Auckland is the biggest city in New Zealand, but it's not the capital. It is called the city of sails but I didn't think much of it as I'm really not a fan of cities. I stayed in Auckland for five days and did a few walks around the city to see parks, historic buildings, the high street and the waterfront, as well as a climb up the old Maori Pa (fortress) hill of Mt Eden where I got beautiful 360 panoramic views of the city. I also visited Auckland museum which was pretty cool because it had lots of information about the Maori culture and about the Treaty of Waitangi (New Zealand's founding document). In fact the Museum was so full of information that it took me five hours to see only two of the three floors before it closed! I particularly liked seeing the Maori meeting house and the carvings of their ancestors and deities.

On 5th September, it was time to start my trip on the Kiwi Experience bus. This is a bus that travels all around New Zealand so I can see all the sights. We began by heading up to the Bay of Islands, a beautiful place where many New Zealanders spend their holidays, and we stayed at a hostel in the town of Paihia. A four hour trip, with a stop off at a nice waterfall on the way, we arrived early afternoon and relaxed. The next day it was time for a day trip to Cape Reinga. This began with a visit to a walkway through a forest of native Kauri trees (they are massive!), on a board walk which had been built specially for Queen Elizabeth's visit to New Zealand in the 1980's. After that it was time for a trip up to the Cape, the northernmost point of New Zealand. This is a very spiritual place to the Maori people because they believe that the souls of their dead leave the country by climbing down the roots of a tree clinging to the rocks on the end, and down into the sea on their journey to the Other World. It is also the place where the Tasman and Pacific oceans meet, and during the day I was able to paddle in both. Next we did some sand-boarding which looked scary but was actually quite fun when you did it, and then our mad driver, drove 90 miles down a beach almost tipping the bus into the water. That was fun! Following that we stopped for fish and chips on the way home. Unfortunately, the fish and chips are nowhere near as good as the ones from England, despite the Aussie and Kiwi boasts to the contrary. That evening we also did a pub quiz and won it, getting a $100 bar tab prize.

The following day, we started with a boat trip on the bay of Islands. Within a few minutes we saw a beautiful pod of dolphins and got some great pictures. We also saw gannets, seals sunbathing on the rocks, and a shark jumping out of the water. We went to a hole in the rocks and for a walk on an island with great views over the bay. In the afternoon, I went to the treaty of Waitangi grounds to find out about New Zealand's most historic site. There was a guided tour, a brilliant cultural performance with lots of singing and dancing, and a very interesting museum. The treaty was signed in 1840 and is very important because it effectively gave the English full sovereignty over New Zealand. It was signed between Governor Hobson and the Maori people's. It can be considered the country's founding document, however differences between the meaning of the words in the Maori and English translations have led to almost two centuries of misunderstanding and problems (though not as bad as in Australia). I also learned about New Zealand's first flag.

After travelling back to Auckland, we headed to our next place on Friday 9th - Hot Water Beach. After a long drive to Coromandel, we went for a very hilly walk to Cathedral Cove, a place that featured in the Narnia film - Prince Caspian. Then we went to Hot Water Beach, one of lonely planet's top 10 beaches in the world. Because of the volcanic geothermal activity in the area, you can go to the beach at low tide and dig a hole in the sand and hot water will fill the hole turning it into your very own spa. At first we tried without success to dig holes right next to the sea but the water was coming out too hot and the sea was destroying our hole every minute or so. Eventually some other people left and we were able to go into the hole they had dug which had lovely warm water and I could relax while looking up at the stars in the sky. It was awesome.

The next day we started with a walk at Karangahake Gorge to see an old gold mine. It was fun, but much better was our afternoon activity - tubing through Waitomo's glow worm caves! We suited up in a wet suit because of the cold water and then practiced doing a backwards jump into a rubber tube - unfortunately I failed which knocked my confidence for the trip ahead. Luckily, at the places in the caves to do that, I was able to jump forward instead. Inside we spent two and a half hours climbing around rock ledges, wading through water and floating along on tubes as we gazed up at the beautiful sight of millions of glow worms above us. Amazing!

Then it was Sunday. Hobbiton Day! We started the day with a walk through the forest at Ruarkuri, which was great because it was like walking in Jurassic Park. Then we were off to Hobbiton, the movie set. It was absolutely awesome! Definitely my favourite place in New Zealand so far. We got to see the various hobbit houses (from outside), the gardens, the party field, the mill and we even got a free drink of cider in the Green Dragon pub. The tour guide told us interesting stories including a couple about how Peter Jackson, the director, insisted on removing leaves or fruit from trees and replacing them one by one in order to be more accurate to the books.

After that, we visited the Maori Tamaki Cultural Centre to learn about Maori culture. First they taught us Maori words like "Kia Ora", welcome, and then we experienced a traditional greeting ceremony that they would do when other tribes came to visit. Then it was up to the village to learn about traditional martial arts training, the Haka (war dance), music, flax weaving, carving and children's games. Next we got to see them removing the Hangi (food) from the pit where it had been cooking all day in a traditional Maori style of cooking, before witnessing a performance of music and the Haka in their meeting house. Finally we ended the day with a lovely meal. A really good day out.

After a full on week, I decided to have a rest from traveling and spend the next few days in Rotorua, the centre of New Zealand's geothermal sites. There was a local park which was full of pools of water and mud from volcanoes and they had steam coming off of them. You could smell the sulphur in the air. There was also a pool you could put your feet in too. Another day I visited the Waimangu volcanic valley which is the world's youngest geothermal area caused by a volcanic eruption in 1886. I walked down through the valley seeing large craters filled with green and blue steaming water, hot springs, streams, geysers, stalactites, terraces and more. It was very beautiful and finished by lake Rotomahana. However, it was a very expensive day at $75, and I had to rush the last half an hour because they had organised the timings badly and I only got 1 hour 45 to do a 2 - 2.5 hour walk. I was not happy as I couldn't take my time and enjoy the beautiful scenery. I also visited another volcanic area called Te Puia, which contained lots of traditional Maori areas like Maori buildings and carving and weaving workshops. There were lots of mud pools, steaming vents and geysers there, and we even got to eat an egg cooked in a hot pool.

After Rotorua, it was down to Taupo to do skydiving. On the way we stopped off at Huka Falls, a waterfall where an Olympic size swimming pool worth of water goes over it every second. The skydiving was cancelled multiple times while I was there due to the weather. Instead I walked along part of the lake, attempted to cook a Korean dish for Chuseok, and generally just relaxed. The weather was just as bad as we left Taupo too, resulting in us having to cancel a two hour walk in Tongariro national park, but we were lucky enough to be able to do a short walk down to a pool and waterfall that featured in the second Lord of the Rings film - Gollom's pool. Then it was time to leave civilisation and head to river valley, a lodge in a deep valley in the heart of farming country. It was away from things like mobile phone coverage and internet, and surrounded by nature. We had a big roast dinner together, tried a drink of amaretto and hot apple juice (delicious) and went for a walk along the river. It was a very beautiful place, but did feel a bit boring and remote so I was glad when we left the next day to head down to the final destination on the north Island - New Zealand's capital city, Wellington.