New Zealand Day 1 - 10

2005-03-23, New Zealand, New Zealand

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Hi All,

Only me again. Well where do i start we have done so much so far here in New Zealand. We arrived last week late on Wednesday night. I have finally eased into the travelling and hostelling thing and guess what we didnt have anywhere to sleep that night. How brave are we?? Yeah right!! We got a hostel no prob. We stayed right in the centre of Auckland. The first day we walked round Auckland and did the Skytower. It was pretty cool. Bit Scary though standing on the glass floor.

The following day we got a phonecall from an old friend of my Dad's that lives in Auckland. My Dad had rang him and told him we were there. Within 2 hours we were sitting on the veranda in Christy's beach house drinking wine. Christy and Marie have been absolutely amazing. So helpful. It was so nice staying in someone's house rather than a backpackers. All the comforts of home. We had a great Easter weekend with Christy and coincidently another of my Dad's friends was over visiting Chris. We did some lovely walks and had a lovely barbeque. The weather is fab here. Better than any Summer day back home. I wasnt expecting it to be that good.

Well Easter Sunday we headed off on our adventure round NZ. We were very lucky with our hire car. We got an upgrade so we are driving a big huge Nissan. Champagne backpackers i tell ya. Our first stop was a place called Tutukaka. The Poor Knights Islands are off the coast of Tutukaka and this is where we did our scuba diving. The Poor knights is one of the top 10 dive sites in the world so what a better place to go diving. We did a try dive which means an instructer is with you the whole time. They do some skills with you before the dive but basically you are just meant to enjoy the dive. We did snorkling first in the morning and then the dive in the afternoon. The fish were amazing and you could see right to the seabed. I was a bit disappointed as i only got to 6 metres. I couldnt equalize my ears and they were quite painful. Every time we tried to go deeper my ears were really sore. I think i was so nervous and wasnt thinking enough. Ken loved every minute. He got to 10 metres. He is even thinking of doing the PADI training course now.

Well enough of that. After that we headed up to the Bay of Islands. It is really stunning up there. We did a cruise around all the islands and seen the famous hole in the rock. We went to the little town Russell which was so cute and also visited Waitangi House where the founding treaty of NZ was signed. I know it sounds boring but it was actually really good.

Next we set off to Kaitia in far northern NZ. From here we did a trip to Cape Reinga and Ninety Mile Beach. Cape Reinga is the most northernly point in NZ. It feels like you are standing at the end of the world when you are standing there.

Well what more can i say about NZ. It is so beautiful. If i got a $1 for every time i say WOW as we are driving around i would be rich now. The scenery is just stunning. We keep stopping along the way to have a look at little coves or Waterfalls. It is just beautiful and i think the weather is helping.

Well i best go and stop boring you all. Heading back to Auckland tomorrow for one night and then off on another adventure.

Take care all. Miss you (not too much).

Lotsa Love
Emma and Ken