As soon as I arrived in Auckland I forgot that not everyone is half as friendly as Raro... The first two people I met were rude women. I felt very homesick when I left the Cook Islands, it was the strangest feeling.

On my first day in Auckland I did a free walking tour which went up to Mt Eden, that was an awesome view!

I then booked a trip to Paihi (pronounced pie-here). The next day the coach arrived.. Just me and 3 other people, I thought "ohhh this is gonna suck!" It was Roy, Ray, Me and Janine, and Beanz the driver, who I nicknamed Heinz. We got on to weird nicknames.. I mentioned how a friend of mine calls me Richard (yes John Mooney, you!) So for the rest of my trip Janine called me that instead lol.

I stayed at Base Adventurer Hostel . As soon as I arrived I was told about the birthday party for a guy called T... $3 beer, rude not to!

The party was interesting... Dan, a local that owns a sailing boat had an airplane belt as his jean belt, it was hilarious watching him trying to keep his trousers up for the evening!. Free birthday cake was dished out, there we are all munching in to it then realising that it tastes different.. only to learn it was hash cake, some people had loads of cake, they didn't look like they were quite with it after :-P

I travelled up to Cape Reigna on a tour bus, where I met Nadia from the Gold Coast and Fergus from the UK. I managed to surf down the sand dunes 3 times, it was the walking up that was exhausing! Two men came over the sand dunes on motorbikes and one man fell off needing emergency rescue with a suspected broken pelvis and knee. We then drove along the 90 mile beach and stopped off for a chip butty :-D yummmyyyy!

That night I went to another hostel a few doors down where it had parties, I met 2 people from Forest Road that go to Essex Uni and a guy from Clacton that went to Colchester Institute. It was so weird! 1 small bar, 4 people associated with Colchester.

The next day Nadia and I went on a boat ride and saw dolphins then went through the hole in the rock. We were so hungover from the night before, when the club closed we went to a little party in someones house, it was so weird, we were standing out on the balcony and the guy whos house it is, Lee, he said how a girl had fallen off of the balcony a week or two before and needed airlifted to hospital, her jacket was still stuck in one of the trees :/

The hangover didn't stop us going out again, well, it was out last night in Paihia! We went and had some drinks at my hostel and then went back to the other hostels club again, and then at the end of the night Nadia went back to her hostel and I went back to mine, but decided I wanted more food, so went back for another hotdog :-D

Some man came over to me while I was waiting in line with a hotdog and said that he didn't want it.. So I took it of course! He was around 45 I'd say, but still was trying to chat me up, saying that I could stay at his and he would take me sailing in the morning, whatever excuse I came out with to try and be polite he had a stupid answer for, trying to convince me to go to his so he can take me sailing in the morning then drive me back to Auckland... thanks, but no thanks!

I got back to the hostel to a drunk German girl lost and couldn't find her room, her key said "Christchurch" we joked that she was on the wrong island.. she didn't find that amusing :-P I went to every room in the backpackers trying her key.. none of them worked. After a while of her sulking and being stubborn she finally came into my room where there were plenty of spare beds, in the morning she had already gone when I woke up, but when I walked down to the beach I saw her and asked if she found her way, I think she was a bit embarrassed.. Well, I hope so after how much of an idiot she was being the night before lol. She said she was in a completely different hostel, paahaha.

After I checked out of the hostel I called my mum for the first time as there were free international calls! We were on the phone for well over an hour, updating her on everything so far, I promised to call more to make it less emotional each time :-)

The bus on the way back was really busy, not half as good as small groups,there's just more interaction.

Every one I met was really shocked I'm only spending a week in New Zealand. Travellers stay for so much longer.. it just never really appealed to me, it's always been about Australia.

Although I spent the most in New Zealand compared to anyone else it was also easy to save money in other ways, for example the walk in rate for NOMADs hostel in Auckland is $24, so I stood at reception using my free WiFi and booked online ... $19! Spread across 3 days that's $15 saved, which could pay for 5 days accommodation in China.

I mention free WiFi because the hostel charged $4 a day, but I found a free way by signing up to Telecom.

I also found a discount code for the Airbus, the travel reps and hostel didn't know about it, so I gave it to them for future travellers. Just these little things meant that I saved enough to pay for a week's accommodation in China or a few days worth of food.

Money spent: $621.40 (exchange rate 1.6): Airbus $30, Acc $70, Bus $1.90, Food $50, Soft drinks $17, Stray trip $336, Alcohol $42, Bag $35, Necklaces $20 + $8.50, Lipstick $4, Postcards $2.