The return of the bright red trekking face (minus the hat)

After a measly five hours sleep and an awesome leaving party, I got picked up from G'day Backpackers at 6.50am and headed for Sydney airport. Despite an extremely long line at check-in and a mad dash through the airport for a copy of my return ticket (bloody Aussies wouldn't let me leave without one, they want to keep there, naturally), I still found the time for a McDonalds breakfast before I boarded my flight. As I was walking to my gate I saw Rachael and Hamish who I was to stay with in Auckland, also waiting for their flight. I had a very pleasant flight with South American company LAN Chile and was greeted by Rachael and Hamish at the Arrivals Lounge. As Rachael and Hamish had only just arrived back from Thailand themselves, they were planning a reunion bbq at Rachael's, where we were all staying. I met all their friends and thoroughly appreciated the amazing food that Rachael's mum (a professional caterer!) prepared including New Zealand lamb, marinated steaks and dauphanoise potatoes. Everyone was so nice to me offering advice about what to see, where to go and even wishing they were going with me! I went to bed early, delighted at having a room to myself and at feeling part of a family again.

The next day, after a quick trip to the shopping mall, Rachael took me on a tour of a few sights. We went to the war tunnels at North Head, which were extremely similar to the ones we have in Dover! Then we drove to the top of One Tree Hill, which had excellent views of Auckland. That evening together with Rachael and Hamish's friends, we went out in central Auckland. I quickly discovered how despite being in the largest city in New Zealand, there was actually only one club that was open on a week day and surprise surprise it was a backpacker club!

We (being me, Rachael and Rachael's friend Sam) got up early the next day to go on a road trip up to the north of the North Island. After an 11am glass of wine at an amazing winery (in which we attempted to sniff out and taste all the bizarre things in our different wines including straw and toffee), we went to a series of beaches and visited Goat Island. Unfortunately the weather was getting progressively worse and although it made the beaches look gothic and moody, getting ridiculously wet in the rain was not such a great thing. The following day, Rachael took me to Bethell's Beach on the west coast. The wind was absolutely crazy and as the sand was black, it got stuck to my face and chest and made me look quite filthy. After the beach we walked across some massive sand dunes, which looked like the desert (honestly, they were so weird, like someone had dumped a load of sand in the middle of a forest) to a fresh water lake. Rachael really did manage to give me an inkling of howw bizarre the New Zealand countryside is! That evening we went out in Ponsonby, got ridiculously drunk on New Zealand kiwifruit wine and didn't get to bed until 4am.

Up at 8am, Hamish and his friend Andrew drove me the supposed 3 hour drive to Tauranga to Maria's house. However, being Aucklanders (which in NZ means stupid and obnoxious, apparently), we got horrendously lost and it actually took us nearer 6 hours. I was quite apprehensive at meeting my uncle, auntie and cousins, but I need not have worried as everyone was so friendly. Uncle Chris was not told that it was me that was coming so he was very surprised to see me and indeed failed to recognise me, even when I called him Uncle Chris and he has no other nieces... He quickly recovered none-the-less and talked me into going on a 3.30am fishing trip with him the next day. Before I knew it, there I was in a boat in the Mount Maunganui harbour reeling in snapper and being the first in the world to witness the sunrise for that day. I actually managed to catch five snappers and caught the biggest of the day (although they say I didn't, it's irrelevant!). After an afternoon nap and a feast of snapper for dinner (tastes so much better when you caught it yourself!), Maria, Chris, little Joshua and I climbed up Mount Maunganui at sunset. Joshua and I got on like a house on fire as he was so excited to meet his cousin. He insisted on holding my hand and always sitting next to me! When the sun had gone down and we had climbed back down the mount, we tried to locate some of the smallest penguins in the world, that should have been coming back from fishing out to see. However, we were left disappointed as we only saw 1!

The following day I left my family in Tauranga, pleased that I had made the effort to meet them. I got the bus to Rotorua where I was greated with the smell of rotten eggs. The air in Rotorua is extremely high in sulphur, creating the stench and some extremely strange natural phenomena. I spent the afternoon at Te Puia, a thermal park, which has geysers (which spray hot water up to 30m into the air) and some crazy hot mud pools. I met some girls that evening and went to a Polynesian Spa with them and we roasted in some hot pools. The next day I began my journey on the Kiwi Experience bus. I had got a bargain ticket in Auckland for around $450, when it usually cost nearly $1200. I got on the bus and a girl sat next to me who had gone to Southampton University and we found out we had in fact been at Beachbreak together as she was also friends with my friends! The bus took us to Waitomo, where I went black water rafting. It really was quite an experience (helped by the fact the guide was HOT). I did a three hour labyrinth tour and despite the fact that the water was bloody cold, it was amazing fun. It basically involved going in caves in a rubber ring, jumping over waterfalls and looking at the amazing glow worms that lit the way. A once in a lifetime experience. That evening, we experienced the night life in a town where the resident population is 52... Basically it was as crap as it sounds...

After a bush walk through some caves the next day, we got on the bus and headed for Taupo. Whilst some of the mental people on the bus went sky diving, I went for a walk around the lake, before heading to this freaky natural hot spring in the middle of a park. New Zealand is very odd, but cool! It was definitely the best free thing I have done so far. The next day the weather was really bad, so the Tongariro Crossing trip was cancelled, we spent the day lazing around, before eventually heading to the cinema to watch 'Shutter Island'. We were early to bed in anticipation of getting up at 4.45am the next day to do the crossing.

Now I'm sure you will remember me swearing never to do another trek again after the hell that was India! But readers I did it! I walked 19.4km up a crazy arse mountain! Apparently it's Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings, but I wouldn't know cos I'm far too cool to watch that rubbish. Of course, it was hell and it didn't help that I was wearing $20 plimsoles as I was too tight to hire hiking shoes. I also managed to be far too slow so most of my friends left me behind (including the one that had my food). However I managed to find an American girl that was even slower and worse than me. The views were totally worth it though, we saw massive craters and these amazingly coloured lakes. It was no surprise to me that the Tongariro Crossing is one of the world's top 10 walks. I was of course half-dead on my return and even I was especially delighted to discover that I'd been clever enough to put suncream on when I was wearing sunglasses and had then taken them off, leaving me with bright red panda eyes. Impressive stuff I know.

More New Zealand adventures to follow... xxx