After a very ‘extreme’ time in Taupo, we were ready to get back onto the Kiwi Experience and see more of the North Island. Our new driver was called LJ (Little John) and he was a great guy, really up for all of us to bond as a group. From leaving Taupo he drove us to the Tongariro National Park and took us on a great walk to the Tongariro falls. We could see Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings, but that would have taken us a day or so to climb, so we didn’t try. Once everyone was back [View Full Entry]

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Once we left the Gilcrists we headed back to Rotorua where we got back onto the Kiwi Experience. This time our driver was called Tody and he was a great relaxed guy, good to talk to and good on information. Before we left Rotorua he dropped us off at the Geothermal park where we got a tour around all the natural hot pools, boiling mud pools and geizas. These geizas arnt crazy Londoners they happen when the water gets so hot under the ground that it reaches a point where it just bursts up into the air. They were great to [View Full Entry]

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After our extreme time in the Bay of Islands we headed back down to Auckland so that we could start the Kiwi Experience. For those of you who don't know about the Kiwi Experience it is a bus network for young travellers like ourselves who want to get around New Zealand and don't want to be surround by slow old folks. We really wern't sure what to expect - a group of smelly travellers trying to "get it on" non stop - or a load of crazy kiwis doing stupid things. Well....it was a mixture really. We got picked up in [View Full Entry]

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After our amazing time in Orewa, Jean dropped us back into Auckland and the next day we got up very early and got onto our first bit of the 'Kiwi Experience'. This is the bus network me and Andy are taking throughout the whole of New Zealand. We jumped on and it was exactly how we expected it to be with everyone relaxed and chilled out. The coach took us all the way up to the top of the North Island to a beautiful place called the Bay of Islands. We were staying in the main town there called Paihia [View Full Entry]

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----No pictures yet everyone, computers are being horrible, I will upload them soon!--- Well after 11 years I finally made it back to the place where me and the rest of my Veira clan spent all our time in New Zealand. This was going to be a big part of the trip for me as I remembered so much about the time we spent there. For those of you who don't know I will quickly explain. When I was 8 year old my old man was singing over here in New Zealand and he brought me, my mum and two [View Full Entry]

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Well we arrived in New Zealand safe and sound. It was a long trip getting here, but it was all in good order. We got to LAX airport with lots of time to spare and thanks to Andy's height we got given the emergency exit seats - fantastic! This meant that we had loads of room for our 12.5 hour flight. Customs was quick and easy and then we had to wait for our plane to actually arrive at the terminal, used to planes being late by now though. We got onto the plane and found that our seats were [View Full Entry]

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Well after a pretty amazing two days in the Grand Canyon, we didn't know what to expect from the next part of the trip. We were heading back to sunny California and to the beautiful city of San Diego. But to get to San Diego we had to do the long trip from the Canyon. I will tell you now that it was not a nice trip, due to a few reasons. We drove to Flagstaff airport and found out that our plane was delayed so we just kicked back and relaxed in the small airport (it only had one [View Full Entry]

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Well when people say that the Grand Canyon is big, you don't usually think just how big do you. Well being there really puts it into perspective.... its just HUGE. We drove there from Las Vegas and luckily the drive was not as long as the one to get to Las Vegas was. We passed over Hoover Dam on the way there which again was quite large. They are doing a lot of work on that at the moment and building a big motorway over the dam, it looked like a huge project. The drive through was not as scenic [View Full Entry]

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Well as you know we started out at 6am, so we were all tired but ready to hit the highway. So once we found our way out of LA, we headed towards 'Death Valley' which is an area you can drive to heading towards Las Veags. It was a hot enough day to begin with, but it got even hotter as the day went along. We finally got to the main road that lead through Death Valley and from the views we knew it was going to be a cool drive. It was pretty much just hot hot hot desert [View Full Entry]

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Well we all knew that i would make it here eventually...but not as soon as this! Ladys and Gentlemen Matthew Veira apears in Hollywood to film his new movie - "The Ultimate Trip"...apparently its amazing. Anyway enough of that, LA was pretty cool and we spent two slots of time there. The first slot was when we travelled from San Luis Obispo to LA and went to meet Andys parents Ann and Clive. They came to have a holiday in California etc, and Andy somehow wangled us places with them which was way to kind of them. The train from [View Full Entry]

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