So the North. We flew into Wellington from Christchurch and as time was starting to get a tad tight we only had the one night here. Nothing really to do but at least we got to see the Capital, much nicer city than Auckland though that da take much......(Sorry Phil).
From Wellington we headed to Lake Taupo which again like Wanaka, Queenstown, and Tekapo we were surrounded by beautiful scenery. We booked onto the Tongariro Crossing for which our bus picked us up at 5:40am, shocking time. Wow the walk was worth it, it's said to be the best one day walk of New Zealand and one of the best in the world! You'll be able to see from the pics that this was a volcanic walk which took us right by the side of none other than Mt Doom. Lord of the Rings fans will at least be excited, it has another official name but I can't spell it so Mt Doom it is. The walk itself was a little challenging, what with Devils Staircase followed by some other steep climb even more devilish. The only downside to this walk (apart from the early start, and it being 20km in distance) it's smelt like arse! Sulphur is possibly the worse smell ever in my books. Though it smelt like bum it was still a very romantic valentines day walk....
How could I forget, our very first day in Taupo we only went and did a bungy jump!!! Yes I bullied Jules into doing one, or was it the other way around....anyway we paid our money and threw ourselves to our death. It was AWESOME! Please if you ever come to NZ don't miss out on the bungy, once you've done it you'll love it and of course be very proud you were able to do it. We did it over the river and got dunked, though not quite the Nevis a 47m drop still seems pretty scary when you're looking down!
From Taupo we went Rotorua, not guna write much here, again it stunk, we went to some sulphur spa thing for a bath and that's about it. Oh also had a rubbish curry!
Our last stop before Auckland was Mt Maunganui. Probably one of NZ most popular beach resorts, someone (maybe me) had a bit of a money crisis so apart from going to the beach and watching a film (Love Actually, obviously July's choice)we didn't do much here either.
Home of the Boltons, we arrived in Auckland and were treated to the home comforts you sorely miss while travelling stopping at Phil and Lucy's flat. A chilli and a few beers were had and the following day Jules left me (I know how could she) for South America. The Bolton's had planned a camping trip to the Coromandel though the day of departure just pissed it down constantly. We still went though and I introduced (much to Phil's hesitance) the Bolton's to their first hostel. Luckily it was one of the better ones I've stopped in, though quiet and homing probably the most annoying snoring German guy I think they came back with new views on the hostel world. Luckily the weather returned to sun the following day and we went to the gorgeous beach of Hahei. We came back to Auckland on the Saturday and chilled with beer, pool, food, sky tv for the next couple of days (just what I needed being nearly six months into being away) before I returned to Sydney this morning.
So this will be my last entry for a while, (no change there then) as I'm now completely and utterly desperate to find work. Hopefully I'll find something to keep me going over the next couple of weeks else there might be an early return to the uk!!! So if you've not seen me or heard from me on this in three weeks (most) hurray success I have a job and if not....well get the kettle on!
Hope you've enjoyed the blog, I'll update with job situ when/if I get one!
Peace out, love to all xxx
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