So, yes, I stayed in Auckland for the night, got my flights sorted and had a wander around the harbour which was quite nice. I sat in a cool bar for a bit and read my book and chilled out. It was nice as I didn't feel like I was stuck in a city. . . . Later that night I ended up meeting Kim, one of the American girls. . . . So we went out for a few beers, which turned out to be quite a few beers and a late night! We went to the same bar I had found earlier and it was pretty lively, playing good music, etc. . . . We played a bit of table football, then hit the pool table. . . We chatting to loads of different people, some travelers as well as locals and like I said had a late one. . . Great laugh though. . . . I walk Kim back to where she was staying then carried on to my hostel and said to her that I would up early and heading of up to the Bay of Islands if she fancied joining me and grabbing a free lift as she now didn't have a car! So I left it with her and at 8am the text came through saying she would like to come!

I picked her up and we headed off before the city woke up, it was Sunday morning, so not many cars around. . . . We drove for a while, stopped in a little seaside village for brunch, then carried on up towards the Bay of Island region. . . . We crossed over on a small car ferry to a village called Russell, however it seemed the world was her. . . Turned out there was a 'Birdman' competition on. . . . Basically people dress up and jump of the end of the pier into the water, so people from all around had turned up. . . !

We got parked up and joined the spectators on the beach and watched the shenanigans unfold. . . It was actually really funny and a great day as the sun was shining! After that we took a walk down the beach and over some rocks, then back into the village for an ice cream. . . ! We then decided to get to where we were planning on spending the night, but as we seemed to chat all the time I wasn't concentrating too much and took the wrong road! It didn't seem too much of a problem at first as when I checked the map I saw a road we could take and cut across to the main state highway, so off we went. . . . I then realized that I was running out of fuel. . . . hmmmm. . . . ! So, after driving miles down this beautiful coastline with the evening drawing in we finally got to the road only to find that it was close due to a wash out from a storm. . . . hmmm. . . Not enough fuel to go back the way we came and not sure where to go?!?! So we asked some locals and they sent us down the random dirt track for a 15km, then up a mountain (scary road), but bless them, we got through ok and hit the highway only to find the petrol station 200 meters away! Yippee. . . . . Once on the road again I realized how far we had gone out of our way. . . .madness!

Anyway, we got to the town and found some accommodation and pretty much crashed out after some food. . . . I felt like I had drove forever, this after a heavy night on the pop and only 4 hours sleep! So, pretty much an early night. . . . Kim booked herself on a trip up to Cape Reinga which is the furthest most point in NZ with 90 mile beach (not sure if it is actually 90 miles or just called that - But I am sure there is a lot of sand?!?). I on the other hand, for a change booked myself on a fishing trip for the morning, as I was heading back down towards Auckland that night to pick Xanthe up from the airport, as she was coming over for 11 days!

In the morning I said goodbye to Kim and went off for my fishing trip (in the rain). I'll get straight to the point, it rained a lot, the sea was pretty rough and I didn't catch anything! Hahaha, yes I hear you laughing, however, I would like to add that we did see a nice pod of dolphins and. . . . . wait for it. . . . . A huge pod of Orca whales. . . . . There were loads of them hunting and playing in some of the coves. . . . Huge males followed by smaller females teaching their young how to catch food. . . . . It was awesome! Definitely something you do not see everyday, the skipper said he had never seen anything like it. . . . .They were up along side the boat jumping out of the water. . . Yes, it was great and well worth the money even though I didn't catch and god damn fish!

So after all that excitement I needed some lunch and as I hadn't caught any fish I decided to have fish and chips. . . . Yum yum, it was really nice! I then hit the road for the long journey back to Auckland, well the airport was west of Auckland so I took a slightly longer detour to see a bit more of the Northland landscape. . . . I got checked into a lodge close to the airport and chilled out for the evening as Xanthe wasn't arriving til late. . . . I picked her up around 11.45 and we headed straight back to the lodge and crashed as we wanted to get up early and head out. . . .

We got up and decided to headed back over to the Bay of Plenty region, although I had already done it, I wanted Xanthe to see some of the coast, as most of what we had planned was more central north island! We went to Mount Maunganui, a place next to Tauranga, where I had been before, but the Mount (as it is called) was much nicer. . . . After getting checked into a hostel and eating a nice brunch we decided to take a walk. The only problem though was that it was raining quite a bit, but then it seemed to ease, so we donned over coats and headed up The Mount. . . . Well, not quite. . . . . We managed a few steps and a bit of a muddy slope before Xanthe decided to start slip sliding around, not much fun?!? And all this after I had said "your gonna walk in them", her very nice purple Converse trainers. . . . Her reply was, "I'll have you know I walked up Mount Myajama in Japan in these bad boys!". It goes without saying that I reminder her about that comment when I helped her up out of the mud. . . . ! hahaha, sorry gorgeous! I had to tell. . . . !

So, needless to say we opted then to head back down and do the more steady (elderly person) track around the base of The Mount which was still really nice. . . ! Well until the heavens decided to open and soaked us to the bone! So after the walk we headed back to the hostel to get dry and chill out for a bit. . . . . That evening we went to a really nice Italian restaurant and had a meal with a great bottle of Kiwi wine and what made it really nice was that towards the end of the evening the owner / chef went round everyone and asked if everything was ok and we thought that was a very nice personal touch!

Up early in the morning and off toward Rotorua to do some coolio stuff, so will let you know how we got on. . . . Ciao people! Keep the emails and messages coming guys. . . Love them. . . . . !