Set off yesterday for the first leg of my Magic Bus adventure... Took a 3 hour ride north to the Bay of Islands and staying in an area called Paihia. I'd like to say that it looks exactly like the image above, but this would be a lie, firstly because when I first arrived here it was absolutly peeing it down (actually that's not quite true, it was raining from the time I left Auckland, but as I got up and dressed in the dark, this was not information I was privvy too) And secondly as this is an area somewhere else in NZ entirely (the library of images let me down). But feels kinda like this.

Short snooze later and the weather cleared enough to trek to the bar to meet with the rest of the bus. Managed to win me some free internet (currently in use) a fishing trip (no ta) sailing boat trip (have to pay for one other) and bungy jump (we'll see)... and with 2 for 1 drinks - pretty good evening!

Today started off much better with beautiful bright sunshine and clear skies (the woman who yesterday told me the 'cyclone' would last 4 days should be eating hat about now) so myself, 2 canadian girls and an american girl have wandered down to the beach. Been people watching and eating french toast, hard life!

Off to attempt to lose my blue-ish hue now and collect some wine for our 'alternative' wine tasting session (were planning on one that involved kayaks, bush walking and sunsets, but it got cancelled).

Hope all is good back home, leave me some messages! xx