We touched down in Auckland on Saturday morning at about 630am.Those of you with an eager eye and half a clue about Geography will have of course noticed that we left at 2am on Friday morning and NZ and Tahiti are pretty close. We had crossed the International Date Line and as Rachel pointed out on Facebook we had missed the best day of the week.

We met up in the airport with Nicko and Marry so we could all email home to tell everyone we were ok as well as check to see what had happened in Tahiti.I wasn't worried about the owner of Camping Nelson as I knew she would be ok.She would live out of spite but it was nice to know the others were ok.We said goodbye until we all go for a drink in London when they move over here.A shuttle bus picked us up and we headed for the city.On the way we both noticed there was something familiar about the place.It was the closest to home we had been.And the bus driver was super helpful which was nice.

When we got to Auckland we wandered to our hostel and tried to check in, it turned out check in was not till some time after lunch so we dropped our bags off and went for a little wander around the city.I have heard mixed opinions on Auckland but I loved the city.And it was such a small place.How can a major city be so small?You could walk end to end in about half an hour.The only problem was that it was absolutely chock full of gap year students.To know how bad this is just watch the gap year video on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKFjWR7X5dU

Luckily we had an extremely important task, a mission even, which we would accomplish with this spare time.We had to find a new charger for my laptop.Mine was in the kitchen back in Camping Nelson.We also decided for absolutely no reason at all that while we were in NZ we would be needing lots of books to read.Between the search for second hand books and a charger we had a good route around the city.As you may have guessed we did succeed in our mission.

We also found something we had not been expecting.Auckland's St. Patrick's day parade was in full swing and after watching that we were given a load of tickets for free drinks down by the water front.Now it was only about midday but free is free and its not as if we were on lunch and needed to get back to work sober so off we went.On the way we popped into another electronics store to make sure I had not been ripped off on my purchase up the road and as fate would have it a note book on special offer caught Olli's eye.

When we got down to the water front and located the correct bar we found it packed out with Irish and those pretending to be Irish we got to work on our free Jameson's and Ginger Ale and were entertained by the Irish Dancing.The only downer on the day was an old man who kept trying to engage me in conversation about my camera.He needed a new one so had a few questions which I didn't mind.The thing that I did mind was that every question came back to whether the zoom quality was good enough to take pictures of hot girls from a good distance.As a matter of fact it is brilliant. That's why I got it.However I was not going to let him start trying in a crowded pub.

Eventually we stumbled back to the hostel and we realised just how big it was.It was huge, by far the biggest we have been in so far and from experience the bigger they are the more unfriendly the atmosphere and the more unhelpful the staff are.However we had been told it was a great place to party so thought we would give it a go. In our room we found two German girls fast asleep (at 4pm).This seemed promising at first as perhaps it was evidence of the mentioned partying.However as it turned out they didn't realty ever go out.All they did was sleep. They were back in bed by 9 in the evening and getting up about 10 before coming back at some point in the afternoon for a well needed lap.The worst bit however was that even at 4 in the afternoon we felt bad about making any noise in our room.Not surprisingly I never even found out their names.

That night we should really have taken a leaf out of their book and done the same but we didn't.We bought some beer and watched a couple of films in the TV room whilst everyone ignored each other.First was "It's all about Steve" or something which was quite funny I guess and then 'Crank 2' which has to be one of the weirdest films I have ever seen in my whole life.Next we thought we would check out Globe Bar.Base hostels seem to have their own mini clubs either adjacent or below them with drinks promotions.The bouncers were not particularly impressed with our clothes."Swim shorts, flip flops and smelly t-shirts would not be allowed in any other club", they told us.However we were staying in the base hostel so they were obliged to let us in and we figured it was a hostel club.Surely it would be full of other travellers dressed in the same way just relaxing and trading stories and tips.We couldn't have been more wrong.

When we got downstairs I really wished they had taken pity on us and sent us back for different clothes rather then just playing this rather silly practical joke on us.The place was full of what I shall from now on call 'gap year children' (GYC).They were all about 18/19, vomiting over each others expensive clothes whilst running around with the credit cards mummy and daddy had given them.Some of the money being spent on rounds really was disgusting.We found ourselves a quiet corner from where we could watch the carnage and realised how much more fun it had been hanging out with older travellers.

