We picked up our car on 14th November, a Daihatsu Sirion shortly to be christened Barry Scott (New Zealand's answer to him is rubbish!), and Mia drove to Hanmer Springs, a thermal spa with pools ranging in temperature from 28-41C. 41C is very very hot, especially on a hot sunny day, so we spent most of our time in 36C pools. After this, Dan drove most of the way to Kaikoura (for the first time in 3 years and 8 months after passing his test-a scary couple of hours in the passenger seat for Mia!) where we arrived to find no room at most inns! What we did find, however, was amazing! We had a self contained Motel Cabin, with a spare room and huge living area!

The next day was one we had been looking forward to for ages-whale watching! We took a boat out to above the Kaikoura Canyon, just offshore but 1600 metres deep, and described as a massive bachelor pad for whales. After a few minutes locating the whale, one surfaced not far from the boat-a huge Sperm Whale called Little Nick. He spent the next 10 minutes blowing air from his blowhole, before diving back down into the deep, showing his tail on the way down. We then saw some Dusky Dolphins leaping about in the sea, as well as a fur seal and several albatrosses, before Little Nick resurfaced for us to have the amazing experience once again. Back on dry land, we drove to Picton, from where we caught the ferry to Wellington on the North Island, where we met up with Ruth and Simon, and stayed up chatting till the early hours.

We spent the next day exploring Wellington with Ruth and Simon. We took the cable car up the hill to the Botanic Gardens, where we walked round for a while before having lunch and heading back down into town for a guided tour of the Parliament. After this, we went to the Te Papa museum, with features all about New Zealand, it's Geology and History. That evening we went out for dinner, cocktails and to a bar.

When we woke up the next day, it was raining. It continued to rain for the rest of the day, which we spent mostly in the car. We first drove up the coast, where we had a cup of tea and said goodbye to Ruth and Simon before making our way up to the giant-carroted town of Ohakune (Among many giant things in New Zealand-bowls of fruit, fish and sheep)!

The next morning, we drove up Mt Ruapehu, where the ski season had just finished, so it was cold, snowy and misty as well as eerily deserted around the ski bars. After driving back down the mountain, we made our way to Taupo, a town on the edge of the largest lake in New Zealand. Called Lake...Taupo.

The next day, we first of all went kayaking down the only river flowing out of Lake Taupo. This was good fun and very peaceful. On the way, we got out at a hot stream, heated from deep underground, and watched a couple of people bungy from above us. Back in the car, we made our way to the Huka Falls-a spectacular narrow part of the river, where the water churns along and then comes down a waterfall as the river widens again. Next we stopped at a dam-one of several hydroelectric stations-where we watched the water released, creating an impression pool and temporary rapids on the downstream side. Our next stop was at the appropriately dubbed 'Thermal Wonderland' of Wai-O-Tapu. We spent an hour wandering around various thermal pools, vents and caves, with exciting names such as 'Champagne Pool' and 'Devil's Bath'. The bubbling surfaces were spectacular, the bright colours equally so, the smell was awful, and gave us both a headache! It is best left to photo's to accurately show how amazing it was. We then made our way to Rotorua.

The next morning, we took a guided tour of Rotorua Museum, which once was a healing baths used to cure arthritis and mental ailments. We then walked along the edge of the lake and a park dotted with thermal vents, before making our way back to the hostel, ready for our Maori cultural experience. This consisted of seeing the Maori warriors arrive on a river in their war canoe, and a performance of traditional dances and games used to improve hunting abilities but now for fitness, and were taught about their culture. We then had dinner which had been cooked in a Hangi-on hot rocks buried underground for 3 hours. We then went on a nighttime walk in the forest where we saw glowworms and were told about the use of various plants, including New Zealand's Silver Fern, used for it's reflectiveness at night to follow a trail back home.

The next day, we left Rotorua and our first stop was to go zorbing. We chose the zig zag route and were loose inside the zorb, along with a few gallons of water (but in separate zorbs, thankfully) This was amazing fun, like a waterslide but improved hundreds of times! We drove to Paeroa next, home of New Zealand's national soft drink of Lemon and Paeroa and, naturally, a giant bottle of said drink! We then drove up to Whitianga in the Coromandel peninsula for the night.

We got up fairly early the next day, to make it down to Hot Water Beach while it was low tide. Here, you rent a spade and make your way out onto the beach, where, digging down, the water is hot. We spent a while in a pool here, leaving as the tide threatened to wash us away! We then drove around the coastline of the Coromandel a little, to Mercury Bay and Cook Beach as well as Cathedral Cover, before making our way north. A long way north, through Auckland on the only stretch of motorway in the country, all the way up to Paihia in the Bay of Islands.

Our first day in Paihia, we were disappointed to find it raining as we had planned to kayak to a couple of small islands in the bay. Instead we took the ferry across to Russell, a one-time capital of New Zealand, which offered us a very wet walk up a hill, and a much-needed cup of hot chocolate!

The next day, it was again raining, but we made our way to 90 mile beach anyway. It is apparently not 90 miles long, but it was certainly very big...we couldn't see anything but beach either way (though that may have been due to the rain and mist) We then aimed to drive to Cape Reinga, the most northern point of New Zealand. However, at a point some 20Km away, claiming to be the last fuel stop, we found there was no fuel. With an unknown quantity of petrol left, and not wanting to add another 40Km onto the 60 back to the second to last petrol station, we turned back.

The next day was our last with the car, and we drove back down to Auckland to drop him off, before taking a bus (and a hike up a long, steep hill) to our next, and last hostel in New Zealand.