Hello Everyone! So after a few days in Taupo we joined our new bus on the way to River Valley. On the way we stopped off for a walk in the Tongariro National Park… near the active volcano of Mount Ngauruhoe (or Mount Tongariro)known to all of 'The Lord of the Rings' geeks as Mount Doom! The walk was beautiful and we stopped at the foot of a waterfall for our lunch, Ben being Ben decided to climb behind the waterfall, I liked being dry so I just stood and watch...

Hello Everyone, Another early start, 9.00am on the bus and ready to leave. Nikki and I joined Rich from our first group and boarded the bus with our new travelling companions. We left Rotorua and headed for Te Puia (Thermal Park) where some of the bus got off to visit the geysers, boiling mud and kiwi bird house. The remaining people including Nikki and I headed for the surrounding Redwood forest where the driver took us for an hours walk, which was lovely espec...

Kia Ora (Hello in Maori) Everyone, So an 8.30am start greeted us in our four man dorm the fellow English travellers Katie and Richard after our action packed day in the caves. Everyone had slept like babies after a few beers in the bar and the adrenaline had worn off. We set off in our green Kiwi Experience coach for the town of Rotorua. After a short time we checked into our hostel in the town centre there was the option to go 'luging' which Nikki and I both ...

Hello! So after a fairly early morning we all loaded onto the bus and headed south to the town of Waitomo. The towns in New Zealand are so small it is unreal. There are only 4million people in the country and a third of them live in Auckland, third in the rest of the north island and a third in the south island, so driving around you see a lot of farm land and a little town every now and then. After 2 hours of driving we stopped at the Karangahake scenic reserve...

Hello Everyone! So from now on the blogs may be a bit shorter as the kiwi bus only stops in places for a few days unless we opt to stay longer. We had one day back in Auckland to sort ourselves out before getting on the Kiwi bus early Tuesday morning heading south to the coromandal peninsula - hot water beach. The trip wasn't too long and most people slept the whole way. The hostel that we were staying in was brand new and very nice, and after settling i...