So much for taking it easy! The remaining drifters came home around 8.30am and needless to say went straight to bed. For Mark, bed was the only option and whilst Ollie and Dale went out for food and to explore Auckland he remained there until 3pm. In the afternoon we went out to explore the cultural aspects of Auckland, however we ended up in McDonalds and then the cinema. Once the film had finished we ambled back to the hostel, enjoyed fish and chips for dinner and then prepared ourselves for our last night in New Zealand! It seemed that we [View Full Entry]

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We finally had a lay-in. Dale and Ollie I mean, Mark was already up for his standard morning stroll followed by a heavy dose of NZ TV. After a very healthy breakfast of creamed rice and bannanas we made very light work of cleaning our 'spaceship' (because we didn't) and Ollie took the helm and pointed it toward Auckland. This would be our last journey in the car :( After a relatively event free drive to Auckland (surprising because Ollie was driving :) ), we dropped the car off to either an over worked or very blind man. I say this [View Full Entry]

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After a good nights sleep, we cooked a big breakfast and sausage, beans, scrambled eggs and toast which went down exceedingly well especially after the few beers from the night before! As usual we were on the road by 10am and heading along the northern coast to Tauranga. We then headed inland towards Hamilton but it was raining so we only stopped briefly for money and fuel. Mark then realised he had left the precious lamb chops in Whakatane! Totally gutted, we pushed on toward the west coast. We stopped for lunch at the side of the road and made it [View Full Entry]

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Luckily we did not go overboard after the skydive in the same way as after the bungy! Anywaywe were up as usual, fed and checked out by 10am. From Taupo we drove 7km south the base of Mount Tauhara. From then on, the next few hours were spent scrambling and traversing up the mountain, across fields and through woodland. The sweaty walk was worth it in the end as we ended up with some fantastic views of Lake Taupo and the surrounding town. The walk down was far easier than the way up however, Marks all-terrain flip flops bit the dust [View Full Entry]

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Today we jumped out of a perfectly good aeroplane...and paid for it! We woke up feeling pretty normal and ate breakfast before heading to the airfield in our Limousine. Along with three other people we were harnessed up and waited around for the other three to jump first. After the bungy jumping Ollie was feeling much better and as we relaxed and waited for our turn everyone was quite calm. When the plane returned we all hopped in after the briefing which, to be honest, was a little too brief. As the plane took off and started to climb we took [View Full Entry]

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Since the kitchen in the hostel was closed for renovation we took advantage of the complimentary breakfast (eggs on toast!) in the bistro downstairs. Once again, we had a large drive ahead of us and set off around 9.30am. We drove almost continuously until we reached a little town called Waiouru. Coincidentally, this small town was also home to a Subway and we stopped for lunch. (Sub-of-the-day: Meatball Marinara - another popular choice!). After stuffing our faces, we drove the final 100km to Taupo and checked into a hostel. We then went out for our standard exploring ramble and refuelled [View Full Entry]

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As we had to catch the ferry at 10am, we were all up relatively early. Feeling proud of our early morning organisation, we got to the ferry port 15 minutes early, only to be told that the ferry was running 40 minutes late. Not wanting to sit in a queue waiting for the ferry, we headed back into town to a bakery ("4th Best in New Zealand, 2006") for some cake and coffee. When we returned to the ferry port, we didn't have to wait too long until we boarded. Once on-board we found some good seats infront of the TV [View Full Entry]

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We got up much earlier than usual and suprised ourselves when we were on the road by 8.30am. Deciding not to stop anywhere on the way, we arrived in Kaikarou on the east coast by lunchtime. We stopped for lunch at a seal lookout point and it wasn't until after the first sausage sandwich that we noticed a seal only metres away. He quickly became aggitated as we all started frantically taking photos. Once lunch was finished and led by Dale we headed off over the rocky shore around the peninsula. After only 5 minutes we came across a seal preventing [View Full Entry]

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As we had been pretty much non-stop since our arrival in New Zealand, we decided to chill out for the day! Our hostel was one of the nicest so far and this seemed like an appropriate time to rest and relax for a few hours. We didn't rush to get out of bed and after another film in the TV lounge, we cooked breakfast and took advantage of the free bicycle hire. The ride around Greymouth was rather short as we seemed to have become rather lazy on our recent travels! After a few hours and collecting some supplies for dinner, [View Full Entry]

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We awoke to a beautiful day of sunshine and not a cloud in the sky! After the classic breakfast of beans and scrambled eggs (particular mention should go to the synchronised toasting of 9 slices of bread!) we packed up and headed towards the Franz Josef glacier. Once again opting for the cheaper option of our own guided tour, we reached the lookout point rather quickly and headed back to the car. Ollie seemed far more interested than the other two but then he hadn't seen a glacier before. After our quick tour of the glacier we pushed on further north [View Full Entry]

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