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...

On Tuesday the 10th March we headed to a small town called Colonia which is on the water. Lovely place to walk about and have look at the arcitecture and local markets. On Wednesday we went up to the top of the lighthouse and got a better view of the town. In the afternoon before we left Colonia our group leader took us to a restaurant which has been recommended in several newspapers in South America. It was a homely place where a lovely man called Carlos opened...

On Sunday the 8th we had another 6 hour bus journey to the capital of Uruguay, Montevideo. We stayed in Montevideo for 2 days and had a walk around the city. On Monday 9th March we went in search for local markets and couldnt find them. When we got back to the hotel it turns out that the tour leader had given us the wrong directions and thats why we couldnt find them, lol. We had a free night and some of the group decided to do something nice, so we went to the ...