Had a wonderful holiday in the Bay of Islands. This place is known as the 'winterless north'. It rained the whole time we were there!

Still had a fantastic time though. 6 of us went together, first road trip for the car and she did just fine, bless her. We bought a 1982 white Ford Cortina estate for $650 from our managers sister. Bargain! Not sure she'll last the whole trip but for that money who really cares!

We stayed in a hostel called the Mousetrap, in Paihia. It's a very touristy seaside resort but beautiful all the same. On our first day we went out on a boat for a dolphin safari. It was very windy and bloody freezing on the boat! We did find dolphins but we couldn't swim with them because the sea was too rough. Bit disappointed but was amazing to see them in their natural habitat, swimming alongside the boat and jumping. In the afternoon we went to Waitangi, which is one of the most historical places in NZ. It's where the treaty of NZ was signed by Maori chiefs and the British in 1800andsomething. Once the treaty was signed, it was discovered that it hadn't been translated correctly from english to Maori and there's been loads of wars about land ownership ever since. We then decided in our wisdom to walk 5k to some waterfalls we'd heard about. The sky was black, the wind was howling - it was the tail end of a hurricane or something! We had no jackets, never mind rain jackets and were all wearing flip flops! We walked through the forest mostly on gravel paths and also through a mangrove river but we made it safe and sound. Unfortunately, the waterfalls were pretty crap and it started raining. We didn't want to walk 5k back again so we found a pub which we later found out was the oldest pub in NZ or something (they all claim that!).

Day 2 we went on another organised trip. We lost Roxy as she had to go back to Auckland before us - bloody work! We got on a big yellow bus at 7.15am with rain coming down like you've never before seen. Do you remember the part before where I said we had no rain jackets? It seemed we were the only unprepared ones (all but one of us british as well!). So, we went to a Kauri forest - Kauri trees are native to NZ and are very old and very huge! We got out to walk around but couldn't really see the marvellous trees for water dripping off every part of us. We were all drenched but didn;t want to let it spoil our day so just got on with it - we soon dried anyway and Gavin walked about half naked for most of the day! Next, we went to 90 mile beach which is actually 60 miles long. There is a story behind the name but I really can't be arsed going into it - sorry! The beach is spectacular - you can't see anything at all except masses of sand and the Tasman sea. The weather gave it a kind of eerie feel as well. The beach is actually a registered state highway (motorway to us brits) but can only be used at certain times of the day due to the tides. No vehicle at all is covered by any insurance whilst they are on the beach - part of the beach is actually quicksand. We saw a mercedes sticking out the sand which had got on the beach too late one day and the tide basically swallowed it up - the driver got out ok but couldn't rescue his car in time. There is no cell phone coverage there and nearest house is about 30km away!
Next stop was the most northerly point of NZ - Cape Reinga. This is a very spiritual place - Maori people believe their spirits come here when they die. It's also the place where the Pacific Sea and the Tasman Sea meet, however as we couldn't see one foot in front of us, I couldn't confirm this wonderful sight! The mist was so thick and the wind was almost tornado like! Drenched again - we went to some giant sand dunes to go sandboarding. I didn't participate as I didn't want to lose a delicate piercing I had done last summer! I've done it before in Fiiji anyway so wasn't bothered. Last stop was to a Kauri factory. Kauri trees are protected but they have found these strange buried forests which are just below the surface of the ground and perfectly preserved - some natural disaster before the ice age like a tsunami or something, put them there. Some of the wood is 50,000 years old!

Didn't do too much the next day as weather was pants - got the ferry across the water to a small village called Russel - absolutely nothing to do there and tehn the rain started again so we went to the pub - surprise surprise. Did manage a quick swim in the sea afterwards cos the weather brightned up a bit.

We left the Bay of islands the next day and on the way back saw a few more things. We stopped at these toilets which were designed by an eccentric Austrian artist called Hundertwasser - they are very elaborate and ornate. Then we went to Whangarei falls which are the highest falls - 23m high - and the most photographed falls in NZ - they were truly beautiful. Lastly, just before we got back to Auckland, we stopped at Waiwera hot pools which are thermal pools, which also had lots of water slides - loads of fun!

I went back to work for 1 week after our holkiday but have now finished completely and am about to hit the road for the start of our trip in approx. 15 mins! Will keep you all updated on here as much as I can. Take care everyone xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx