New Zealand

At 8:30 am we were on the bus to the Bay of Islands in the North, excited that we were going to see some beautiful beaches. Immediately, we noticed the difference in the style of New Zealand buses compared to South America. Firstly, no food or drink was allowed on the bus, making it all feel and look immaculate. Secondly, the bus driver continually made announcements over the tanoy about places, who was getting off at what stop and any other trivial pieces of information we might like to hear. Our greatest highlight was when the bus purposely stopped halfway through the journey for a morning tea break. We absolutely loved this and took full advantage of it.

As the journey continued the weather started to deteoriate and as we looked out to the green fields and grey over cast skies, it reminded us so much of England!

By the time we arrived in the Bay of Islands the rain was torrential and after finding our hostel, we found a bar to sit in and have a beer, dwelling on the weather. Actually, only E-J could have the beer as poor Sam was on antibiotics.

After much deliberation, we finally got round to booking a boat tour around the islands for the following day in the hope that the weather might improve and ended the evening in a pleasant restaurant called 35 degrees South, which looked out over the ocean. The mussels there were ridiculously huge!

We awoke the next day to relatively bright skies and kept our fingers crossed that it would hold out for the day. The boat trip that we had organized was called the Cream Trip, which was once a boat trip that Captain Lane would do to pick up dairy products from lots of farmers around the bay. Now the boat delivers papers and other necessary items to the people who live around the bay.

Lunch was spent on the Urupukapuka Island. A beautiful bay with golden sand and blue water. We gazed out at the incredible view as we ate our typical backpacker lunch consisting of crisps and water!

Before we set off for Brett Cape we enjoyed an underwater boat around the bay to view the coral and fish. Due to the poor visability the tour wasn't too memorable but the shout from the skipper to an American tourist who was slow on getting on the boat of "hurry up love or I will feed you to the fish" had Sam in fits of laughter!

We then set off for the Bay of Island landmark known as Cape Brett, which has the original nickname of "whole in the rock".

When we got to the hole in the rock, the weather was beginning to get a bit choppy, so we couldn't go too close to it, but then a group of dolphins suddenly appeared with a couple of baby calves. The captain was sure they would come and play, especially since there was also a massive shoal of fish around the boat, but they suddenly darted off and the captain could only imagine that there must be a shark within the shoal and the dolphins had left to protect their young. It was fascinating to see something blue under the water attacking the fish, but no one was sure it was an actual shark.

When we finished the boat ride we decided to spend the evening exploring the quaint little town of Russell, which has the oldest building in New Zealand. This happens to be a mighty 200 years old...

After listening to a live band and having a bite to eat, we headed back to our hostel for a relatively early night, before heading back to Auckland the next day to collect our home for the next 3 weeks, a campervan.

Sam's comments: I wish E-J had reminded me to put sun tan lotion on! My face resembled the middle of the Japanese flag!

E-J's comments: This place is really something special. I would have loved to have seen it in the blazing sunshine, but we were lucky it didn't rain the entire time. The hole in the rock was pretty special and seeing all the dolphins was rather special too.

Our plane arrived into Auckland thirty minutes early and after a smooth customs, we made our way through the arrivals lounge and to a taxi.

On first impressions, we were amazed to find just how sparkling clean everything looked and so new. Also it was strange to suddenly be able to communicate with people without having to translate it first in our heads.

When we got to our hotel, it was 4:30 am and the guy on the desk informed us that check in wasn't until 2pm (though he thought we could probably get in by about 10am). Reluctantly and exhausted we left the hotel and found a 24 hour internet cafe to waste the next few hours.

By 10 am we were finally in our room and after showers and the necessities to stop ourselves from feeling like complete zombies, we decided to explore the city. We walked down to one of the wharfs and had a drink in a bar looking out to the sea. In the port there was an absolute abundance of boats. We had been warned that there were more boats in Auckland than people and seeing this, we could believe it.

After a stroll around, we made our way to the Sky Tower to get a panoramic and impressive over view of the city. We were not disappointed as it was fantastic.

From the top, we were able to see how Auckland was originally formed by a load of volcanoes, with the lava forming the flat ground which is now totally built up with houses. We found out that the volcanoes are not extinct, but actually dormant, though they haven't erupted in over 600 years. It is however possible that they could erupt at any time again.

Looking down across Auckland, we could really appreciate how it is literally made up of land and sea. Everywhere is surrounded by the sea and this reminded us slightly of Rio, although these Volcanoes are not quite as high as the mountains in Rio.

After we had spent a good time up in the Sky Tower and enjoying a good drink in the bar, we made our way back down to the port area and had the most delicious seafood supper. By 9pm we were on our knees, so decided that considering that Chile was a good 15 hours behind New Zealand, we were doing pretty well with the jet lag and could call it a day.

The following day Sam woke up in agony, due to a mosquito bite on his foot, which seemed to have become seriously infected. An hour later, a very grumpy Sam left the walk in clinic with antibiotics for the infection and was instructed not to walk on the beach or go in the sea until he had finished the treatment. Although E-J tried to reassure him this would only be a week and we still had three more weeks to indulge in lots of activities, he was determined to stay in a depressed mood for the rest of the day. This was slightly exacerbated when E-J insisted on going to the local aquarium, which ended up not only being ridiculously expensive but also rubbish!

Sam and E-J's moods were finally lifted when they found a lovely restaurant that evening and indulged in some more fine, fish cuisine.

Sam's Comments: I struggled with the jet lag, often found my self speaking Spanish! The Doctor was worried that I didn't understand what she was saying when I was prescribed antibiotics.

E-J's Comments: Auckland seems incredibly modern and clean, a real shock to come to after being in South America. The people here are also incredibly friendly and immediately make you feel right at home.