After a brief stay in Auckland over night it was off on the bus again to a place called Mecury Bay. The people on our bus are the people that we are going to be spending the next couple of weeks with, it looks like a good crowd, but looks can be deceiving!

Our driver is called Mar, which is short for Maramar, or however it is spelt! We drove up to the top of the mountain which gives clear views over the city of Auckland. It would have been spectacular had it not been for the dense fog and the misty rain! It was still quite impressive!

After that it was a trip to the Cathedral Cave and the other natural attractions! It was quite impressive but had the weather been better it would have been better! Then it was off to hot water beach where you could dig a hole in the sand and sit in the hot thermal water. I opted against this as the surf looked pretty good and I was gagging to get back in again!

The accomodation was really nice, basically someones house converted into a hostel. It was a family run business which is always nicer than some of the mammoth hostels you find in the city!