So long and thanks for all the fush

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Happy New Year. We are among the first in the world to welcome 2007. We arrive in Auckland on NYE and hit the town. Have a chilly shot in a bar completely made from ice, then watch spectacular fireworks launched from the city tower.
Sort out some wheels, no thanks to the cretinous Paula at Auckland Thrifty, and head North to the Bay of Islands. Whoops! It's peak kiwi holiday season and this tourist town has no room at the inn. A quick thinking backpackers puts us up in a private house with a great hillside veranda.
We win the last places on Fuller's dolphin worrying tour which leaves daily from the harbour. After an hour or so of cruising the beautiful bay without so much of a tadpole in site we fear a repeat of our tiger safari experience. Suddenly two dolphins leap from the water in a Seaworld inspired show of acrobatics. We discover a pod of around 30 wild dolphins, which chase our boat and generally seem to have a great time. We don't get to join them for a swim as there are babies in the pod, but on the upside we get to see baby-dolphins.
After a couple of nights in our luxury tree-top accommodation we drive to the Coromandel Peninsula to visit Hot Water Beach, where we hire a spade and join the crowds in digging ourselves a hot-tub thanks to natural hot springs under the sand.
On a geothermic trip, next stop is Rotorua - home of smelly natural geysers and multicoloured pools of bubbling mud.

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