Auckland to Hahei to Raglan

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Wesnesday we took a nice walk up Mt. Eden in Auckland. It's actually more of a big hill than a mountain, and is also an extinct volcano so there's a grassy crater at the top. Only took about 25min but the view of the city was fantastic! The rest of the time in Auckland was spent walking around more of the city and lounging near the harbour. This is where we found out that there is no ozone layer above NZ and that the burn time in direct sun is 5min. Luckily I escaped with naught but some really bad tan lines. Lesson learned!

Thursday morning we started our hop on hop off tour around NZ. 8am we hopped on the bus and made our way to Thames for some lunch and groceries. Quaint little place. Then it was off to Hahei. We hiked over to Cathedral Cove for some lovely cliffs, beautiful beaches, and crashing waves. It really felt like a whole different world! (we may have also been lacking oxygen from the steep hills we just hiked...but that's beside the point). I forgot to take pictures of the actual cove with my phone, but I did take some scenery shots of the hike. I'll be staying put for a few days in Wellington so I'll upload some pictures from my camera, somewhere around the 19th.

After the hike we walked down Hahei beach for sime more epic waves and made our way back to the camp/hostel to prepare the big BBQ. Food and drink were free flowing and good times were had by all. The cards came out and I learned a new game called Shithead. Sort of like Asshole but less name calling :) night ended at around 11 and we tucked into bed to be on the bus for 7:30am the next morning.

7:30 we were off to Raglan. This place is known for maintaining its surf culture and remaining a quaint surf town. It also had some of the best left something or other waves that are special for some reason...one of the best in the world I'm told. Given that you'd think we'd be surfing here but we're saving that for Indonesia since the surf is just as good (as far as we'll be able to tell) and it's about 1/1000th of the price..plus or minus. Instead we'll be relaxing in the wilderness and taking a booze cruise later on tonight. I'm pretty excited :)

The group on this tour has been really great so far and the NZ scenery has been phenominal; definitely off to a strong start :) Tomorrow we're on our way to Maketu with a stop in Waitomo for some black water rafting. Woot!!

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