Had a bit of an eventful bus journey to Taupo - it broke down! o dear! were stranded on the side of a road for a few hours which was fun! eventually arrived there after being rescued by another bus company! that evening we went out with some people from the magic bus for a meal and drinks at an Irish bar which was nice - but didnt have a late one as we were getting picked up a 5.40am in the morning for the 'Tongariro Crossing'!!!!!! (hike up a volcano!) 31st Jan...

24th Jan Today we left Waitomo for Rotorua. Got there late afternoon and found our hostel - were immediately hit by the characteristic smell - rotten eggs! (from all the geothermal activity and sulphur). Nice! Had a bit of an explore in the evening and found an Irish Pub where we got some dinner and wine and spent the evening watching an Irish Band playing! Met some locals who were nice and had a sing song to the clover song! 25th Jan Today we had a lazy morni...

22nd Jan Today we left rainy Whitianga for Waitomo. Got the bus early in the morning and arrived there about lunchtime. Realised that there was going to be very little but caving to do there - there was one shop, a cafe and a vistor centre! Our hostel was quite nice though and we only had two nights there. The first afternoon we had a walk around (didnt take long) and booked a caving trip for the next day so we could see the famous glowworms! Wasn't much to do i...

19th Jan Got the bus today to Whitianga on the Coromandel Peninsula. Stopped at Mt Eden (a volcanic crater) on the way out of Auckland and got another good view of the city from up there. Arrived in Whitianga (actually pronounced Futianga as we found out when the driver didnt understand where we wanted to go!) in the afternoon after a stop at Cathedral Cove beach which we had to do a half hour walk up and down very steep tracks to get to! a bit energetic for us ...

17th Jan Today we got the bus from Paihia south to Hokianga where we had a one night stop. Arrived about lunchtime - our hostel was lovely, like a little cosy country house. Was up on a hill with a view over the sand dunes in the Hokianga harbour. There were four of us from our bus staying there which was nice (a French girl and an Irish girl). The town itself was tiny, (only about 2 cafes and a garage) but the beach was really nice. We spent the afternoon sunba...