Days 61-63 We had a leisurely morning playing pitch and put (Carly gave up after 7 holes) and got back on the bus early afternoon. We arrived in Wellington in the evening and had a little mooch around. Not the most eventful day! Had a very good lie in and went (window) shopping. It's a really nice city with lots of cool shops and cafes. We went to a church and lit a Candle for Grandad Alf. In the evening we sampled some of the cool bars and had a really good night. Another long lie in followed by an attempt [View Full Entry]

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We left Taupo in the morning and headed for the Tongariro National Park where Carly did a two hour walk but Stu stayed on the bus as he still felt a bit rough. We got to River Valley - yep, a valley with a river running through it. It was a really pretty location in the middle of nowhere. Stuart had a gorgeous roast dinner - yum yum! [View Full Entry]

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/Day 57, 58 & 59 We got on the Kiwi bus and stopped at Te Puia (a large thermal mud park). We had a tour around a Mauri village and were driven through the park. We stopped to see some bubbling mud pools and then some massive geysers blowing off a bit of steam. One was 30 m high! We then saw a Kiwi bird (their native bird) in an enclosure - funny looking fellas and jumped back on the kiwi bus and were taken to our hostel. We had a BBQ and a game of pool and just chilled out [View Full Entry]

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Days 55 & 56 We jumped back on the bus in the morning headed for Rotoura. We stopped for a walk at the Karangake Scenic Reserve where we walked through a km long tunnel which was pitch black!! We arrived in Rotorua mid afternoon where we were greeted by the stench of the sulphur (Rotorua is famous for it's guesers and mud pools which stink but are cool to see). We went for a wander and had a drink at the hostel bar. We cooked dinner, went to a rubbish fayre and chilled out back at the hostel. The next day [View Full Entry]

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Day 54 We jumped on the big green fun bus (the Kiwi Experience bus) in Auckland and were taken to Mount Eden, Auckland's biggest volcano where we had a good view of the city. A few years ago some students put a load of tyres doused in petrol into the crater and set them alight. The next morning (1 April) the whole city was planning their escape as loads of smoke was coming out of the volcano and they thought it was about to blow!! We stopped for lunch and then had a really nice walk to Cathedral Cove, a gorgeous [View Full Entry]

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Days 51-53 We were picked up at 7 and drove north up to the Bay of Islands stopping on the way to see some Kauri trees that were big and hard and over 600 years old. We got to our hostel and had a wander down to the beach. We hired a kayak for a couple of hours and had a paddle around the bay. It is a really nice chilled out place. We then chilled on the beach for a bit and had a wander. In the evening we had a couple of drinks and had a BBQ at the [View Full Entry]

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Days 49 and 50 We ventured out and hand a wander around Auckland but not that much was open, so we bought a pot noodle for our gormet dinner (how's that for beginning the new year in style) and went to the cinema to see the Chronicles of Nania. It was cool. The next day we found out some very sad news - that Carly's Grandad had passed away. To try and cheer ourselves up we decided to book a trip to the Bay of Islands to escape dull Auckland so we booked that and had another wander, this time venturing [View Full Entry]

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Day 48 We arrived in Auckland where we were delighted to see our bags going round on the carosel. We caught the bus into town and got to our hostel where we were told our room wouldn't be ready for another 6 hours!! We tried to sleep in the hostel lounge and luckily after 3 hours, our room was ready. We went back to sleep until mid-afternoon, it took a further two hours to be able to keep our eyes open before we got ready to go out. We walked down to the harbour and had a yummy mexican meal followed [View Full Entry]

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Days 46 & 47 We flew from Miami, where we checked in our luggage and though we'd never set eyes on it again due to their ridiculous check in system. We arrived in LA 5.5 hours later and had 6.5 hours to kill in the airport. We amused ourselves by eating, playing cards and watching a monk trying to get donations for his book. We then caught our 12 hour flight to Auckland where we lost a day somewhere over the Pacific. [View Full Entry]

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Days 44 & 45 Another horrid early morning (but we were happy to get up and get out of the pit they call Lima) we headed to the airport to catch our flight. We tried to be proper travellers and use the buses but got half way and were lost so we shared a taxi with some strange old woman (which turned out good for us as she paid for most of it!!). We got to the hostel mid-afternoon and went for a wander. We really liked it there, Ocean Drive was really cool with loads of restaurants and bars lining [View Full Entry]

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