I'm now in Paihia in the bay of islands north of Auckland. I'll get to that in a minute but just need to briefly fill in the end of Japan!

The day after my last entry I went to the Hama detached gardens to get a boat tour on the Sumida river to get a different view of the city. To my surprise I found all the blossom just coming out in the gardens here so I didn't miss it all! The boat trip was great too, heading north up the river and finishing in Asakusa, passing under numerous different coloured bridges on the way. Here I found the Sensoji temple and the Nakimise-dori market leading up to it which was bursting with energy and great fun to just walk around before heading to Akihabara to find my capsule bed for the night! Here there were two rows of capsules, each one being 1m x 1m x 2m in size, so I managed to bump my head once or twice! It still manages to contain a TV and radio and was probably one of the more comfortable nights sleep I'd had!

Next morning, my birthday! I woke up early, opened a few cards I'd been carrying from home before heading to the Tsukiji fish market to see what the fuss in the guidebooks is about. I was there shortly after 7am, still within the busiest period. I think it's just about the energy of the place, it's very lively and the sellers ride around on what look like oil drums on wheels with a platform at the back for transprting stock. It was fun to see but I didn't find it interesting enough to hang around more than 2o minutes or so before heading off for breakfast. I then thought I would go to the cinema to see a good Hollywood blockbuster in English for a bit of home comfort on my birthday before heading back to Nakamise-dori market and bought a Kimono style robe. In the evening I met some Aussies at my hostel who were going out for St.Patricks day to an Irish bar, so went along with them to the Shibuya district, another bustling shopping centre and had a great night drinking Kilkenny with clover stickers stuck to my face.

Next day was spent in Kamakura to see the Great Buddha, Hase dera temple and Yuigahama beach where I had a vanilla and cherry blossom flavoured ice cream! That last night was spent in Narita in probably the most traditional Japanese looking hostel I'd stayed in, apart from the western beds! This put me in a great spot to visit the National Museum of Japanese History in Sakura, which was great to see. However, the recorded tour guide I was listening to seemed not to talk about anything on display and seemed to skip straight from the first Japanese settlers from mainland Asia when the two were joined to the formation of a governments so I didn't leave with the fuller picture of Japan I was hoping for but interesting nonetheless. Then I headed back to the Airport for the bumpiest flight ever to Auckland via Brisbane, spending 2 hours 30 mins in checkin, a 'computer says no' situation trying to check me in for both flights at once!

So, now I'm in New Zealand in beautiful hot weather! I spent three nights in Auckland, not doing a lot more than visiting the sky tower and an aquarium where I saw penguins, sharks and giant stingrays amongst other things, getting a great view of Auckland harbour from outside. I delighted in tucking into a huge juicy steak on my first night and a 'bacon backfire' burger the size of my head on the second. Still no lamb though!

I have now signed up to a 'Kiwi experience' bus tour, which makes getting around easier as there is no train network to speak of here in contrast to the superb one in Japan! This has takenme to the beautiful bay of islands where I have spent a couple of days, going wild dolphin spotting yesterday, unfortunately not swimming as there was a baby in the pod of bottlenose dolphins we found but I was within arms length of them leaning over the side of the boat so well worth it, they are fascinating animals.

All is well here anyway, I keep looking outside and laughing, its hard to believe I'm here in such a beautiful and unspoilt place, especially coming from Japan which is more or less one big city on the main Honshu Island. I can't wait to see what else New Zealand has to offer!

xxx