New Zealand up to now

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Well been in New Zealand for nearly 4 months now and still absolutely loving it, probably more than ever at the moment. A lot has happened since my last entry so I'll warn you now, your probably in for a long read.
After my last entry I hitched down to Turangi and after a day waiting for the weather to clear, walked the Tongariro alpine crossing, and also climbed Mt Ngarahoe, which is Mt Doom in the Lord of the Rings films. After this I managed to hitch all the way back down to Paraparaumu on the Kapiti Coast where my Aunt, Judy lives. This was on christmas eve and I still wasn't feeling very christmassy, christmas just doesn't work in the summer I've decided.
On christmas morning I got up and went for a swim in the see which was quite strange. Then me and Judy went to church and then headed into Wellington for lunch at Duncan and Jo's (second cousins). It was quite strange having salad and summery foods on christmas day, and it was really hot! In the afternoon we headed over to Mike and Susies (more second cousins) and had a big gathering for christmas dinner which was the traditional turkey and trimmings. Then we had the traditional kiwi christmas pudding, pavlova. After this we all had to do a sketch which was absolutely mad with the 4 kids! I talked to mum, dad and Emily in the evening, it was -10c with 8 inches of snow on the ground.
A couple of days later I left Judy's and caught a bus up to Ohakune, to see the place that dad had worked, and rambled on about so much. It was a really nice little town but pretty dead as it wasn't the ski season. Next day I hitched up to Morrinsville to stay with Pam and Alan, friends of my godfather. I found the scenery on the way amazing, the king country especially, lots of really narrow, steep hills close together. I stayed one night with them and then hitched up to Auckland for New Year's Eve.
Had a really nice New Year with some guys I met. We stayed in the backpacker bar most of the night because the drinks were cheap and everywhere else had big entry charges. Just before midnight we headed out to watch the fireworks from the sky tower which was amazing, such a good atmosphere with the streets full of people dancing.
The next morning unfortunately I got some bad news, that my Nan had died at home. It was a pretty big blow to me, and hard being so far away and not with family. That day I hitched up to Pahia in the Bay of Islands which is really nice. I saw the place where New Zealand was founded, Waitangi. The next day I caught the ferry to Russel, which was the original capital of New Zealand, its absolutely beautiful.
I was up early the next morning and hitched my way up to Cape Reigna, the Northern most point of New Zealand, the scenery is amazing up there, I got the obligitory photo with the sign post. I then hitched down to the Te Paki sand dunes, which are massive. I hired out a board and went sand boarding which was so fun, it helped me take my mind off things. I went back to Pahia, then in the morning went down to Whangarei.
From here I hitched down to Coromandel Town on the Coromandel Peninsula. I stayed a couple of nights here and just chilled out really. Then I hitched over to Whitianga and met up with another of my godfather's friends Jim and Nolene who were also really kind to let me stay. The coromandel is beautiful, definetly my favourite place so far. I hitched over to a place to Cathedral cove, which has got to be one of the most amazing beaches I've ever seen! After a quick swim I got on the road again to hot water beach. This has to be one of the most extrordinary beaches ever, due to the hot water. Basically two hours either side of low tide if you dig a hole in a certain area it fills with hot water you can sit in, and it is really hot water.
I then hitched down to Gisborne, the first city in the world to see the sun each morning. On the way I got a ride from Phil and Phillipa, a retired couple who were very kind in putting me up and feeding me for a couple of nights, they also showed me around the city.
I then hitched down to Napier in Hawkes bay. This is definetly my favourite city so far, it seems more like Spain than New Zealand because it was completely demolished in an earthquake and rebuilt in Art deco style, and is now the art deco capital of the world.
The next day I hitched down to Havelock North to stay with my aunty and uncle, Susan and John. They are surrounded by orchards so I spent the next day cycling around them looking for work. Unfortunately I was a bit to early for the apple picking season. Luckily the next day I got a call from an employment agency offering me a job in Gore in the South of the South Island on a 780 cow dairy farm.
I stayed another week in Hawkes Bay with Susan and John, one day I went to Cape Kidnappers, you have to cycle along a beach to reach this big headland which is quite fun. On the cape there is the largest mainland colony of gannets in the world, which is quite a sight. The rest of the week I just lounged around in the 34c heat, before hitching back down to windy Welly, to catch my flight out to Dunedin. Now I'm on the farm, its about 10 minutes from a village called Riversdale and 25 mins from Gore, supposedly the brown trout fishing capital of the world! I'll write another entry about the farm and how it's going soon.

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