North Island, NZ (the end of the world)

Flying from Sydney to Auckland, the time difference between us and the UK became 13 hours. The flight wasn't that bad considering, as Pete said, we had to be up at 5.30 am to catch the shuttle to the airport. When we arrived in New Zealand the weather was similar to that we left behind; warm, sunny and thong-wearing. We picked the car and headed for the city centre, through rush hour traffic which got Beast's blood pressure up. His road rage increased when torrential rain began to fall over the city of sails and we found it difficult to find somewhere to park. When we actually found somewhere to park, it was decided that it would be impossible to search for a place to eat and stay the night in such a downpour so we got back in the car and drove up the coast to the Northland region of New Zealand. On the way we found a motel at the side of the road with cheap rooms and crashed.

The next day we continued our journey up the coast to the Paihia in the Bay of Islands. On the way we stopped off at one of the many sign-posted natural beauty spots which are just off the main highways in New Zealand. Here we stretched our legs with a walk to a pretty awesome waterfall which was remote and best of all not tourist: we were the only people there. When we arrived in Paihia we realised that motels appeared to be the best option for our needs compared to backpackers hostels, as we could get a room for three generally with en-suite, TV and cooking facilities for between $65 and $105, instead of paying $25 each for a dorm, so throughout New Zealand we've been in motels/holiday parks.

Look for the jumping fish

Anyway, in Paihia we choose not to do one of the over priced dolphin swimming or cruises around the bays, but instead drove around the edges of the mainland taking photos and relaxing. The next day we went to Waiora Valley Adventure Park, which claimed to have one of the most difficult 18 hole mini golf courses in the Southern hemi-sphere. After a close round on the course which came down to the final hole, we tested our metal on the acrobatic activities. First we tried a sort of moving monkey bars which you had to swing over an inflatable wall at the end. Next was the high wire, which was way harder than it looked. Neither Ryan or I managed to get across from one platform to the next, but Pete the did the impossible, finishing with a frog splash. There was also inflatable slides and a fighting beam on which we had great fun playing Gladiators. The highlight however was the trapeze. Tutition was free and we were taught how to make the controlled leap from one swinging bar to the next, all very impressive although Pete had to retire before completing the feat because he had ripped many layers of skin of one patch of his hand and eventually so did I after over-gripping on one of the catchs on the second bar. It stung like a bitch.

The next day we headed even furthur up the pinnacle of the North Island along Highway 1, which turned into a gravel track quite a distance from Cape Reinga. The views from the hill top above the oceans, South Pacific and Tasman were spectacular, and had a real 'end of the world' type feel to them. The place was so isolated that only a few tourists and Moari's make the journey so the sound of the endless crashing waves onto empty beaches is very surreal. At the very edge of Cape Reinga is a tree whose roots are said in Moari folklore to be the entrance to the underworld. On the way back we saw some of the biggest sand dunes imaginable, really sand mountains, which were located at one end of Ninety Mile beach, which is really just a very long desolate beach. We then headed South to Kaitaia where we stopped overnight.

Forest, Grass, Swamp, Lake, Desert, Sea. Its a strange country.

The next day we woke early and spent all day driving down the North Island to Waitomo Caves, a very small village which has grown up around the tourist business brough in by the glow worm caves situated there. That night we booked into a Top 10 Holiday park, which is a chain throughout New Zealand that has cabins for silly cheap prices, the first of many. We also booked a tour of one of the many glow worm caves for the next day with The Legendary Black Water Rafting Company.

We all woke with a sense of excitement as the brochure had described the caving experiecne as a mix between extreme and wonder. We got "rubberized" into wet suits and collected our tubes which we would raft underground in after we had climbed down into the cave. Although the tour was very informative and enjoyable, with the many thousands of glow worms on every wall and ceiling lighting the way, we all felt a little disappionted by the rafting as it was rather slow, lacking the speed and thrill that we were expecting. During the underground adventure, we all had to jump of a waterfall which was definately the highlight. One of the instructors demostrated that it was vital to stick to a ledge on the left of the cavern as we approached the waterfall as to the right the fast moving water sucked you into a deep freezing pool, which one of the original explorers of the cave have died falling into. As we inched along the edge and one by one made the jump off the end of the waterfall, the guide turned around and shouted stay on the left just as Ryan lost his footing and was dragged into the freezing water. In a flash our guide had grabbed him and with my help pulled him back to the safety of the ledge. It all happened in an instant, and left Ryan with ice cold water down the gap in the back of his wet suit, unlucky. After warm showers and soup and bagels, we got in the car and headed further South for Whanganui. The drive along the edge of Tongariro National Park and the Whanganui River towards the city of Whanganui was superb, with twisting mountain roads and pituresque views. Again we stopped overnight in a motel and in the morning headed for Wellington to catch the ferry to Picton and the South Island. In Wellington, we spent time mooching around the shops in the city centre, and up the hill top overlooking the bay and the Botanic gardens. From the top we took the famous old cable car down and back to the car to catch the 3am Blueridge ferry to Picton.

Pics and the South Island adventures so far coming soon....

Hope everyone is alright back home, Tom.

Wellington