Finally got a good sleep in. Vera and I headed over to the Waitangi treaty grounds after we made some breakfast. It's about 1.5 km's to walk there. At first you watch a video when you get there about the treaty. Basically, the Maori people were the first people to be in New Zealand and then the english came and tried to take over. The Waitangi treaty is a treaty between the Maori and the english to co-exist in New Zealand. If you are really interested in knowing more about it I suggest googling it because they can explain it better then me haha. There is a house on the grounds that was built by James Busby, an englishman and it was right in front of the house that the treaty was signed. There is a ... read more

Trina, Ann and I walked over to the Haruru Falls trail. It was a really cool 5 Km trail through lots of forest and a bit of mangroves. The falls weren't that great but still neat to see. Trina and Ann had to get back to the hostel to catch their bus back to Auckland so we ended up having to call a taxi at the end of the hike instead of hiking back. Got the taxi to drop us off at the grocery store so I could get a few things for dinner and breakfast. Had some lunch and said bye to Trina and Ann. Just chilled in the afternoon and waited for Vera to get back from skydiving. Off to the hot tub again for me and Vera. I love the hot tub! Around ... read more

Woke up extra early and packed up and had some breakfast before heading outside to wait for the Stray bus to pick me up. Ann (canadian girl) decided to come up north as well so we waited outside for the bust together and met Trina, a girl from Singapore studying in Dunedin, NZ. She was also headed up north so we all stuck together. Our tiny bus finally came to pick us up and there was only 5 of us plus a girl and her boyfriend who works for Stray and the driver. Our first stop was to see some Kauri (pronounce cow-ree) trees. One of them is something like 800 years old! It was HUGE. If you hug the tree it's meant to bring you good weather for your trip so of course we all ... read more

Was up quite early thanks to jet lag so I got my stuff together and got ready. When I came back in to the room the couple in my room had moved into just one bed which was awesome (not!) so I was quick to get outta there and go get my breakfast. When I came back in to the room to get my stuff since I was switching rooms (long story!) the couple were doing stuff in the bed that I just didnt need to see haha. (2nd time in one week.....just my luck) Moved into my new room with 2 irish girls who are super nice. We hopped on a free Auckland tour with Kiwi Experience around 10 am. Our driver was Dave who was pretty funny but a bit nutty too haha. Our ... read more

Jenny and I slept in which was really nice and got all our stuff together before checking out. We stored our bags at the hostel and then took a bus over to the Ala Moana Center. Did some souvenir shopping and I found a sarong I wanted, a necklace, a surfboard keychain and a hawaiian dress (it’s blue and brown..love it!!!) Had a traditional Hawaiian plate lunch for lunch. BBQ chicken, 2 scoops of rice, and a scoop of macaroni salad. Was really good and very filling. Didn’t finish it actually. Then we caught the bus over to the Hilton Hawaiian Village hotel to check it out. Took some pics, walked around and found the flamingoes. Then we saw the penguins and turtles, 2 of my favs!!!! So cute. Stopped at a bar on the beach ... read more