Rangiora, near Christchurch Just like home! Mother you'd be disgusted to see me walk in and flop on the sofa like I did but it was so lovely to be out of a hostel for a while and be made to feel so welcome!! On Thursday I woke up later than planned. the bed was sooo comfy...guess where it came from....bloody cranham! can't go anywhere eh! Cyd said she bought it at an auction there with mum and Angie. ring any bells? I spent the rest of the day helping Cyd in th...

River Valley is a beautiful location. Down in a tree field valley our hostel sat by the river in the arse end if no where! This was good though as it meant the whole bus was together for the night and enjoyed a few bevs and a sing song together! our dorm room was basically one long piece if wood with mattresses lined up on it and another layer on top like a giant bunk bed! the kitchen was really small though however this is where we hit a new low: *big gasps* 'SA...

We spent the afternoon chilling out in yet another minging Base hostel before going out for our Mauri evening. this was a great nights entertainment of new zealand history and culture including games, story telling, music, dance and of course the haka! We also had a buffet dinner which was much appreciated by us back packers!! being on an all girls table we took full advantage of not being polite and lady like in front of the boards and piled it high, greedy boar...

We spent the night in Auckland being harassed by the bar staff wanting us to participate in the jelly wrestling contest, which we were assured was not sleezy at all... Fiona was very keen to take part so long as she won the $150 prize money purely because she wants an iPad!! After several free shots and no participants the event was cancelled. shame. one of the girls had gone for a wander and not returned by morning however had assured us all that her new frien...

Auckland to Bay of Islands Monday 26th -Thursday 29th We got picked up by the big green bus outside our hostel at 7.30am. On the way to bay of islands we stopped at a bakery for some breakfast ... Our hostel, the pipi patch, was just a minutes walk to the beach. There was already a girl in our dorm, Uki from Hong Kong. She seemed to have run out of money but was waiting 2weeks here before going to South Island to work. not sure why though! she pretty much just...