North Island, NZ

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After arriving in Auckland we had a few days to explore the city before catching the stray bus. The city itself has the largest population in New Zealand however the city centre seemed very small with one main street. So after a couple of days we were ready to leave. We had booked onto the stray bus which is taking us all the way through to christchurch. So on thursday we hopped on the bus to our first stop Hahei. Our accomodation for the night was a small orange caravan which was cosy. From Hahei we walked to Cathederal Cove to enjoy the beach and scenary. That night at low tide the bus driver took us to hot water beach, which lies on a fault line. So at low tide you can dig a hole in the sand to find hot water and create your own hot tub. The waves coming back in made it hard to make a decent pool, so we paddled in the hot water, which did get extremely hot on our feet!

The next day we headed to Raglan for our second stop which is also known for its surfing. As it was a bit chilly we didnt venture down to the beach, we chilled out in the afternoon at the bush lodge. When it got dark we were told you could see glowworms so we set off to search for them along the driveway. We soon saw what seemed like stars along the bank, it was fascinating to see this it was so pretty.

The third day of our tour was to Watimo where we took a walk through the bush to an old pa site. Where the mauri people lived during battles and also walked to a cave which was also another sacred site for the mauri people. That night we had a mauri cultural experience. We were told about the traditions and shown weapons they used. The boys were taught how to do the haka and the girls were shown how to the poi which was a ball on a string, we had a lot of fun joining in.

The fourth day we had a few hours looking round the town of Rotorua. The town is an area of high geothermal activity and constantly smells of sulphur (eggs) So we took a walk around town looking at the geysers and hot pools. Before heading off to Taupo for the night. On the way we stopped off at a place where we could take a dip in some water that had a hot and cold stream running into it. The water also smelt of sulphur but felt like sitting in a bath it was that warm. We also had a chance to exfoliate our faces by rubbing the rocks by the pool. We also had another stop at Huka falls on the way which is a river that is fed from Lake Taupo. We then spent the night at Taupo, Lake Taupo was a massive lake that was created a volcano thousands of years ago. When it last erupted evidence of the explosion was seen as far away as Eygpt.

The next day was an early start as we were walking the Tongariro Crossing so after arriving at the national park we all got kitted up ready to do the walk. The crossing took us up the ridge between Mt Tongariro and Mt 'Doom" from lord of the rings and throught the South crater before going to the peak of Mt Tongariro. On the way we saw some really good scenary including old lava flows, craters, emerald lakes and and even lake Taupo in the distance. We got a bit chilly at the top in the clouds and snow, but we really enjoyed the day. After the long walk we even got to enjoy the hot tub back at the lodge.

The next day was our last on the North Island so we made our way down to Wellington, where we would catch the ferry to the Southy Island. Wellington was quite a small city so we had time during the afternoon to look around the harbour and enjoy the Te Papa Museum before getting an early night ready for the morning ferry.

P.S The photo names have uploaded wrong but you should be able to guess which is which. x

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