New Zealand at last!!

I know that I've been in the country for 3 weeks and this is my 1st post, but I'll try to outline what I've done so far as well as I can!!

So....I landed in Auckland on 30th May (tues) having left Santiago on Sun 28th May. I got to my hostel at around 6am and went to bed for 3 hrs before going sight seeing. Auckland is a nice city but there's really not too much to do in it and therefore not worth sticking around for too long. I only stayed for 2 days, one of which I spent doing a city tour and the other sorting out the rest of my trip around NZ



Then it was off to the Bay of Islands for 3 days. It really is so beautiful up there and I woould say that it is hopping in summer but it was pretty quite while we were there. We did a full day trip up to Cape Reinga which is the most northerly tip of NZ and where the Tasmin Sea meets the Pacific, and man do you get blown off your feet up there!! We went Sand boarding too which consists of going down sanddunes the size of mountains in Ireland on a body board and praying to God that you don't fall off!! We went to a rainforest on this trip too to see the native Kauri trees which are the 2nd largest trees in the world but are in huge decline due to being used to build houses and boats.


Whilst in the Paihia (Bay of Islands) I went out on a power boat trip to see the famous'Hole in the Rock' which really is fab. There is a big cave on the other side of the same piece of rock which will eventually become the 2nd hole in the rock. We got drowned on the boat trip but it was all part of the fun!!

We also visited the Haruru Falls and the Waitangi treaty grounds. The Waitangi treaty was an agreement between the Maori people and the English Crown that the crown would protect the Maori and their land from invaders. However due to mistakes in translation it really resulted in the Maori's losing their land and recently the Maori people have been paid millions in compensation for this.

We went back to Auckland for a night before starting the journey south.