Spent most of Friday stuck on a bus or waiting for a bus which was pretty annoying as journey from Whitianga to Tauranga shouldn't have taken that long! 

It was also punctuated along the way with what can only be described as idiots asking realy stupid questions when I mentioned I came from Scotland! For example possibly thee rudest man I have ever met assumed we all a) only ate haggis b) constantly drank whiskey and c) all looked like extras from Braveheart! He was joking you would assume? Oh no he was deadly serious, ok was he from the otherside of the world? Nope wrong again he was from Holland! So no excuse for his ignorance! 

Alas I did make it to Tuaranga! To find a lot of the hostels were fully booked as apparetly it is prime kiwifruit picking season! Did find a nice one eventually though and got settled before heading for around the city centre, taking all of 5 minutes haha before getting back and settling in for the night as was a very early start to head to Hamilton!

Got the bus just after 7am, thankfully no stupid questions on that one, haha. Stopped off at a few places including Mamato, now better known as Hobbiton, as was where Peter Jackson chose to make "The Shire" in the Lord of the Rings movies!

Got to Hamilton around 9am on Saturday morning and found it another typical NZ city, very small, haha. Hamilton has a very strange vibe to it can't quiet work it out but the creator of the Rocky Horror Picture Show was from here so that may explain a lot! haha. Wandered around the museum and saw a Maori war canoe as well as the history of Hamilton itself, after the museum had a wander along the Wakito River and some of the shops which were open before heading back to hostel.

Spent Sunday wandering around the centre of hamilton, before heading to the cinema to see A Single Man, Colin Firth's latest film, in a much bigger cinema than Rotorura that was decorated more in the style of an old Art Deco picture house than he American multiplexes. My original plan for today was to head to the Hamilton gardens but weather wasn't very promising with some showers so didn't want to get stuck in them in the pouring rain as there about a 45 minute walk from the city centre.

Next stop is Paihia in the Bay of Islands!

xxx