From Rotorua we made our way on the bus to Wellington which is the capital of New Zealand. The 31st March was mainly driving and then a night in the bar of the hostel having food and drink with the group. On April 1st we had a drive around the city and went to the highest point which was gorgeous to look out over. This is also the area in which they filmed some of the Lord of the Rings films. We then had a wander around the museum in Wellington which is huge a...

On Monday 30th March we continued on to Rotorua in the North Island of New Zealand. Here it is famous for its thermal baths and spas. Very strange to walk about and have steam coming out of all the major vents in the road. In the thermal park we also got to walk a traditional Maori show and the men did the Haku which is a traditional dance used to frighten off enemies during war. In the afternoon we had free time and so we headed to a spa. We got to go into ...

From Auckland we headed north to the Bay of Islands for 3 days and stayed in Paihia. On Wednesday 25th we travelled up on the bus. We then did a boat trip and went out to see if we could swim with dolphins. We were lucky and got to see lots of dolphins, however we didn't get to swim with them as they had babies with them so you are not allowed in the water. After the boat trip we had a BBQ in the hostel with some of the other people who were on the bus. On T...

On Saturday we headed to Mission Bay just outside of Auckland and had our lunch beside the sea. There wasn't much in Mission Bay so we headed back into the centre of Auckland. Auckland is the alrgest city in New Zealand and you would not have thought it was the middle of a Saturday afternoon as it is so quiet. Sunday was the first day of our ten day trip down to the south island. We travelled in the bus and stopped at a traditional Morae, which the native Mao...

We arrived in Auckland on Monday 23rd March (we lost the Sunday due to the flight). So we arrived in early morning and went to sleep for a few hours. We then had a wander around Auckland and went to the top of Sky Tower where you can get fantastic views over the city, which is gorgeous as part of it is a harbour and the city is set on the water. After dinner we decided to go to the cinema, so Grant got dragged to see Confessions of a Shopaholic, although I must...