NEW ZEALAND - NORTH ISLAND...PLUS A SPONTANEOUS WEEK IN TONGA!!

Wow how time flys...I feel like I just wrote the last one but it was 3weeks ago!! Apologies about this one as I am shattered from an 11 hour flight and jet lag from Auckland to Santiago.

I managed to get on the bus out of Queenstown on a cancellation which I think may have saved my vital organs! After leaving the mayhem and feeling terrible we traveled North via Christchurch and Kaikoura again before heading to the North Island. We did a spot of Crayfish fishing on the way (I say fishing, but the wooden-legged captain drove us out, pulled in the pods, drove back to steam them and then we drank a few bottles of vino round the fisherman's house!) Due to a dislike from the others I managed to stuff my face with N$500 of it, washed down with a few cheeky beers. Perks of the backpacking job.

North Island

Wellington

Loves - $7 Dominoes pizza, shopping, nightlife and museum

Hates - Shoes needed in bars and passport ID. It felt like Reading when I was 16!! I´m a cheapskate backpacker and I have a beard - MUG.

We arrived on Saturday - party night in Wellington. I thought it would be busy, but this was something else. Imagine Playa las Americas, Malia and Benidorm all in the same place and throw in backpackers and some rowdy Kiwi´s! Mental - there were people everywhere, more on the streets than in the bars!! Due to our lack of dress we ended up in a weirdo music playing, shoddy bar called Sandwiches. The name sounds enticing after a few beers and I think that is the sole reason we ended up there - sadly there were no BLTs or Egg Mayo´s included upon entry.

Taupo

Loves - Tongariro Crossing, Sumo Speed Pool, Winning ANOTHER pub quiz - too easy.

Hates - The pain in my glutes after Mt Doom

The Tongariro crossing is probably in my Top 3 things I have done since I left the UK, for 2 reasons. First, the views. They kept getting better and better as we walked over deep volcanic craters, turquoise coloured lakes and up to the summit of Mt Doom. Second was the challenge and sense of achievement when we reached the top of Mt Doom (its the one in Lord of the Rings if you have seen it). It was pretty much rock climbing all the way up whilst you kept an eye above you for falling rocks kicked down from people further up. We saw a few boulders tearing down the mountain at which point I thought I might come back down with one lodged in my head!! Still I couldn´t let the fear defeat me - we conquered the beast and were rewarded at the top with superb panoramic views. We had to SCRAMBLE our way back down which involves running down while the earth slides beneath you - a little like surfing! More crazy, heart racing stuff!

WAITOMO, AUCKLAND AND THE BAY OF ISLANDS

On the way to Auckland we stopped off in Waitomo for some Black Water Rafting, seeing glowworms in the pitch black caves and climbing up waterfalls underground. Auckland followed with a big night out and then North to the top of New Zealand and the beautiful Cape Reinga. Our guide was quite a legend, using the phrase "Sweet As" so much that I brought a T-Shirt with it on. "Sweet As Bro!!" The trip was wicked, seeing some 1000 year old Kauri trees and driving along 90mile beach before sand-boarding down some big dunes hitting 70km/hr! This country truly does have everything!!

TONGA!!!!!!

Loves = laid back, chilled out, relaxed...Errr...wheres my thesaurus?

Well this was a last minute booking, and we had no idea what to expect or do when we got there due to ZERO research. Padmeister and I boarded a plane headed for Nuku´alofa (that's the capital city, although its more of a village!) keen for some sun and a beach. The country is by far the most laid back I have experienced. No-one knows anything, and no-one wants to know anything. Even the tourist office didn´t know when the TOURIST ferry leaves for the islands!!

After a couple of days we ended up in Tony´s guesthouse, owned by Tony from Lancashire - the most grumpy man I have ever met. This guy moans at everyone, his wife, his kids, the dogs and his guess - pretty entertaining as a spectator mainly because it is in such stark contradiction to everybody else on the island!! Still after a sh1tload of Kava on our 5th night he chilled out a bit and was pretty entertaing. Kava is made from the root of a pepper plant and is ground up and mixed with water to make a large bowl of muddy water. It taste like s***! Don´t worry mother, its not illegal (well not here anyway!). After about 8-10 coconut shell-fulls everyone was numb, sleepy and talking absolute b******s. Everyone except me that is, on which it seemed to have the opposite effect. I was promised an awesome sleep and ¨lovely dreams¨ as Tony put it. I was more jumpy than Skippy on a night out with Pete Doherty.

We did a tour around the island seeing blowholes spraying water high into the air, fisherman throwing their nets outside a sacred cave and partied with the locals till 5am on the only busy night of the week. We ended up meeting the Tongan Mafia Don and his wife that night in a side room from the main bar. The guy chatted like a real mafia don (i.e. Marlon Brando), speaking under his breath so that you had to edge your ear nearer and nearer to hear him. He was probably aiming a gun at my balls the entire time. For most of the conversation I gambled and nodded in agreement, hoping he wanted me to agree with whatever he was harping on about. I came out alive so I think I played it well! Tired and pretty bozzed we piled into a cab/van home only to find a lady with a box of chicken in the back! She claimed it was KFC - that's not Popcorn chicken love! Now I think shes onto onto something here...at home I always ask the cabbie to stop for food - if it were already on board then problem solved hey? Food for thought... A relaxing day on an offshore island called Pangaimoto finished the week where we smashed open coconuts, tucked into some watermelon, went snorkeling on a wreck and played some volleyball. Hard times hey?

So now I´m in Santiago, Chile starting the final leg of this journey to enlightenment. I can´t believe its gone so fast!! Still at least I get to see all of your beautiful faces soon.

Lots of love

Will

PS.Photos to come.