Hi all, We arrived in Auckland a little earlier than planned and headed straight for the City centre. Auckland is nothing like any other town/city that I have visited in New Zealand. It is so much bigger and on a far greater scale. We hit the city centre and it was madness, people and cars everywhere. We tried to park up to explore but the parking costs were extortionate - $35 for 3 hours. So it was over to plan B, an SOS call to Sally Makepeace. Sally is an old ...

Hi all, We arrived in Rotorua and just like Wai-O-Tapu, it stunk...! But it seemed like a really nice place. We had a good look around the town and I had decided that I was going to go White Water Rafting and Zorbing over the next couple of days to end my trip with. I was really pleased about this because once I had completed these activities, I would have completed all of the activities that I had on my to-do-list that I planned before leaving to go traveling....

Hi all, Well my first impressions of Wai-O-Tapu were slighty mixed to be fair. It seemed a lovely place and it was strange to see random steam just bellowing out of random spots in the earth. However, the sulphur in the atmosphere it creates form the goeothermal activity below the soil gives Wai-O-Tapu a distinctive smell and not a nice one at that....! It stunk of eggs. Its meant to only really be noticable when you first arrive - rubbish. That's just what the l...

Hi all, Taupo was a nice little town and suprisingly it was based on a ginormous lake...! We had a good mooch around the town which was nice. I ended up buying a new book as I'd finished all of my others and Becki disappeared for an hour or so to have some secret treatment done. Taupo had lots to offer in the way of activities but unfortunately after eleven months and two weeks of travelling, 1. The money has run out and 2. I've had a go at then all.....! So in t...

Hi all, We travelled a few hundred kilometers up the road to Tongariro National Park. The scenery on the way was nice but not quite as spectactular as the Southern part of the South Island that we visited. We arrived late that evening and quickly visited the Infomation Centre to figure out what walks we could complete, there was loads. We camped out on the side of the road a couple of k's out of town (well, one hotel, one camping ground and a pub) and it was cold...