After breakfast we say goodbye to Wes. From tomorrow he will lead another travel group as driver/guide, so we continue with Kate (guide) and Paul (driver). At lunchtime we are in Auckland where we say goodbye to a lot of people from our group that don't continue to the Bay of Islands. The rest of the long, long day is filled with driving, and was pretty boring. The next day, 05/09 we started horribly early on a day trip (Awesome Adventures) all the way to Cape...

After breakfast with traditional Maori toast (which strangely resembles French toast) we head for the town of Rotorua, where we visit a Maori village situated among hot-springs. The people living here use geothermal energy on a daily basis for the preparation of food, heating of their houses etc. It is very interesting, but I somehow doubt if it really is a very healthy living environment... Anyway after a tour through the village we attend a Maori dance show, w...

Another whole day in the bus , as we cross almost the entire Northern Island. Luckily the scenery is still enjoyable, as we see a couple of impressive mountains situated near lake Taupo: Mt. Ranpehu, Tongariro and Ngauruhoe. This last mountain featured in the Lord of the Rings movies as Mt. Doom. This region is well known for the vulcanic activity, and these mountains are in fact still considered to be active vulcanoes. Also the stories of Wes and Paul make sur...

07:30 in the bus... Everyone is really tired, so we can't wait to sleep some more in the bus. At 10:30 we arrive at the ferry to Wellington, which takes approximately 2,5 hours to bring us to the North Island. Luckily the boat arrives in Wellington, so the travelling is limited to the morning. Wellington looks like a nice city, so instead of directly heading to the museum of New Zealand "Te papa" I decide to go on a little walking tour through the city...

Today = Kayak-day! We are going on a kayak-trip through the Abel Tasman national park! Named after the Dutch guy thay "discovered" New Zealand and was responsible for naming it after the province where he was from in The Netherlands. In pictures this park is alway sunny and nice; in reality (or at least today) it was cold and rainy . A bit disappointed we start our tour, and once we are in the kayak it is not that bad afterall, especially when we nea...