Day 98 We walked Te Ti Beach over the Waitangi River to Waitangi National Park. We were greeted by traditional Maori carved statues. Waitangi is believed to be the birthplace of New Zealand, although Al is not sure who gave birth to it. We wanted to go into the Treaty House to learn more about the culture, however our coach was due to depart soon and we didn't really have time. We had a 4 hour coach journey to Whangarei and it seemed like another 4 hours to wa...

Day 97 We caught the bus up to Paihia in the Bay of Islands. The coach ride gave us our first real glimpse of the countryside and just how green New Zealand is. Once we'd found some accomodation we took a walk up School Road through a forest to a lookout. You could really appreciate why it was called the Bay of Islands as being higher above sea level you could see many of the 144 islands.

Day 96 On the doorstop of our hostel was Mt Eden. So we thought we'd make the most of the opportunity and walk to the top. It is an extinct volcanoe but still cool to see how big the crater rim was. It also gave us a great lookout over Auckalnd CBD. We then headed towards Auckland to sort out our coach pass and then contiuned around the CBD to buy some warm clothes. We picked up some bargain jackets but now we've started looking strangely like our parents. No o...

Day 95 Today was Als 25th Birthday. Al wanted to enjoy a lie in which worked out perfectly for the beginning of Lorna's surprises. Once out of bed he was presented with scrambled eggs on toast with sausages - which is a major treat compared to economy muesli. Once we had breakfast Lorna surprised Al with a origami card that included pictures of family and friends along with birthday messages. Al had thought that he was going to miss out on birthday cards from ...

Day 93-94 We headed into St Kilda for the Sunday markets, although we were slightly disappointed as we expected there to be around 150 stores; but there were only around 40. Once we had looked at all the stores, walked along the Esplanade and the jetty for some tourist photos we headed back on the tram to our hostel. Whilst on the tram we were asked if we were Swedish by a local and he was surprised to hear that we were English. This has happened a few times an...