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Robinson Crusoe involved a bit of a strange drive to a very small boat port. Once there we were welcomed with singing and were just in time for lunch. There were only nine other guests on the island and it felt like a little family. The first day there we did an afternoon kayak but we couldn't get all the way around the island as the tide was too low, also my kayak had a leak and by the end of the trip I was going really slowly and couldn't pull it along the beach it was so heavy. After this some dinner guests arrived and there was a big show which included fire walking, hula dancing, knife dancing and fire dancing. the show was amazing, especially the fire dancing. The next day we attempted to ... read more

Our first day back in Wellington we spent at the indoor bouldering wall trying to get back in shape after being lazy in the north island. At night time we went to the theatre to watch Adam Page. This was really different and cool to watch, he played fifteen different musical instruments (one was a sweet potato he drilled into something he could play and another was part of a vacuum he used as a dijeridoo), at one point he was dressed as a sumo wrestler and he had a young lad doing origami while he played. The origami was quite impressive as he made a Yoda which looked exactly like him. We were being filmed too so might be on TV at some point. The next day we headed back up to Auckland on the ... read more

We boarded the kiwi bus which took us to Maun Gawhau (Mt Eden) which gets 360 degree views of Auckland. After taking in the views we headed over the coromandel ranges to cathedral cove. Here we took a nice walk to a beautiful beach before arriving at mercury bay. We arrived late in the afternoon so we had a group meal of all you can eat spagetti bolognese and spent the night in the hostel bar playing pool and cards with people off the kiwi bus. It was a really good night. The next day we were planning on a beach day but due to the bad weather we ended up going to a free art gallery and spending the day playing pool,darts and watching films. The weather cleared up a bit in the afternoon so ... read more

On the way to rotorua we stopped off at one of the mud pools. These are really cool as they bubble, which is really relaxing to watch, although they smell really eggy. When we arrived in Rotorua we went to the realm of Tane with the kiwi bus. Here we tried some maori chutneys before being taken to our hostels. We then explored the area which included the govenment gardens, the park, the thermal area and the lake. Our first full day we spent at Te Puai which is a large geo-thermal park with mud pools, hot springs, and a really cool geyser which when it gets going is really impressive. We also finally got to see live kiwis which are odd looking birds and because they were in a glass tank we were unable to ... read more

The highlight of Kaikoura was the dolphin swim, it was absolutely amazing. We got 2 swims and there were about 20 dolphins swimming around the group each time. At first it felt a little funny because you had to sort of sing and make noises to get them interested in you. When you had their interest you had to maintain eye contact and swim in circles with them to keep them interested. I managed to do this a couple of times and 1 dolphin stayed with me for ages and only left a couple of times to get a breath before leaving me properly. Kaikoura is a really good place to swim with dolphins as they are Dusky dolphins, which are apparently more sociable and playful than other types of dolphins, they were definately prettier. They ... read more