After settling in to the hostel (which had a rooftop hot tub!) i met the guys i was sharing a dorm with and went for a few drinks on my first night. The following day we got on a ferry out of Auckland to Waiheke Island and spent the day on the beach eating fish an chips!
The following day I was up early doors to start my kiwi experience! I was on the bus at 7am and it was a 3 hour drive up to the bay of islands. Here I checked in, grabbed some food then went off on a boat trip to see the islands and search for dolphins. Once we found dolphins we could swim with them in the sea which would have been awesome, but unfortunately when we spotted them the sea was too rough for us to get it, but they still gave us an amazing display jumping up out the water around the boat! That evening we had a BBQ back at the hostel then quite a few drinks! I sat with the drivers at dinner thinking they may get discounts, and I was right! Had 7 pints and 3 jaegers for free which is always good!
The following hungover morning I was on the coach again at 7am heading up north to the very northern tip of New Zealand. On route we stopped off at puketi kauri forest to see the humongous trees which are 100 years old. In the local cafe there they have one of the trunks hollowed out which they use as a spiral stair case which is pretty cool. 3 hours later on the coach we got to the very northern tip which was stunning. It's very spiritual up there and maori people believe the spirits go there to say good bye to love ones. We then went down to 90 mile beach (which is infact 56 miles) which was awesome, just a huge beach which the coach could drive along! After we headed over to the massive sand dunes, had a quick safety lesson then grabbed our board and headed up to the top! The ride down was class, but we only did two rides as walking up a sand dune in hot weather with wind and a hangover isn't the easiest! We then headed back down to bay of islands stopping off on route at a chipy.
The following morning we headed back down to aukland where I should have had an early night as I needed to be back on the coach at 7.30am the next day... But... A couple of guys I met in Fiji were in Auckland for the night so we went out on a bit of a heavy one and I got back in with just enough time to pack and go to the bus! Good night though!
That day we headed down to hot water beach which is rated in the top ten beaches in the world. Here you wait to low tide then grab a spade and dig a massive hole to create your own natural hot spa! From here we went on to cathedral cove. This is another beach, but to get to it we had to walk down a track for about 45 minutes but the scenery was beautiful. Once we got to the beach there was a massive cave separating the two sides and the beach was gorgeous. The waves were huge as well, so only me and 3 other guys on the bus were prepared to go in, but the body surfing was unreal!
The following morning we were up early to travel to Waitomo to go black water rafting. I did the abyss which started with a 35 metre abseil down in to a cave going through tight spaces and massive spaces. Once we were in the cave we then zip lined over a big drop in to another part of the cave. From here we got some blow up rings and jumped off an edge in to the water of the cave and travelled down a tunnel with loads of glow worms all over the wall which was an amazing sight in the pitch black. We then got to a series of underground waterfalls, which we had to climb up then push ourselves through tight tunnels till we got to the next series and climb them. After 3 series we got to the top and climbed out of the cave.
The next morning we travelled to Rotorua for some more fun! In the morning I went jet boating in a boat with a 450bhp shevy engine which was sooo much fun, defo want to buy me one of them! In the afternoon we travelled on a Chair lift to the top of the mountain to do a bit of luging! This is basically a go kart with no engine and you just fly down a hill braking when you need to, great fun! That evening we went to a Mauri night where you experience the Mauri culture and learn how to train like a warrior, do the haka and other things! We then had a traditional hangi buffet which is cooked on hot stones underground, best food ever!
The next day we went to the geysers to see them erupt. This happens as an underground pond of water gets to boiling point and flashes in to steam expelling the water up to 30m in the air, amazing sight! We also saw some kiwis here. In the afternoon we travelled down to taupo which is where we did our skydive. I actually love the feeling of a skydive, its so awesome! I did the 15k feet jump which is the highest they offer and it was awesome, as was the scenery over the lake taupo and mountains in the back! You get it for half price if you go back within a month so I'm going to go back on the way back up to do it again, i love it! That evening was a rather heavy one to say the least as there was nothing planned or the following day so everyone got very drunk which was good fun! A lie in the following morning and a bit of sunbathing in the afternoon filled the next day and then we all ended up going out again that night where I also met up with the guys I met in Fiji and Auckland!
Another early hungover morning followed as we travelled down to Tongariro National Park where we hiked out to 3 different waterfalls (Taranaki Falls) and had a picnic at the last. The scenery was used for lord of the rings including a valcano which was used as mount doom from the film. That afternoon we travelled to river valley which is in the middle of absolutely no where but is so beautiful. Its positioned in a huge valley and they have a river running past the resort where we spent the afternoon swimming in and climbing / jumping off rocks in to. That night we had an awesome buffet followed by a lot of beers and a singalong with the guitar!
Yesterday morning we were up early again for white water rafting which I love! We kitted up and drove up to the top of the river, had our safety session and jumped in! We went down level 3,4&5 rapids which was great fun and included steep drops and lots of navigating round rocks! Half way down we stopped off to climb a 10 metre rock to jump off in to the rapids! the bottom of the rapids was back at the resort and we managed not to flip the boat over once!
Yesterday afternoon we drove on down to Wellington which is the capital and currently recovering from England winning the rugby 7s! So rubbed that one in to the kiwis! We had a wonder round and looked at the sights then had a rather unexpected heavy drinking session! Wasn't really the best idea as we got in at 3am and had to be up at 6am to get the ferry across to the South Island! We all made it though and I'm currently writing this on the ferry with everyone else asleep on the floor / chairs / tables around me!
This last week has definitely been the best week of my life to date due to a very action packed (and expensive!) week experiencing new things ill remember for the rest of my life and meeting some awesome people.
Speak soon! X