This is the start of the main journey around New Zealand and I am to take in as much as possible. We headed up to Mount Eden which is on the way out of Auckland, like the City itself, I found it a bit underwhelming, the highlight being a brass plate which is inscribed with various points around the Globe showing the distance from point to point. I am about as far away as I possibly can be from good ol' blighty and the time difference at present is 11 hours.

We continued to a town call Thames which was not very interesting and I really didn't see why we went there apart from getting some lunch, it apparently has the largest population of woman receiving IVF treatment in the Country, oh how interesting! The afternoon saw us arrive in Catherdral Bay which is a lot more like what I came for, or it should have been, due to the tide we didn't get there. instead we headed for Hot Water beach. Now this was a novely because a little way along the beach it is possible to dig just 6" into the sand and fill to hole with piping hot water which runs down the beach from the hills. The idea is to dig yourself a shallow pool allow hot water to fill it to a comfortable temperature and just wallow in it. The hot water comes from springs in the hillside and constantly replenishes itself so its always hot. I took the opportunity to check out the sea. I know it's winter but actually the sea was not all that cold, well not as cold as I expected. Diving into the waves was mildly shocking but bearable, this was of course compensated by returning to the home made hot tub! The weather was being kind and lovely and sunny so quite some time was spent going between sea and pool before returning to the promenade to have a shower and get back on the bus.

We continued the days journey to Mercury bay which is a small harbour town with more sports fishing boats than I have seen for a long time. It obtained its name because Captain Cook (him again!) stopped here and observed Mercury crossing the night sky. It is also known as Te Whitianga O Kupe or The Crossing place of Kupe.

Maori history plays a very large part in society here, I'm not sure what the 'new' immigrants think about it but those who are born here are taught about the Islands history in school and it appears to seal their sense of belonging, well if you believe what they tell you it does. I am told that pure bred Maori no longer exist, therefore everyone has some genetic link to the original settlers from the Pacific islands. It is very interesting to see how modern N.Z. ers embrace Maori culture and speak about it constantly. Maori still refer to N.Z. by its original name, Aotoera or Land of the Long White cloud, so called because Kupe's wife was on the first boat to sight these lands and declared it the land of the long white cloud and so it was. This was way back in 950AD so there is a long Maori history up to the point when the 1st Europeans arrived in 1642 and then again in the 1800's when Cook arrived.

The town is small and relies heavily on local resources, chiefly around the Bay.There are several hostels and it is on the 'Backpacker' route due to Kupe's and Cook's association with the place. We stayed at a small but very neat hostel and had supper provided for us which was very pleasant, they had a small bar and a very cool but social evening was spent chatting between our group under the leanto. It goes to show what sort of facilites can be provided for travellers on a budget if some thought is put towards it, the rooms were comfortable, the showers good and clean and decent living facilities as well.

It has taken the day to become comfortable with my new travel companions, Charlie and Kean from Ireland, Chris, Sarah, Cary, Helen, Michael and Kerry from England another Michael from Ireland and Austin from America. We all get along just fine and they are a lovely group of people. I am looking forward to travelling with them over the coming days.

Chris