My final stop in New Zealand was Auckland, a big city much like any other. I was glad I only had a couple of days here as there's not really that much to do. I went to a couple of the weekend markets, wandered through some of the city parks, including the Domain (Auckland and New Zealand's oldest park), felt very poor in the more swanky districts of Ponsonby and Parnell as by this stage I only had enough money left to window shop and climbed up Mount Eden for a 3...

It's a four hour drive from Auckland up to the Bay of Islands in the north of the north island (!). There were no real notable stops on the way as the main focus was on getting there as early as possible to maximise time there. Some people had chosen only to stay for the day, but I was staying for two nights, so had more time to look around.I spent the afternoon on a boat cruise around the Bay of Islands, passing Cook Bay, Twin Lagoon Bay and right around to ...

It was only a short one hour drive from Taupo to Rotorua, which was a real bonus after so many long bus journeys. This meant I had the whole afternoon just to relax and have some time to myself for a change.I went for a walk around the town, which permanently has a strong sulphur odour thanks to the thermal areas it is built upon. I went down to the lakeside to get a closer look at some of the smoking, bubbling?geisers and mud pools?and unfortunately more than a ...

The drive from Wellington to Taupo was a pretty long one by New Zealand standards, as nowhere is really very far. But the six hours gave me plenty of time to contemplate the day ahead - much as I was trying to ignore it...For some reason I had a temporary lapse of sanity during this part of the trip - remember my comment about the bungy jumping - no way never ever, not me. Well no I didn't do a bungy?jump, but?despite my morbid fear of heights, so much in fac...

Thanks to some changes in the bus timetables I only had one day to spend in Wellington rather than the two I'd planned. But the sudden change in plans just made sure I was up bright and early to make the most of the day.My first destination was the cable car (looked more like a tram to me!) to ride up to the top of the city for great views and a stroll through the botanic gardens (yes, another botanic gardens I can tick off my list!). I was lucky as the morni...