, we found that actually, there wasn't really a lot to do. So, we continued! Next stop - Dargaville!

From Helensvile to Dargaville was about 120km so half way there we stopped off at a cute little town called Wellsford. This was a beautiful little place, full of vintage shops and old fashioned looking trucks roaming around. so we stayed for a strawberry milkshake and caught up on facebook using mcdonalds useful free wifi! J (and another brilliant thing about NZ, is that you can park virtually anywhere on the side of the road, for free! And we have pretty much taken advantage of that fact) J

Arriving in Dargaville, we were greeted by the scenic and beautiful beach, old fashioned built homes and laid back atmosphere, as well as the 32 degrees of summer sunshine!
Finding a hostel was easy, but to our dismay, the only hostel in dargaville was closed - so we opted for the next best (and cheapest) thing - a motel!
The man that owned this was so lovely, and gave us lots of things and places we could visit - like Baylys beach, a 20minute drive from the town centre, Tane Mahuta Waypoua forest where the largest tree EVER known lives! -( 15metres in diameter!) and much more!!

The beach was stunning. Big waves, mist coming over the top of the water onto the sand, and a lovely sunset… it was gorgeous - would definitely go back there! And for any surfers, the waves were mahoosive! By near enough spending an hour at the beach splashing around and making the most of the evening sun, we needed too fill up our tummies - davy cooked us a nice pasta and sauce dinner J and after a well deserved COLD shower, we headed too bed, for tomorrow would bring us WHANGAREI!

Whangarei is the second biggest city in New Zealand, and the hottest area up in the northland, and didn't we no it! - Half way too whangarei, it was time for the sunglasses to make an appearance, we both looked so cool! Ha ha.
Whangarei is filled with hostels, motels, cabins and hotels so we weren't short of accommodation and soon we found a lovely hostel that was 2 miles from the city centre, and run by a lady who was abrummy! It was a splash from home to hear the first English accent since we arrived! Saying that, she was lovely and the hostel is dirt cheap, but nice and clean and homely.

On our first full day of visiting whangarei, the lady who owned the hostel (Alison), recommended going too look at the whangrei waterfalls, a 5 minute walk from the hostel. She explained how beautiful they were and how relaxing it was too sit by the waterfalls on a summers day, and now we no what she meant when she said beautiful - the waterfalls were incredibly simple yet so lovely to watch. Davy and I sat by them for a good half hour, embracing the sun and taking some piccies J. Alison also recommended taking a half hour walk down the river (The Heatie River Walk) ,and that along with the waterfalls, was really nice. This was the first place we felt that we really liked on first impression - it was fab!

As we are currently being cheapos and living off rations, I had tinned peaches for my tea, and poor little davy had a ready meal packet of pasta. (and he says he is going too fall ill if he doesn't start eating more ha ha!) oh, we also have found a nice little apartment to rent here, for $130 pw! And because we have loved whangarei fromour first day, we may be staying here permanently!
The second day of staying in Whangarei (time/place I am currently writing from), we lathered ourselves in factor 30 suncream, skyped our folks and made our way too Matapouri Bay. (just outside on whangarei). The scenery was out of this world. Ive never seen a sea so blue and sand so golden, it was perfect! We topped up our tans lieing right by the side of the sea tide (that didn't seem to move) and went for a little explore. We walked towards a beautiful looking cave that you could tell was really old, but unfortunately we weren't able too walk through it, so we turned round and walked over the sand dunes, taking us close to whale bay (a surfers paradise!). the view up there, again, was epic and the sky was bright blue, along with the sea. Taking the scenery in for a while we realised how beautiful New Zealand really is, but how respected it is as well!

We wanted to stay at Matapouri Bay all day, but decided to explore some more and headed too Tatakuku river. This was lovely as well, and the harbour was picture perfect. We bought a bag of fresh plums from a local stall for $6 and they were THE BEST plums we have ever tasted! Full of flavour and sooo juicy! (we've got a full bag left in the fridge) J.

Our day had been full of beaches and exploring, that when we got back to the hostel, we wanted nothing more than to jump in the pool and cool our bodies off - so we did! It was absolutely lush and the best way to clean sand off your body!! Swimming in the pool for a good half hour was just what we needed, AND I did the cliché thing of lieing by the side of the pool in my swim things soaking up the rays J

Tommorow we have got another brill day planned - were heading too a cave near the coast too see some fishies and then we'll be giving the kiwi museum a visit - proper Maori culture! J
Davy's just booked us a "Discover the bay - Hole in the Rock" boat tour for next Tuesday, swimming with dolphins, touring through a cave on the Bay of Islands,whale watching and a nice BBQ to finish it off - I can't wait!! - living the dream!!! J

We'll update again soon everyone, take care, loves you all,

E & D
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