So I made it up bright and early and headed to the bus station to start my Kiwi Experience! I met two girls at the bus stop-Cianna and Louise both travelling together from Dublin.

The bus turned up and our driver Jarrod introduced himself before starting our journey up north! The drive out of Auckland was scenic, with views right across the harbour. We continued north until we got to a place known as Warkworth where we had a brief breakfast and toilet stop!

On-route we booked our activities for the next few days. I opted for the dolphin cruise and the Cape Reinga trip, same as the two Irish girls.

We arrived in Paihia around lunchtime, picked up our tickets and met at 1:30pm for the Dolphin and Island boat trip. The weather was nice but it was fairly cold outside on the boat!! I sat with the Irish girls and we were all freezing! It was a cool trip though, we saw quite a few dolphins, passed many of the islands and also the famous 'hole in the rock'! On the way back we decided to sit inside and we were highly entertained by a chinese kid who was squashing his face on the window and blowing over out on deck! Hence the random photo I appear to have!!

After the boat trip we chilled out and met for a BBQ and free beer later in the evening. We were all very amused by the size of the sausage...I had to give mine away because it freaked me out slightly! We also met with Amy and Riccardo who were sat opposite also amused by my shock over the size of the sausage!

Afterwards we headed to bed as we had to be up early again for a full day trip to Cape Reinga.

The next morning I met with Cianna and Louise and we joined the bus outside our hostel. We were slightly late in leaving because a french lady wanted a free trip and kicked off at the driver and then started crying! all a bit weird! Anyway we were shortly on the road and heading further north, this time to 90mile beach which we did first due to the tides.

The beach is really nice, but it was quite cold! The bus drives along it towards Te Paki stream which we then drove up and towards the sand dunes ready for some boarding! Then it was onwards to Tapotupotu Bay where we stopped for a light lunch and a chill out on the beach! The beach was really nice and really peaceful however there was a seal on there which was clearly lost or un-well, our driver explained that it was way off where it should be and most likely wouldn't survive :-(

After lunch we headed to Cape Reinga for part of the afternoon and walked to the famous lighthouse at the tip of New Zealand where the Pacific meets the Tasman Sea. This area is very sacred and spiritual to the Maori and the views are amazing!

Next it was time to try out some of New Zealands fish & chips and then on towards the Puketi Kauri Forest! The forest was good and home to Kauri trees which were nearly 2000 years old, they were huge and we all gave them a great big hug :-)

After the forest it was late afternoon and time to head back to Paihia...tired and ready for an early night!! Not before we cooked the backpackers favourite though...noodles!!

The next morning we slept in then walked into town for late breakfast/lunch. We took a long walk to the supermarket and then to the liquor store for cider and wine! the bare essentials!! We also decided to have an hour or so in the hot tub and then start drinking! Only problem is most hostels here are 'dry' hostels, they have bars but your not allowed to drink your own alcohol due to license laws! So we headed to the beach and sat on a bench to drink our cider and wine! we looked really classy! not!

After the wine we had spaghetti on toast hehe and then headed straight to the bar...well jugs of beer were cheaper than buying individuals so we ended up drinking jugs each! I vaguely remember singing, some guys stripping and a canadian who wasn't actually canadian...yes weird! but it was an awesome night and a rather amusing one!! Needless to say I went to bed hammered and woke up with a huge hangover!!

The next day was loooong!! and my head hurt!! we chilled out at the beach, I said my goodbyes to Louise and Cianna and headed back on the Kiwi Bus to Auckland where I stayed one more night before heading south...

Next stop..Mercury Bay!