We were determined to make the best of it though and were just about to go and get changed into the most respectable stuff we could find when Olli came charging up to me to explain that there was still 5 minutes of happy hour left and we should get some 2-4-1 drinks before getting changed.Now to my slightly drunk and slightly tired mind 2-4-1 drinks combined with a exchange rate of over $2 to our pound this sounded like 4-4-1.Lets get started then.After this the night gets a little blurred.Certainly I remember going and getting changed and finding a Liverpudlion couple in the hostel playing cards.I decided they were far too young to be doing this on a Saturday night so dragged them back out with us.I remember playing pool badly and before I knew it I was in McDonalds at 4am buying chicken nuggets.

On Sunday we went to check out the town again.We went to one of the parks near the University and found they were having their version of the UKC arts fest.Lots of live music to sit and listen to and a nice chance to chuck the disc around as well.I am pleased to say we were complimented on both our distance and accuracy on several occasions.We also saw a fantastic fight.I kid you not it was all over spilt beer.It resulted in a fair bit of spilt blood thanks to the recently emptied bottle.Fortunately I caught it all on camera.As if the day could not get any better we spotted some look-alikes for you guys back home so we have now started collecting photos.I won't say who we have yet.You will just have to be patient and wait for the album to go up on Facebook.

That evening we found a big outdoor cinema had been set up and was playing "arty farty" (no offence to any of you, the films just made no sense) films from the students.I also started to feel really ill and at that point realised all I had eaten for the last 3 days was McDonalds.I desperately needed to get something else in me and in the end all I could find was a greasy Korean takeaway.At least there was some veg in it.So after that and a litre of water I pout myself to bed and luckily felt fine the next morning.We were up in time for a McDonalds breakfast after which Olli bought the notebook he had seen.We also posted a box of stuff back home in an attempt to make our bags lighter.It is in interesting assortment of items.Prostitute cards, a Frisbee, some books and plenty of clothes to wash.I should arrive in time for Mother's Day…

When we got back we asked the girl at the hostel the cheapest way to get down to Toupo with a view to eventually heading for Christchurch.We were royally pissed off with her answer.She gave us three options.The green Kiwi Experience, a Naked Passport and finally the stray bus.Now I am sure these commercialised tour packages where you travel with 50 other people around the same route as thousands before you would indeed have given us the genuine cultural experience and beautiful off the beaten track scenery that NZ has to offer but they were all $400 and up and would be packed full of GYC.We regretfully declined, if we wanted to get drunk all the time we did not need to pay a bus company that much to get us from pub to pub.

We went back to McDonalds for lunch and jumped on their wi-fi.We found that the intercity bus left from just round the corner in 45 minutes and would cost about $30 each (less then £15) and would most likely be empty.That's more like it.

For some reason the bus driver took us all the way to Toupo on the most windy back country roads he could find but eventually we did get there.The people on the bus had been far more normal but there was room for one greyhound style lunatic who having pissed everyone including the bus driver off got off the bus in Toupo, sat down on the ground and refused to get back up.I don't know whether the bus left without him or not, we had our own problems to worry about.It was 6pm and the town was completely deserted.I mean not a single person or moving car in sight.

We stopped in McDonalds for dinner and also got directions to the Tiki Lounge which turned out to be a small family run hostel with 15 or so rooms, a view of the lake and a hot tub.Here was somewhere where we would probably get to know at least half the hostel and actually do something rather then stare aggressively at one another like at base.

That first night we met and women called Katie who was good fun and also a young couple called Luke and Sarah who had been in Christchurch when they had the earthquake.Their hostel had been damaged so they had been unable to get to their rucksacks for a few days.Not long after the quake University students from the campus were driving around and picking people up and letting them stay with them for a few days which was a really cool thing do to.We also discovered we had four criminology students in the Kitchen.Katie had graduated about 10 years ago and Sarah was about to go off and study at Portsmouth.Criminology students, just like London busses…

That night Sarah and Luke took us out with some friends they had met a couple of weeks ago.We were being picked up outside the hostel and before had all been pilled into the back of the camper van and were lying on the bed trying to keep our heads down.It turned out that we were going to another base hostel club but after a few drinks we had a good time.

