Tuesday 18th...was a very strange day. It's the first time I can honestly say I wasn't excited to get on the plane. I had so much fun in Oz and it was horrible to say goodbye to Stefan, who I had spent 6 solid weeks with, day in, day out. He was much fun to be around and we were always laughing together. But it was now time for a new adventure in New Zealand and I had to remember that. Stefan jumped on his 14 hour flight to Indonesia, and I got on my 3 hour flight to NZ. The flight was a breeze and we got fed some nice dinner on the aeroplane too. By the time I arrived at Nomads Backpackers (down Fort Street) in the centre of Auckland, it was 6pm...so I went to sleep!

Wednesday and Thursday were pretty much sleeping and sorting days; bit of washing, shopping, skyping, attempting to update blog; trying to find people to buy a campervan and come on a road trip; met up with a Scottish girl called Jess who was interested; met with my bosses daughter & friends, who ended up being in the same dorm as me!

Friday I decided to listen to several friends who told me to jump on the Stray bus to see NZ, so I booked my Stray bus, walked 11k around the city and hiked up Mount Eden (with my new Running Trax music) to enjoy the views as the sun finally decided to make an appearance in NZ, thank goodness! I ended up going out for dinner with two girls in my dorm and this random guy who they met on a couchsurfing social the previous day. I enjoyed a spaghetti and meatball special dish for $12 - now that's NZ dollars, which at the moment is £6! What a bargain! The British Pound is much stronger here in NZ than OZ - makes me happy.

So hang on a minute, last night I was writing my blog in my bed whilst the girls were sleeping. Now lets set the scene this very minute for me to remember how truely lucky I am and just take in everything I am experiencing this very minute. I'm sat on the top of a hill in Paihia. The sun is at its best, it feels about 23 degrees right now, I'm in a strap top and leggings and I'm hot. I'm here listening to Agnus and Julia Stone which is an incredible duo that Stefan introduced me to, and I urge you to check them out if you haven't heard of them for some really cool chilled out music. In front of me I have the sea, the sand, boats and islands and it is truly an incredible feeling to be here in this beautiful country that I have only spent 4 days in but have already fallen in love with. I'm looking out at the Bay of Islands and I couldn't think of anywhere else I would rather be right now. Just me, my blog and the stunning surroundings to stop and gather my thoughts. Throughout this whole trip I feel like someone is watching me, looking after me and guiding me - it's such a strange feeling but also a blessing, I feel like all the luck has come to me all at once, when I used to say I was never the 'lucky' type, I can't possibly say that I'm not lucky any more..

So moving on to the past two days I have spent in the Bay of Islands, north of Auckland.

Saturday was Stray bus day...I managed to find the bus yey! There ended up being just 4 girls on the bus...and the cool bus driver. All of us girls seemed to be getting on really well, (3 English & 1 Canadian) and the bus driver was class too - he was so enthusiastic and very knowledgeable about the history of the country and of the nature that surrounded us. We stopped at several places on the way up to take pictures, take a nature walk, see a waterfall, hug a famous NZ tree that was approx. 850 years old and a few coffee stops too before arriving in Paihia at 2pm. We checked into Base together and then I decided to make the most of the daylight so jogged 5k up to the viewpoint and back. It was a beautiful walk/jog and so good to take in the fresh air before grabbing some food from the supermarket and heading back to the hostel where the girls were chilling. I was out for sunset which was lush...it's always so pretty when there are a few clouds in the sky to make some wonderful red and orange colours in the sky, I just love it! After showering and chatting, the girls went to the hostel BBQ and I went to cook my pasta (yes still kindof living up to my name pikey Kelly here). I got chatting to a guy from Cornwall so I was still being sociable J Then we chilled and chatted in the bar for the rest of the evening whilst watching the rugby that was on. All the girls were getting on really well it was a good night, and I bumped into the two girls who I went out for dinner with the previous night in Auckland as they were on the kiwi experience bus. It was cool to catch up with them too. It was another early night for me as my throat was still not getting better and seems to get worse at night time, so I now listen to my body and decided to head to bed rather than trying to shout more in the bar so people could hear me!

It was an early start as we were on a tour all the way up to the very top of New Zealand, a place called Cape Reinga. It was a full driving day, but well worth it for the views. The weather was perfect, we could see for miles with the sun beaming down. The hills/mountains were so green and full of healthly looking cows (unlike Asia), and some big ass trees too. We stopped off in a sweet little village called Mangonui for a coffee, did a couple of rainforest walks further up the island and then reached windy but gorgeous Cape Reinga. This is where we could see the two seas colliding...the Pacific Ocean and the ??? sea. The seas were slightly different colours, one blue and the other was more of a green colour so you could see them colliding together in the distance. After some photos we headed along to Te Paki where we could dive into the sand dunes on a body board! Yes, we all attempted to sandboard down the giant sand dunes...now I say 'attempt' because some of the people on our bus didn't survive long on the sandboards; yes we had a quick lesson by the bus driver of what to do, and what NOT to do, but tourists can be tourists and not listen at all...so they live and learn the hard way! Hehe. It was hillarous watching some guys...some fell of half way down, then lost their hats in the wind so started running to retrieve it, then others went way too fast down the hill and couldn't stop at the bottom, which would have been fine if it hadn't have just tipped it down about 5 minutes prior to arriving so the bottom was covered in water. Yes you can picture some guys steaming down the dunes, not stopping, and gliding right through the water. Some were rather elegant gliding through the water getting a little wet, but others weren't quite so lucky and ended up splat in the water, leaving their body boards behind, nose diving into the sand, literally covered in sand and water. It was a moment when you felt really sorry for them, in a way, but then you couldn't stop laughing at their misfortune J Luckily us 5 girls managed fine and I only got a little wet. We all jumped back on the bus and drove along the beach, Ninety Mile Beach it's called! It felt like I was on Fraser Island again, very odd feeling, but good fun! Then we stopped for some Fish & Chips YUMMY! By the time we arrived back at the hostel we were all so tired, and we really don't know why as we spent most of the day sat on the bus. Sometimes you feel more tired doing nothing all day than if you were walking all day. So we had a chilled night, talking, catching up on blogs etc before heading to sleep at about 11pm.

This morning I got up with the girls and decided to jog to Haruru Falls, which was about 11k round trip, whilst they jumped on the tour boat to the "hole in the rock." I can honestly say I don't think I have jogged anywhere more beautiful than here. I was on top of the world, listening to my music and jogging along the 'scenic drive' to the Falls. Looking out at endless green mountains, blue sea and sky was such a buzz. And what's better is that I was all alone. No one was there. About 2 cars passed me and I ran past a girl who was riding her horse in the fields, but apart from that it was just me on the top of the mountains in the biggest playground ever. You feel so free here, so fresh, so peaceful, so humble. It's incredible to experience this. Unfortunately by the time I reached the falls, my ankle decided to play up again L so I decided to call a taxi to take me back (see mum, I am learning, and yes Stefan be proud I listened to my body and stopped when I knew I should.) And now here I am sat on the top of the hill, watching out at sea. I'm looking out for the girls to arrive becaause in 20 minutes we are all going Paragliding!!! AHhh, amazing. It's something I have always wanted to do, so hey why not do it in an awesome location J It's only $70 too, which is about £30 - I didn't think that was too bad. So I'm going to put my laptop away now and take in the views before a great experience....wahooo.