Beautiful NZ

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After touring Oz in the camper van it was then time for a little luxury and to spend some time with the 'rents as they were out here for a month as Dad was working at QUT in Brisbane....this of course suited me just fine as their city apartment was right on Queen Street Mall in Brissy complete with my own bedroom and ensuite, with a gym and jacuzzi/pool upstairs!! Pure bliss after roughing it for a while!

So off we flew for a ten day trip to NZ. We flew into Auckland where we stayed for the first few days as Dad was workign and Mum and I spent our time being ladies of leisure! Going out for breakfast, lunch and dinner! Auckland is quite a small place with one main street, we found some really nice parts but generally I wouldnt say Auckland on first impresisons was amazing although I did really like it. The harbour is really lovely with lots of boats (hence the name the city of sails) and has some great restaurants which we tested out of course!!

So after leaving Auckland we hired a car and rove a couple of hours to dads friends beachhouse in Langs Cove...this place is very unspoilt and remote surrounded by rolling luch countryside and a view over the beach. The house itself was great and really cosy. it was very tranquil and we spent a few days just relaxing, going for beach walks, having fish and chips and visiting other local beaches, with our evenings spent drinking beer and playing cards! After spending a few days there we decided to head on to Lake Taupo, driving through some spectacular lush scenery of massive hills and countryside and up winding roads with sheer drops and dotted everywhere were cows and goats. Driving from one place to the next was a bit like WA in so much as there really is nothing inbetween apart from great scenery!

So we booked into a small apartment in Taupo which had lake views, the lake itself is huge and went out for an interesting meal at the english pub!! The next day we got up early and went to visit Huka Falls which were really impressive to see as it was so big and strong with lots of mist. We then headed onto Napier which is a town built in the 1930's so all the buildings are art deco style which was intresting to see. Throughout our whole time in NZ it didnt rain once and we enjoyed amazing weather!

Our last day was spent in Rotorua seeing a Maori show (which Dad got chosen to join in wiht-very amusing never knew he could dance so well...!!) and we spent the day at this maori village where the geysers and hot mud pools are. The maori show itself was great and funny to see the men doing the hakka dance with all the face paint on which is actually quite scary!! We stayed in a great hotel in Rotorua that was very old and grand and had a meal in the restaurant on our last night before getting up early to head to Auckland to get our flight.

All in all an amazing trip with lots of relaxation, good food and chilled out time with the 'rents!! Fantastic scenery and countryside, similar in a way to the UK but on a much larger and more impressive scale with clean air and great sights to see. Cant wait to get to the south island one day!!!

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