Tuesday can only really be described as a nothing day where we slept in late, stuck photos up on facebook etc.I have done my best to remember us doing something of note but I really don't think we achieved anything until the evening when we went off to take part in a pub quiz with three new arrivals to our room.We had Jonathon from Scotland who had been over for a wedding and had decided to stay a bit to travel.There was also Katie and Hannah who are from quite close at home.We came about halfway in the end.The local team who were next to us won and apparently normally did.They still had a bar tab to finish from previous wins so got us some drinks which was nice.

Olli was still pretty out of action because of his foot so the next day I went out for a 6 hour walk around the town.Eventually I headed up for a walk along the river where I met a 72 year old ex Para who was travelling the world mostly on foot.His wife was coming out to join him the next day when he would try to fit in a skydive (on his own if the company would let him) as well as a bungee jump.That's what I want to be like at 72!

After the walk up the river I went to a place with a name like the Lunar landscape of Toupo.This was basically an area with a radius of about 2km which was full of geo thermal activity.There were huge craters in the ground with steam and volcanic gases etc coming out as well as boiling mud pools.In places which were off limits you could pour water from your bottle onto the ground and it would boil, not that I knew this from personal experience of course.I would never disobey a danger sign.It was an absolutely amazing and surreal place but I do question whether it should be referred to as a lunar landscape.There was a little too much in the way of vegetation for that.

When I got out I asked the lady at reception what was in the gasses which dyed the plants such a lovely shade of pink only to be told that it was actually weed killer.Disappointed by her revelation I started the long walk back to Toupo.I had been in the go for 6 hours and reckon I had covered at least 14k so thought I would stick up my thumb and see if it was as easy to hitch a ride as everyone says it is in NZ.The first car that came past skidded to a stop and a man in pink clothes opened the passenger door for me.His name was Dylan and it turned out he was pink because he was the man who had been laying down the weed killer.Small world.

I was a little dubious about going out to long on Wednesday night.Originally I had been going to go sailing on Thursday and then do the TongariroCrossing on Friday.However Jonathon, whom I was doing the crossing with, had checked the weather and it made sense to swap. This would mean an early start to a long day but I had said I would come out for a few drinks and that was what I was going to do.Our group had grown further as not only did we have Katie but also Rachel and Carol from Ireland and their friend Ben from Scotland.Turns out Rachel used to play hockey for Cranleigh which is pretty random.

Our first, and as it turned out, only stop, was too a karaoke bar.It is never a good thing for me to be allowed near karaoke. I eventually made my excuses at about 1am and went back to the hostel so I could try to get some sleep.15 minutes later Olli turned up and I couldn't really go to bed and leave a friend in that state on their own.It appeared that whilst I had been trying to wrestle the microphone of the karaoke DJ so I could sing a Guns and Roses song that had come on (apparently the karaoke had finished a little before that and it was just on the Radio, the dj was trying to pack up) Olli had consumed the entire pubs supply of bubbles (a sort of cheap champagne we had never seen before or since).He was now intent on throwing his clothes all over the hostel and then redistributing the bubbles all around the bathroom.Eventually I got him to bed at about 330am and just a little after 5am Jonathon woke me up on the off chance that I still wanted to come on the hike.Silly question.

The Tongariro crossing really is a must.Make sure you get the earliest shuttle to the start that you can so that you can climb to the south crater (the top of Mount Doom). It is a 17km hike up and down hills on loose ground and you will need 3 extra hours to do the climb which brings it to about 24km.We left the drop off point at about 730 arriving at the base of mount doom at around 915.I didn't feel too tired considering but I was far more hung over then planned.It took about two hours to get to the top of Mount Doom and it is the most exhausting thing I have ever done.Of the 240 people that came on the shuttles that day only about 20 went up.

It was so steep you needed to find something to hold onto nearly all the way up and keep your ears open for calls of shouting rocks.I deliberately did not look behind me on the way up as I wanted to see the entire view for the first time from the top.Typically as we got near the south crater a cloud came over meaning that all we could do was keep heading up through the white.When we climbed up out of the cloud and got to the top we couldn't see a thing.The only thing left to do was make everyone very jealous of our genius by cracking open a couple of beers. Hangover sorted.To top it all off as we started to go back down the clouds cleared and we were treated to an amazing view of the south island.

Getting down was slow at first because it would take to long to walk backwards holding onto things but to difficult to go forwards.Eventually we moved onto the loosest ground we could find and discovered if that if you ran you ended up going down in a sort of slow skiing motion.Whenever you had slid far enough down and forward that your front foot was buried to the ankle you took another step.Great fun.Next we walked through where Lord Sauron's army was camped at the end of the 3rd film and on with the rest of the hike.

