New Zealand North Island

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After loosing a day travelling from Las Vegas to NZ we spent 6 days in the North Island here are a few of the best bits

Auckland was the first stop, after promising myself that we would not stay in any hostels I was lured by the guidebook and the 5 star rating on the internet of the Base hostel in Auckland centre. I must admit the location was excellent and the general hostel in terms of facilities was also great BUT and this is a big BUT the hostel had Air Conditioning which was centrally controlled. This was constantly on in our room and sounded louder that the jets of the 747 we had kjust flown 13 hours on! Needless to say we didnt stay long we just had one very fun night in an Irish bar called Father teds where there was live music. Shenton managd to get me to dance with a white haired (OLD) Irish hobbit (who looking back we do actually think was an extra in the lord of the rings and never left NZ) and a huge drunk Mauri bloke. It was a really fun night and I was desperate to get up and sing with them but somehow they have not heard of my singing skills in NZ yet.....or maybe they have

The next stop was Rotorua for three days. This place was fantastic very relaxing and the place we stayed was great, we played tennis, mini golf and swam in the pool, had relaxing massages and enjoyed the outdoors much needed relaxation after the madness of Vegas and the travelling. The highlight was Hells Gate which I have added a couple of photos of its a pity its not smellovision as it really is a stinky sulpher place.

After Rotorua we decided to take what looked like a small detour on the way to Napier, via a place called Gisborne to find some surf, unfortunaltely this took longer than expected as the roads are not very good it did however turn out to be a spectacular drive thorught winding mountain roads with beautiful scenery on all sides. You will have to take my word for this though as I did not take any pictures.

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Photos

Auckland city view
Just about to get the car to start our road trip

Hells Gate
This steam is a bit of a cheat as they have a pipe with a hole in it by the hells gate sign!

Inside Hells Gate
The picture does not do the place justice but these are all natural sulpher ponds which can get up to 140 degress in temperature!