I think the check in lady at the airport didn't like the look of James, she gave him the window seat next to this extremely obese man... he took up half of James' seat, so he was sat pinned against the window on one arse cheek! He soon got moved. And there was me sat in the exit row with plenty of leg room. We noticed a change in temperature as soon as we reached Auckland, so out came the pumps and away with the flip flops.

Two friends we met in Asia, Carry and Newton had arranged car hire, so we split the hire car expenses. They are arriving the 13th January and so we are collecting it and touring the North Island before we get the ferry to the South Island to collect Carry and Newton. So we went and picked up our temporary ride for a couple of days, until our car was ready. We had a tinbox of a car, a white Diahatsu. You should have seen our faces, we thought it will not get us up any hills! Anyway we set off on our mini journey up to the Northland...

Many stops, hours and petrol later we ended up in Paihia, The Bay of Islands. By the time we got there it was about 8pm so all the hostel receptions were closed. We ended up sleeping in the little tinbox in a secluded hostel car park.. using their facilities at the night and in the morning. The joys of travelling! Slept quite well considering! It was a bit of a long, wasted journey - we had to get back to Auckland to exchange the tinbox the following day. We first stopped off at The Lion Mans zoo.. but the Lion Man wasn't there!! So we didn't pay to go around. Instead we took some pictures of the sign as proof we were there! The garage upgraded us to an automatic Nissan Sunny... and we headed South to the Coromandel Peninsula. As we arrived in Coromandel town, we struggled to get accommodation as it is their holiday season and so everywhere was full. We luckily got a luxurious stand up tent with a porch and a double bed for about £18 for the night.. phew! We thought we would be in the car again. The drive to Coromandel was very windy around the coast with superb views. But the car certainly can't hack it.. it can't decide what gear to go in up hill, and down hill the brakes were burning! The following day we went on The Creek Railway which was hand built by a man 30 years ago to originally travel up and down the mountain to collect clay for his pottery. He was even there to tell the tale, up in his little hut in the mountain. James got snapper happy on the little train.

We took the Bumpiest route out of Coromandel town to Whitianga, and en route we saw some baby piglets and I even had a picture holding one! The owner was rather strange, walking around bare foot in the piglet poop!

In Whitianga we drove to Cathedral Cove, which is simply a rather spectacular beach with a cove! To get to the beach we walked for about 35 minutes along with many other tourists. The beach is rather picturesque. So we spent the afternoon catching a few rays along with riding some of the huge waves. After here, we went to see the Hot Water Beach... the name derives from the fact that at low tides you can dig a hole in the sand on a particular section of the beach to then bathe in warm water. It was that busy we found a lookout just off the road overlooking the beach and had a picnic lying in the grass... a great day!

The next fly by visit was to be the surfing town of Raglan. What a waste of petrol money!... we arrived and I started to feel really ill and I couldn't stop throwing up... I felt awful! Anyway I forced myself to at least look at the so called surfing beach, but we weren't missing much anyway, the waves were pants! And I was sick right in front of all the passing people.. nice! I reckon it was the chopping board I used the night before.. I didn't wash it before hand, and if it had raw chicken on it...!

So from here we travelled to smelly Rotorua.. the town known for it's volcanic and geothermal activity. We walked around the local park to look at bubbling pools of very hot water and gurgling mud pools. It smells of rotten eggs because of the sulphur. It reminded me of the time I was in a Turkish mud bath.. and I couldn't stand the smell there! We headed back to the car to make our way to the geothermal park, Wai-O-Tapu, known for the colourful pools. Except the bloody car wouldn't start! So we got in touch with the hire company and thankfully they arranged for a local breakdown service to attend. Half an hour later they arrived.. after we found a dead bird wedged in the front of the car... road kill in the event of an emergency! We was just about to pitch camp, along with the bird, as we didn't have much faith in them being here soon.. well weren't we proven wrong! It turned out the connections on the battery were loose.. so much for James being good with cars. I think he has switched off completely out here.

We walked around the geothermal park, after we had eaten lunch. A very ignorant Kiwi started mowing the lawn... cheese, tomato and grass sandwiches.. yum! The park certainly wasn't worth the money.. there was a weird lime green pool which was pretty cool. But to be honest we walked around the whole time pinning our noses, the smell was dreadful! We just couldn't see the enjoyment. The best part was once we left the park... just off the main road over a bridge, we bathed in a hot water stream.. it was bizarre but so relaxing! A hot stream meets a cold stream to join into one, and you sit in the middle. The hot stream is ridiculously hot, so it was literally like bathing in a dirty bath! It was funny moving around, from the hot to the cold to the warm.

That evening we arrived in Taupo, known for it's Lake (Lake Taupo). We really liked it here. We hired a couple of bikes and headed to Huka Falls to check out the view. We completely underestimated the length of the ride and was very unprepared.. no food and little water. There is amazing mountain biking here, James appreciated this much more than me. Anyway, Huka Falls is spectacular! We extended the bike ride to Arrabiata Dam, to watch the dam gates open and the valley flood. This was so surreal... we could not get over how beautiful it was, watching the water bring the valley to life. We would have loved to have sat in a rubber ring down it, we probably would have died though! The current was immense. We then headed back, but the ride was very hilly and very long, as we took a longer route home (unbeknown to us both!). We took the Rotary route home which we should have took coming, as this is apparently the biking route.. oops! This route was a little too much for me to handle with no energy... I was really struggling coming back.The route had very narrow pathways winding in and out of trees, up and down hill. James only wished he wasn't feeling lifeless too! All in all we rode about 34 kms! It was a great day though.

We then headed to the last stop in the North Island, Wellington. On the way we stopped off at Lake Taupo for a picnic, bottle of beer and a swim. We didn't think much of Wellington, it was very very cold! Probably nothing compared to England.. haha! Parking the car was a nightmare.. it was all pay and display. But we thought we would park for free anyway.. well we got two parking tickets.. one for $12 and a second for $30. Thank god we moved it eventually.. it would have been towed away.. what would Carry and Newton think when we turn up on a public bus! The hire company will get a nice surprise when they get letters about the fines... oh well, we will be long gone by then, haha! The ferry was leaving at 3am that morning so we squatted in the hostel we checked out of that morning.. made our dinner, had a shower and snoozed in the lounge. Apparently the views from the ferry as it approaches Picton in the South Island are a must see, as the ferry weaves in and out of the islands.. except we were typically unprepared and booked the ferry at the last minute and so we could only get a night one. Shame! Half asleep we docked at Picton at about 6am.