"Sheep!" I shouted to Liann with my nose pressed against the window as our huge Boing 747 came into land at Auckland, New Zealand. Over the past 6 months I regularly found myself comparing foreign landscapes to back home, but this was the first time I had seen little white fluffy sheep littering rolling green hills!

At the airport, we collected our bags and said our farewells to Scott, I had a feeling it wouldn't be for long!

Unsure how we were going to travel New Zealand until a few days earlier, I had grown quite excited about hiring a campervan and hopping from village to village! We were collected by the 'Juicy' shuttle and taken to pick up our Van. Sadly we had miss read the small print and didn't realise there was a $3000 bond/deposit for campervans without insurance! This kinda scuppered our plans a little as my Credit Card Limit was too low. So we ended up opting for a car, aptly named the 'El Cheapo'. Our tiny 1.0l Daewoo something-or-the-other would do for now!

Shattered and starving from our flight and ordeal with Juicy we grabbed some lunch and then fell asleep in the Supermarket car park! Not the most exciting start to NZ.

Once again on our trip, friends and family were kind enough to put us up and help us find our feet. This time we stayed with Steven (my cousin) and his Kiwi wife Wendy. Although a brief visit, it was great to see them and their lovely home just outside of Auckland allowed us to see the city before heading north.

After making a lazy start getting into Auckland we spent the afternoon wandering the City and visiting the Art Museum before heading back to plan. We really had no idea what to do in NZ and where to go, so an evening looking at a map with Steven and Wendy really helped.

The next day we made an early start and drove north towards the Bay of Islands, stopping at a huge Gannet colony on the way. The birds covered the cliffs and the sea stack almost entirely. At first it appeared to be chaos but after a while you noticed that each bird had its own wing space and there was a repetitive pattern to their nesting. That night we stopped in the town of Whangarei , who's main attraction was some waterfalls and the Abby Caves. Due to heavy rainfall the Waterfalls were in full swing but sadly the caves were as good as flooded so we couldn't venture far. The nearby boardwalk through the Kouri forest was pretty cool though. Kouri trees were often used as ships masts as they grew perfectly straight.

The seaside town of Paihia was our destination in the beautiful Bay of Islands. We had booked onto a tour called 'Rock the Boat' which was billed as a floating hostel and the best budget way to see the Bay of Islands. Scott from Fiji was also in Paihia and was due to come on the boat with us. We actually ended up in the same Base Hostel so met a few of his/our roommates. Henrik (UK), Maria-Theresa (Germany) along with Rebecca made up the Room 22 crew! After taking advantage of the meal deal in the nearby bar we hit the bottle shop and took some booze down to the beach. We ended up sitting in a tiny fishing boat drinking and getting to know each other.

Before Rock the Boat I had managed to book a couple of dives to see the Bay from below the waves. I was really looking forward to diving in Sub-tropical/temperate waters and wasn't quite sure what to expect. Squeezing into a two piece 8mm wetsuit wasn't much fun compared to a pair of board shorts or 3mm shortie but boy was I grateful for it. Maybe I have gone soft with all this tropical warm water diving but 15°C was bloody cold!

Once I acclimatised to the temperature it all felt very familiar, fish and invertebrate species were similar to back home but the visibility was better. Very similar to the Scilly Isles, cuckoo wrasse eagerly awaited a Sea Urchin treat and lobster (crayfish) lurked under every crevice. I only had time and money for two dives but we did one wreck and on reef so I think I saw a fair spectrum of what the Bay of Islands had to offer. We had been lucky with the weather so far but were battling an imminent storm. As we headed back to shore we were radioed to advice that the 'Rock the Boat' had cancelled our trip.

Now with a spare day thanks to the 'Storm' we took the chance to head a little further north with Scott, Henrick and MT. We wondered the village of Kerikeri, got a little lost driving around the countryside and wrapped the day trip up with a visit to a Chocolate Factory for some free samples.

Our week with the car was quickly coming to an end so it was time to head back down to Auckland. We stopped in Orewa for the night in the least organised hostel ever. Their check in system consisted of pressing a speed dial button on their phone to contact the manager. This didn't work! So after a dozen attempts and still no sign of any staff we simple claimed an empty looking bunk, cooked some tea and hit the sack. We made a pretty hasty start the next day to get back to Auckland asap. Still no staff so we got a free night accommodation. Result!