As soon as we arrive in Aukland, there's no time for stopping, as Kate, Kim, Panda, and Jo begin there road trip up to the bay of islands.We arrive at the car centre to pick up the car (named vera) and we are suprised to see that the balance for the car is already paid!(we only paid a 10% deposit). so we pay $36 for insurance and off we go feeling very smug at how cheap our trip is!Panda, kate and Kim take it in turns to drive, which was a very easy drive as there is only one highway in NZ so you just follow that road all the way up. As easy as it is, as soon as Kim gets into the driving seat, the speed camera goes off-well done Kim!!!!We arrive mid evening and have a bite to eat and then meet a few of our friends that we left in Queenstown. a relatively quiet night for us as a long day in front of us.

We set off early as we were told that it was a long drive up to Cape Reinga, the most northernly point and its where the 2 oceand meet. So after a few hours we make it and wander down to the lighthouse and have a few photo moments as the views were great. You can see where the oceans meet as they are swirls in the middle of the sea. After this we decide to go sand boarding nearby which was so much fun but hard work to climb the sand dunes. It started to rain which was a shame as everyone was up for a few more goes. We decide to head back down to bay of Islands leisurely, stopping off at a lake, lunch where we ate the most amazing toasties ever, the ninety mile beach, and a world famous fish and chip shop (yum yum). We got back and headed straight to the outdoors hot tub where we pruned ourselves, meeting some man who studied zoology-yet his favourite animal was bugs and insects!!!strange. An early night after a long day, but we had so much fun and everyone really enjoyed themselves!

In the morning, a man named Nick took us on a canoeing trip which lasted a few hours until lunchtime.It was a 6-8 man canoe but only the 4 of us went with Nick so it was pleasant. We canoed out to some mangrove trees and then to a little island where he taught us some Maori traditions and took us up to the top for some amazing views. We then headed over to another island, but stopped halfway to have a quick swim which was freezing!!All of us struggled to get back in-proving a not very ladylike time for any of us! we then made it to the island where Nick gave us some wine (oh no-it was goon!!!) and he went and found us some shell rings which were washed up on the beach. We headed back to land and thanked him for a fab morning. In the afternoon, Kate and Kim went on the hunt for a tattooist, which they eventually found and got traditional maori tattoos done on there ankles, meanwhile we relaxed and had naps! They came back in the evening and we had many drinks and a very fun night, with gemma meeting us aswell!

We get up in the morning and have to head back to Aukland as Kim was flying home the next day. We had a couple of breaks on the way home including stopping for a moment to take pictures of pink sheep in sheep world!!We fill the car up with petrol and hand it back, where, half expecting to have to pay for the car then, nothing was said and we ended up getting a free shuttle bus to the airport (worth $13), free coffee and internet aswell while we were hanging around!!what a bargain!! We're all starving so went looking for a nice resturant and ended up in a lovely italian resturant and out for one drink (and we mean that-it was only one!). Goodbyes were said to kim as her flight was very early in the morning which was sad. We had convinced Kate to try and change her flights and come to Fiji with us so the day Kim left, we went straight to the travel agent to change her flights which was possible with a fee which she was willing to pay!So we're all very excited about seeing the sun for the first time in 5 weeks, we go home and put all our beach clothes to the top of our rucksacks and have an early night.

Our time in New Zealand was probably the best place we have visited since we've been away, we both enjoyed every single moment and was sad to leave, although the thought of the sun snapped us out of that and we were happy to go to Fiji.