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 beach only accessible by kayak or on foot down a long walk. We walked there, took a while but it was definitely worth it! It was beautiful, and the rock formations were really impressive, a huge gap in the rock like a cathedral roof. I decided to brave the cold water and swam out to a rock with Jack, who decided he would climb onto it, desperate to jump off it but we thought it was highly dangerous seeing as I was standing on a rock ledge, just waist deep in water! He climbed back down and we swam back. It was time to walk back up to the bus and we got an ice-cream then got going onto our hostel for the night.

We arrived in Whitianga and stayed in a hostel called Turtle Cove which was like a family home. It was cool how our whole bus had taken up the whole hostel, so we all got to know each other quickly. We had spag bol for tea (so good!) then a few drinks and a few games of killer pool later and Amber was pretty drunk! She also happened to be the only one who was drunk - she made a good impression! Everyone went to bed pretty tired and not looking forward to the 7.30am departure...