Saturday...our first proper day with the Kiwi Bus! We were Southbound! We got the bus at 8am, and met our driver Lauren who is turning out to be one cool woman! The bus was less than half full which was good. We got going, and got to the highest mountain by Auckland which gave 360 degree views of the city. It was pretty spectacular! We then got on the road and headed towards the coast. We finally arrived at a place called Cathedral Cove, which is a secluded bea...

Today we were leaving the Bay of Islands so we got checked out, had brekkie, then we went across to Russell - the spiritual base of the Maori people. Well! Russell was crazy manic...not! We got the boat over, stepped off the boat, and realised pretty much immediately that it was going to be impossible to kill 4 hours at this tiny place! It was just going to have to be brunch, lunch, snack, afternoon tea...etc! We walked the main street and the rest of the town in...

An early start this morning 7.10am bus departure! We were ready, and got on the bus with Dave our driver. He drove us to Pahihia, up North at the entrance to the Bay of Islands. It was really nice up here, and quite warm. We got checked into a Base hostel and then went for a wander (Amber and I have decided this is one of our favourite things which we both like doing - just sussing a place out and 'having a wander'!). The town was nice, chilled out, and beautiful...

The next morning we woke up about 10am and it was so nice to have a lie-in! We had a good breakfast (a good cuppa and jam and banana on toast - my new fav!) and then got out into Auckland - it was chilly! I was in jeans and a t shirt with a jacket - this was on and off every 2 minutes as it is warm in the sun but cold in the shade. Our first port of call was the Skytower and we got a backpacker's cheap rate to go up to the Observation deck. We decided this was ...

We arrived in Auckland after a 3 and a half hour plane flight at 12pm Tuesday. We both had a good flight, as we managed to sleep! Also, I was particularly over the moon as the breakfast available was a small box of cereal and bottle of milk which I have never had on a plane before but have always wanted (Sarah I am guessing you will agree with me on this!) We got through customs after a bit of a chat with a Maori customs woman who did grill us a bit on our camp...