Picking up where I left off - last night in Rotoro met up with some of the group I went black water rafting and we jumped into the thermal hotpool the Hostel had in the back garden. It was a pretty big pool and there were 6 in our group and a bunch of kiwis from Aukland and Hamilton so at 8pm we kicked off an impromptu pool party theat extended to about 2am with random people stripping off and jumping in. Was great - ONLY IN NEW ZEALAND! Can tell you after 6 hour...

Rolled into Queenstown pretty late - getting in at about 5pm. Was booked into the lakefront YHA. Queenstown is a charming little town - very chalet/aspen like! Left pretty soon after checking in to meet my friends at their hostel in central Queenstown and we set about finding somewhere nice to eat. It didnt take too long to find a nice little pizzeria called "Cow" but whilst waiting for a table I bumped into some old friends from the previous coach an...

Today we visited Haka falls - off the longest river in New zealand and Wai-to-pai thermal reservation. (the craziest place - lots of bubbling mud pools and crazy coloured rocks!) Then after we rolled into Taupo. It was after today I realised how much I love this place. Me and 3 of the crew decided to get out onto the lake for a spot of trout fishing. We rolled up to the boat harbout and hired a boat (Stratus) with a skipper (Harvey) and went into the lake. Infac...

Hi all, Finally left Aukland on my Magic bus! (It really wasnt so magic - just a very normal bus with blond canadians! Uggghhh) We headed out of Aukland early in the morning through rain and grey clouds south arriving about midday at a place called Waitomo. Heading into town we stopped at an Angola rabbit shearing barn. These rabbits look like cotton balls (BIG cotton balls) and have to be sheared twice a year otherwise they dehydrate. I have never seen anything ...

OK last 2 days in Aukland before I board the Magic bus for what one can only summise are "Magical Places"! Yesterday I caught the ferry out to Devonport which is accross the bay from Aukland central. It is considered the north coast of Aukland. The sun was out in force. Devonport was founded by the Mauris but later an egnlish garrison was posted here and there still remains the remenants of huge anti aircraft cannons and barrack housings in the volcan...