Day 79 - Sun 17th - Auckland

Left Mount Maungaui about 8.30am and dropped a load of people off in Thames who were doing the Coromandel trip (this was included in my ticket but I decided to skip it as I didn't have time).

Got back to Auckland about 1pm, and I went into productive mode and took advantage of big city facilities such as photo developing and internet cafes.

Late in the afternoon I met up with Rosan for a few drinks at the harbour side / viaduct area, which was is a very nice area but was quite expensive. After that I had quite an early night.

Day 80 - Sun 18th Jan - Auckland to Paihia

7.30am bus departure time to head up to Paihia and the Bay of Islands. We arrived about midday.

This was going to be my second and final attempt at horse riding in NZ. I was going riding in Paihia as I girl I know from home had been working at this trekking centre for 6 months previously and recommend it as a nice place to ride.

When I arrived I was told that they normally split the groups by ability but currently due to a staff shortage they were only running one ride and the pace would be as face as the slowest rider. There were two other experienced riders there, who were also hoping there would be no begginners there! Then a family of four from Oz turned up who assured everyone they had been riding a few times before. After the first trot it became apparant that they didnt know how to ride and it looked like our cantering opportunity was over. However the three of us managed to get one canter by holding back when the others trotted ahead.

It was still a nice ride through the forest though and we got to take the horses for a quick paddle in the sea too.

Day 81 - Mon 19th - Jan - Cape Reinga

Very long and packed day today heading up to Cape Reinga at the very top of NZ. Started with a 7am departure from Paihia.

First we had a quick stop in one of the rainforests on the way to take a peak at the huge kauri trees, believed to be the most ancient trees in the world. Next up we headed further north to 90 mile beach (which is, er 62 miles long). The beach is actually officially a road and you can drive along it, which is what we did for about an hour. We stopped on the beach to take some photos, and there was a very cute and poorly looking blue penguin standing on the beach on his own. They normally only come onto the beaches at night and live in packs so being on its own in the middle of day was not a good sign for the little fella. It was good fun driving along the beach and was strange to just see beach in front of you for so long.

After the beach we headed to the huge sand dunes that are at the end of the beach. The whole journey so far our driver / guide had been going on about the fact that the 'oldies' bus was a few minutes in front of us (oldies = anyone not a backpacker!). When we got to the sand dunes the 'oldies' bus was already there, and they were going down some quite big dunes on sledge type things. The driver then informed us we were going to go to those small ones (er, looked pretty big to me!), we were going to go to the enormous ones behind. Oh and we weren't going to be going down them sitting on a sledge, we were going to go down on boards, head first.

After the initial shock of this, I got myself mentally prepared, grabbed a board and headed up the enormous sand dune (a feat in its own right!!). I watched a few people go down first and they were going very fast but seemed to be enjoying it. When it got to my turn I couldn't quite bring myself to kneel down and put myself head first. After freaking out for about 5 minutes screaming "I cant do it" over and over again, I finally decided to walk half way down where it wasn't going to be quite as steep or high. I then did manage to lie all the way down on the board head first this time..... and then starting freaking out again as it was so steep. So I bailed completely and did the walk of shame down the dune with my board (which again was quite hard in its own right, especially as it was so windy and it kept catching the board).

By the time we had finished there were a few injuries (one guy had hurt his back as he went so fast down the dune, straight through the stram at the bottom and into the bush at the other side!) and the driver then told us some stories about previous episodes. He said the worse injury he had ever seen was another driver who had broken his neck, the second worse injury he had ever seen was himself when he cracked three ribs, and the third was injury he had seen was himself again when he knocked his four bottom teeth out. So I am glad I bailed, as I dread to think what would have happened to me!!

After that we headed to another beach in a quite secluded bay for a quick dip and picnic lunch, this time on the east coast on the pacific (90 mile beach is on the west coast).

Next up we get all the way to the top to Cape Reinga, which is the northern most tip of New Zealand. The Cape has a strong spiritual significance for the maori people who believe that its the point where spirits move on from this world to the next, so the ground is very sacred. From a geological perspective it is also the place where the Tasman sea meets the Pacific ocean so there is a very strong clash of seas around the rocks.

After we leave there its time to start heading south back towards Paihia again. First of all we have a quick stop at the 'Ancient Kauri Kingdom' which is basically a shop selling incredibly expensive souvenirs made out of kauri trees. The main purpose of the stop though was for the bus driver to clean all the sand off the bus.

Then there's just time for one more stop - the fish and chip shop! They love fish and chips in NZ, and I have definitely consumed more in my five weeks here than I had in the previous 5 months! Out stop was in the small fishing village of Mangonui, which is apparantly world famous for its fish and chips. Personally I think the ones in Franz Josef were the best that I had there.

We finally made it back about 7pm and a full and action packed day.

Day 82 - Tues 20th Jan - Paihia to Auckland

8am bus departure time. First stop Hokianga mainly to do pick ups and drop offs. While were there we had a quick look in the information centre and watched a short video about Opo the dolphin who was a celebrity wild dolphin in the area during the 50s. If you are bored with a spare 10 mins, google Opo and look at some incredible photos of kids going for rides sitting on this dolphins back. Don't think you'd get away with that these days - we weren't even allowed to stroke the ones we were swimming with!

Next up was another rain forest stop to check out 'Tane Mahuta' the largest ever Kauri tree - pretty big!

We then had a very long and quiet drive back with everyone asleep on the bus, I think they must have put sleeping tablets in the air con.

We got back into Auckland about 5pm. As I had a very early flight in the morning I had decided to stay at a hotel near the airport as it's quite far out of Auckland. The bus trip I was on drops off in the city centre so I was going to have to get a normal bus from there to the airport (about an hour). I asked the driver if he could drop me off somewhere near the bus station as I needed to get the airport and he said that he was now taken the bus to their depot which was quite near the airport so he said he would give me a lift to my hotel, which was great.

Got there about 6pm, had some dinner, spoke to Mary on the phone before I left NZ, then headed to bed ready for an early start!

Day 83 - Weds 21st Jan - Auckland to Sydney

Up at 5.30am to catch the shuttle bus from the hotel to the airport. That was so early that I was able to catch the inaugration oath fluff up from Obama live on TV in the hotel before leaving.

Have time to relfect on my time in NZ during the flight. I definitely preferred the South island to the North (although the very north was nice). And I would not do one of those bus tours again and would drive if I ever went again. I feel like I had enough time there though, although I wasted many days in places I didn't really want to be and didn't get to everywhere that I did want to go to.

There are a few keys signs you should look out for if you are in New Zealand that indicate you have spent enough time there.:

1) All your positive declarations are represented by the words "Sweet As" and you say it about 10 times a day.

2) You translate sentences into questions by the use of "eh". Example: "Nice view" becomes "Nice view, eh?"

3) You start calling flip flops "Jandels"

4) You can name about a thousand more species of birds and trees than you could when you arrived.

5) You think that the sole purpose of all tall structures (natural or man made) is for you to throw youself off, from, down or into (e.g buildings, bridges, planes, hills, cliffs, sand dunes). And your day is not complete without an adrenaline rush from one of these.

This day continues on the Sydney blog........