When we finished the hike 8 hours later we were waiting around the shuttle pickup point.Remember the reef sharks from Moorea?Well I was talking to a couple of Northerners who had been on the hike and one of them was sporting some exceptional scars from a reef shark.However they had been trying to catch it for dinner and despite the injuries finished the job before heading to hospital and then eventually barbecuing it.

When we got back we jumped into the hot tub for a bit.I was starting to feel a little tired at this point but it was St. Patrick's day and half the people we were staying with were Irish so I had little choice about going out.We went to a cool bar though where inside it was a club and outside there was a really good live band.In the end the need for some sleep did catch up with me and when I left at about 230am I bumped into Olli in the 24 McDonalds.Great minds think alike.

On Friday I got up quite early and headed over to the sailing club.This turned out to be about 3km away.To be honest I was getting a bit pissed off with all the walking by this point and my shoes smelt bloody terrible from it.I have since purchased some special spay to put in them and that has helped a little.Due to this distance I stopped for a rest stop in McDonalds.I had not realised it was the Christchurch earthquake day of remembrance and it was on TV in McDonalds.When they did they silence the whole place went completely dead which was really nice.I have never seen the McDonalds machine stop before.

Jonathon had been spot on with his weather.There were a few showers but that does not matter when you are sailing.It was also probably the windiest I had ever sailed in.When I got to the sailing club it all seemed a little too relaxed.Normally in the UK they want to see you RYA license and to know you can actually sail but they just through a life jacket and wet suit at me and said go get sorted.Money, nah don't worry about that we'll sort it latter. Deposit?Nah you don't look like a thief.

It turned out that the boats they had were built specially for training sailors for the America's Cup and there are only 10 in the world.This made the owners parting words, "only an idiot could capsize one of these but be careful anyway.They sink straight away if you do and it costs quite a bit to get them off the bottom", all the more ominous.

I sailed for a couple of hour's first heading back to Toupo where Olli got a few photos of me and then headed down the lake.When I got back I had a few beers with the owners then went back to the hostel.

We had quite a plan for that evening as we were going to buy up all the meat in Toupo and me and Olli would BBQ for everyone.In the end there was so much we needed a car to carry it all.We were also joined by two girls, Lucie and Alice who although were from France turned out to be really nice.Having said that they were getting free food so the real test would be whether they blanked us or not the next day.

I had planned to sail again on Saturday but when I got there the wind was so strong they were not letting anyone out.The owner said I could go as he had been impressed yesterday (Hell yeah!) but in the end I decided not to as I didn't want to risk the boat and thought it was a good opportunity to save some money and drink with a few locals in their bar.

Latter in the day a big group of us went down to the lake to chill in the sun and go for a swim and then that night we were all out again (it seems that in NZ you are expected to be out every night) to the same bar again alternating between the club and the live band.Too my amazement the French were not blanking us but came swimming and to the pub as well.We may be seeing them again in Asia and we are definitely meeting up with Hannah and Kate when we are in Bangkok.

We had been told to take it easy as we had a bus at 10 the next a morning but of course this went out the window.Once again we ended up outside McDonalds and what time I don't know and ended up trapped talking to a group of GYC.What a terrible end to the night.

The next morning we felt reasonably good as we had taken a few multi vitamins before we went to bed to prevent a hangover.You guys all need to try this.Have a pint of water and 2/3 vitamins depending on the make.My preferred vitamins are Centrum and as long as you have not drunk so much that they make a reappearance you shall feel fine in the morning.

Our bus driver the next day was an interesting character.Although she put on a friendly face it would never take much to reveal the b**** lurking beneath the surface.It started with her shouting at Olli on the bus just before we left for getting up and putting his rubbish in a bin.Would she rather it went on the floor?Apparently not as after a ride of general abuse from her we got to Wellington where she asked us to help her by clearing up any other peoples rubbish left behind after they got off at different stops.We are paying customers and you're rude so how about you get on and do your job.

Other then her there is not much to be said about the rest of Sunday and Monday.We eventually got down to Wellington, washed our stuff and went to bed as we had to be up at about 6 the next morning.Se got a shuttle to the ferry which would take us to Pickton on the South Island where we would get another bus straight down to Christchurch.