Auckland to Brandywine Bridge (AKA Wellington)

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So the first week of the Kiwi Experience Funky Chicken bus tour has been awesome!!

We've travelled all down the North Island and I feel like I'm finally seeing the real New Zealand, hills & sheep lol! Ok so our journey has been as follows:

Auckland - Hot Water Beach - Waitomo - Rotorua - Lake Taupo - River Valley - Wellington

Hot Water Beach: Well this place was was fun, it's just an average beach with a bit of a twist! At low tide if you dig in the sand at the right place you can dig yourself a hot pool! There's a hot spring that sits underneath the beach, and it's called Hot Water Beach for a reason as the spring water is boiling!! We also woke up at 5:30am the next morning as we were told the sunrise was lovely here but sadly it was too cloudy so all we saw was the sky getting lighter, nevermind...

Waitomo: This place is famous for the Waitomo caves and the glow-worm caves! Sadly the caves had flooded the night before so there was no glow-worm walks for us! So instead we had this amazing steak BBQ at a place called Curly's Bar and spent the night partying and getting to know people on the bus.

Rotoura: This was the place where we did the Maori village evening. Absolutely fantastic evening, not only did we have the craziest/funniest bus driver ever but it was so interesting learning about the Maori people. They told us of their history, showed us how they would train for war, how the made weapons/clothing/musical instruments (I even got to play with one haha!), they showed us the Haka and other traditional dances and even serenaded us with a ballad! They also showed us how they used to cook their food and put on a huge feast for us. It was a great evening and one of the highlights so far, they were so welcoming and friendly and we all just had a wonderful time there...although the bus ride home was the funniest experience of the trip so far!

Lake Taupo: This is an adventurous town that sits just outside the Tongariro National Park. This is also a town with hot springs, they seem to pop up all over the place lol! This was a two day stop so it was nice to have a bit of a rest stop. The two night stay also collided with the Rugby World Cup Semi Finals so we spent both our nights down at the Irish bar Mulligans where if you play rock paper scissors with the bar staff every time you order a drink you can win a dollar of you drink! I won four dollars off in total lol! So the first evening belonged to the French and boy did our French boys party! They also took my Welsh flag as a reward of their victory on the promise that if the All Blacks won the following night it would be returned...My All Blacks victory came, the town partied, but no flag, they'd lost it when they were partying the night before...typical!!

River Valley: On our way out of of Taupo we headed into the Tongariro National Park where we stopped for lunch and also had a two hour treck up Mount Doom itself...in the pouring rain! Lets just say I now know why Frodo and Sam struggle in the third Lord of the Rings film, it wasn't easy! Then we headed down into River Valley which as you may have guessed is a river that runs through a valley! Our accommodation was at the bottom of this beautiful valley...which also meant it was a complete communication blackout! Having nothing but the bar to amuse us we all had a early night after a social Roast Beef dinner with all the trimmings. The next morning we all went for a walk round the valley, the sun was shining and it was one of the most beautiful places I've seen so far. I found a lovely little spot right by the river bank under a tree where I sat and wrote in my diary for a good hour, such a peaceful morning!

Wellington: After a long 6 hour drive from River Valley we finally rolled in to Wellington, AKA WellyWood!! The first night here was cheap drinks and party games down the bar so we all ended smashed, good times! This is where I had to say good-bye to some of my new found friends. The bus left the next day but I have chosen to stay in Wellington for a week so I'm here for the Rugby World cup Final! The weather has started to warm up here so I took a little climb up Mount Victoria. On my climb up I paused to catch my breathe (its a little steep in places) and looked down the path into the woods and suddenly the quote 'GET OFF THE ROAD' came into my head...had I found the woods where they filmed Frodo and the other hobbits are hiding from the Nazgul on the way to BrandyWine Bridge? Turns out I had, mini film geek moment :oD Then last night I was reunited with Helen, who had decided to stay longer at Rotorua, and the hostel put on a 'Trash Bag Party' basically if you wore a bin bag you got cheaper drinks all night and the best dressed got free drinks! Motivated by free drinks me and Helen spend two hours creating our master pieces, we made actually dresses out of the bin bags, and I'm pleased to say that I won first prize and Helen won second...the hangover felt glorious lol!

So that's my travels so far! Sunday is of course the Rugby World Cup final day and then I should be catching the ferry to the South Island on Monday! All the photos so far are on facebook so check 'em out!

Until next time...

Amy
xxx

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