Heading Out We had been talking about heading out for a few weeks, since we had been in Tauranga looking for work for nearly three weeks, some other people had left, and Carla got a job with the city that started in two and a half weeks. Just as we were preparing to leave the next day, we got a call from one of the employment services agencies to work a night shift at the fish factory. We went, we worked, we left the next day. We drove straight from Tauranga to Napier, having gone to Taupo before we made really [View Full Entry]

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One sunny Sunday we headed out to the beach at Mount Maunganui with our American friends Jess and Matt for a barbecque. We had seen other beach side barbecques along the way and they were all coin operated, so we were pleasantly surprised when we got to the beach and discovered they were free. That's right all that beach and free barbecques, they make being a beach bum pretty easy on you at the Mount. We watched one of the first cruise ships of the season sail out of port and enjoyed the sun, while it lasted. It was a beautiful [View Full Entry]

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A Sneak Peak From our Hostel Hello All! As promised, this entry shows where we have been hanging out and how we have been getting around. As you can see this is where we sleep- thanks to Jeremy & M for lending their tent to us. Basically, its big enough for just the two of us. Its very cozy ! As you can see there are pictures of what our hostel looks like. Our wheels Here is a picture of our wheels. This car is a '91 Nissan Primera. It took us awhile to get used to driving on the [View Full Entry]

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Enjoying the Sunshine back in Tauranga Hello folks! For the past two weeks we have been hanging out in Tauranga with our friends from Germany, Chile and US. We have been learning a lot about each others country and even trying to learn how to speak Spanish and German! We even learned how to cricket and quickly learned that the game never ends. One day last week, we all headed to McLaren Falls which is south of Tauranga. It was a good day had by all! We also climbed the Mount again and this time it was much quicker! We [View Full Entry]

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Thermal Explorer Highway This Highway cuts through the highlands in the centre of the North Island. There are volcanoes and geothermal vents all over the place once you get closer to Rotorua. Theres even some geothermal power plants along the way. Rotorua We drove to Rotorua around midday and took a little detour to the Buried Village east of town. The village was buried in the late 1800's by a volcano blast and is now used as a tourist attraction with guided walk and museum, we didn't have time to check it out though. Along the way are the Green and [View Full Entry]

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Mount Maunganui We drove down from Whitianga to Mount Maunganui pretty much on a whim. Turns out this is a major vacation spot for Aucklanders and this was the first long weekend of summer known as Labour Day. We had to get another backpackers membership which ended up paying for itself quickly but still, that's three now. Along the way we checked out Waihi, a giant open pit gold mine in the town itself, you can just go walk along the top. We checked out a lookout that afforded a view of the whole Bay of Plenty and went and checked [View Full Entry]

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Coromandel Peninsula -- Mercury Bay Driving Out We headed out Tuesday morning in our brand spanking new (okay old and used up) car. We drove from Auckland to the Coramandel Region, and went along the Coastal Route (crazy windy) from Thames to Coromandel Town. We stopped at a few spots to take in the view and take a breath. The road did seem like it was on top of the ocean a lot of the time. The scenery along the drive was just amazing and we stopped at a few beaches to walk in the sand. The east coast beaches have [View Full Entry]

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Backpacker's Car Exchange Friday morning, we took the train into Auckland city to find the Backpackers Car Exchange. The train ride to Auckland was very smooth and the trains here are very spacious and clean. Once we found the car exchange, we were somewhat disappointed as we didn't find anything that was worthwhile to buy. Most campervans were very old and very pricey and the cars were just as expensive. So we hung out a bit in Auckland and took the scenic route back to the main train station which was luckily down hill . Along the way, we saw [View Full Entry]

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Waiheke Ferry Across Hauraki Gulf Monday morning Jeremy gave us a ride into Auckland on his way to work. We stopped by New Zealand Telecom to pick up a cell phone and then headed down to the wharf to grab the ferry. We loaded up our backpacks and got our tickets and climbed up on the top deck to get a view of the different islands in the gulf along the way. We passed Rangitoto Island which one of the last volcanoes to erupt in New Zealand. It's now a preserve and you are limited to day trips or very limited [View Full Entry]

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Good Morning New Zealand Saturday Jeremy (Nick's cousin) picked us up at the airport after we got through immigration. After figuring which side of the car was the passenger side, we hit the road out to Waitakere City, the part of Auckland where Jeremy and his wife and kids leave. Immediately we were struck by the different look of New Zealand, especially the palm trees and Norfolk Pines (google these, they do not look like pine trees in Canada) covering pretty much every piece of ground that wasn't built on, and the mountains everywhere that rise straight up out of th [View Full Entry]

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