We left Auckland and headed up to mount eden to see views of the city and being the 3rd largest in the world there was a lot to see! The bus stopped in Thames for lunch before driving through mountainous countryside to a beach town called HaHei where we spent the afternoon down at cathedral cove sunbathing and swimming in the freezing cold sea. We drove onto Mercury bay where we stayed in a hostel with really friendly owners who did us a home cooked meal. Spent t...

We arrived in Auckland to cold and rainy weather instantly reminding us of England! Our hostel offered a girls only floor, the sanctuary, with fluffy white towels, free shampoo and hairdryers which lifted our moods slightly. After taking advantage of the free drinks on the plane and being handed a free glass of champahne voucher on arrival we decided we may as well head to the hostel bar. We tried unsuccesfully to trade free beer tokens with guys in return for a ...

We waited patiently for an hour for our bus next morning before a phone call to oz experience revealed we were actually meant to have been on the bus yesterday and there were no buses running today. After meticulous planning so we could be in Sydney on 1st March we couldn't understand where we'd gone wrong, but can only guess that the extra day in Februaury had confused us somewhere along the line! We'd almost given up hope when we realised we couldn't get to Syd...

On the way to Surfers Paradise we stopped to do some zorbing (for those who don't know zorbing is where you climb into a giant ball filled with water and roll down a hill!). We had to take a run up and dive into a tiny opening in the ball and then slide, feet first, out again. The experience was loads of fun and our arms and legs were flying around everywhere. We were laughing the entire time! When arriving at Surfers Paradise it was raining so we were limited ...

On Thursday Nikki got up at 530am for a day trip to Moreton island leaving Leanna in bed and set for a day of chilling out in Brisbane. As we'd bypassed Fraser island, the largest sand island in the world, on our rush to get down to Brisbane and out of the floods, the 3rd largest seemed like a good alternative. As its less publicised it turned out to be cheaper and less crowded too. I joined 8 others in a four-wheel drive and we caught a ferry across, relaxing on...