Mon 26 Feb (Continued!) After saying our goodbyes to the other Stray passengers we then met up straight away with Chris, another EHO who Lisa used to work with in Sutton. Chris and his wife, Deborah, moved over to New Zealand three or four years ago so it was the perfect ooportunity to catch up with them. They now live in Days Bay, a short boat ride across from Wellington harbour. We got the ferry then walked to their place where they have kindly agreed to put u...

Sun 11 FebWell, I hear the scenery on the ferry crossing was nice but I didn't manage to see it as I was curled up on a recliner seat catching up on some sleep! Must remember to stay awake for the ferry ride back. Our new Stray bus was horribly hot and sweaty.... then the gear box fell out (or something like that!). Good job that DC used to be a mechanic and managed to fix it with a penknife, yeay for DC. We drove most of the day, arriving at Old MacDonald...

Mon 5 FebSo, our real 'Stray' adventure starts here. We did a two day tour with them up to the Bay of Islands but this is where our 'Max' pass of the whole of NZ begins. 'Stray' is a 'hop on, hop off' coach service similar to Kiwi Experience but apparently not so much of a party bus (we're getting old and sensible you know!). We were picked up at 8.30am by our driver DC for our first journey on a big orange coach with around 30...

Fri 2 Feb Arrived at the Nomads Fat Camel hostel at about 1.30am to find our lovely dingy twin room with no window - so tired I could sleep anywhere though! Got up and moved room to an 'apartment' style dorm which wasn't much better but we're here to see Auckland anyway not sit in a dorm thankfully! Grabbed some breakfast then went on the 'Stray' bus orientation tour of Auckland. First stop was the Sky tower - the guide pulled a name out ...

28 JanWe spent all day on the bus from Airlie Beach to Cairns..... thrilling!29 JanStupidly whilst we were in Brisbane we booked to do a skydive and now the time has come to throw ourselves out of a plane! 7.40am pickup from the hostel so after a light breakfast of toast and coffee (less to bring back up) we got the minibus to the 'Jump the Beach' skydive base (www.jumpthebeach.com.au) near Mission Beach. We had booked to do a 10,000 foot jump but were co...