From the South Island Caitlin and I boarded a ferry at Picton to take us across to Wellington the north Island. The ferry crossing took about 3 hours and we were lucky to have calm seas. We were met in Wellington by Alison, Mum's friend, who let us stay at her houses while we were in wellington. Back at the house we met Brian, Alison's husband, Grace, their daughter, Shiloh the cat and Hazel the rabbit!
ROAD TRIP!
Cable Car.
Caitlin, Me and Grace on the beach, Christmas day!
BIG CHRISTMAS TUMMY!
AUCKLAND
Driving into Auckland I was surprised at how large the city was compared to the other main cities in New Zealand, Wellingotn and Christchurch. It is infact the largest city in New Zealand and inhabits a larger populatiojn than the entire South Island! Auckland is situated at the bottom of the cape on the North Island streching itself from shore to shore, because of the large amout of coastline and the off shore islands the number of boatsa around has given Auckland the nick name ¨City of Sails¨.
Our first day Caitlin and I went down to the harbour in the moring and caught a ferry across to Rangitoto Ialsnd. The island is an example of New Zealand´s changing landscape due to it´s situation on the fault line between the 2 tectonic plates. Rangitoto Island is a dormant volcano and has formed itself though a series of erruptions in the past, it is one out of 144 volcanos in Auckland alone.
On the Island Caitlin and I felt like intrepid explorers! First we headed west to find the light house at McKenzie Bay before heading inland up the steep tack that took us to the summit of the volcano and around the crater edge. Below is the View from the sumit.
On out way down we found lava caves and tunnels to explore formed years ago from previous erruptions. Luckily we were told to bring a torch and it was a good job we had a sturdy walking shoes... erm flip flops again!
That eveing when we were back at the hostel we had a fire alarm, it was no drill there was a fire in the building! This made me quite nervous as the assembaly point was inside on FLOOR 3!! It turned out it was only a small fire and everything was okay but we were not alound on floor one where the fire had been , also our floor, untill the smoke had cleared. We couldn´t do much in the meantime as our bags and money were stuck on our rom and the TV rom and kitchen were off limits too. 20 minites waiting turned into 30 minites which turned into 45 minita and after an hour the hostle bar staff eventually took the hint and it was free drinks all round! Later I found out that the cause of the fire was a girl who has left insense burning unattended to get rid of the smell of the boys toilets next door!
NEW YEARS EVE
In the moring we went over to the Victoria Markets. It was a quirky place with some fun items for sale and lots of interesting characters who wanted to dress us up in period clotheing, tell fortunes and read us tarrot cards obviously all for a price whcich we did not have!
After lunch we went to see the Sky Tower and got combo tickets for the Observation Level and Sky Deck. It was a spectacular view at the top giving 360 degree lookout over all of Auckland.
Glass floors 220 meters high!
View of the harbour and Rangitoto Island on the left in the distance.
For the rest of the nightwe were drinking Sangria in a funky little Soith American bar with the locals!
On New Years Day we packed a picnic and went over to Albert Park for the afternoon. It was a beautiful day with glorious sunshine as we toasted to 2011 with our pink champagne... in tes cups!
ROAD TRIP!
DAY 1: WELLINGTON > MARTINBOROUGH > 82km
Thankfully my driving lisence had arrived in the post on time and we were able to hire a car to do a bit of exploring around the North Island. On the first day with the car we drove over to Marinbourough with Alison and Brian and some of their friends who had hired a villa in the vinyard region and invited us to stay too in the spare room. we left windy Wellington behind and arrived in the scorching sun. Alison, Brian and Co. all had tickets for the Blondie concert being held in one of the vinyards. There were no spare tickets by the time Caitlin and I got there so we retreated to a beer garden for the afternoon and I made friends with the cows in the field opposite!
DAY 2: MARTINBOROUGH > NAPIER > 278km
It was quite a long drive up to Napier and spent most of the day in the car getting there. Napier was levelled by an earthquake in 1931 and since rebuilt in the style of the time and now known as 'The Art Deco capital of the world' due to the fantastic and unique buildings that feature along the main streets of the city. Becasue of this Napier is quite a popular destination in New zealand becasue of the blend of history and culture. We were greeted in Napier by rain, rough seas and tough wind. We drove around the town see some of the interesting buildings but had to take shelter in the hostel for the evening watching Brad Pitt movies.
DAY 3: NAPIER > TAUPO > 141km
It took a couple of hours the next morning to drive over to the small town of Taupo. We left early to be there by midday and picked up a hitch hiker on the way over. He was a German guy and I can't actually remember his name but he was a bit strange and asked us what deoderant we used...?
It was still drizzly when we arrived in Taupo so we drove up to the view point to look out at another lake (keeping dry by staying in the car). This lake was pretty impressive to look out at as the size of it is larger than Singapore!!
DAY 4: TAUPO & THE GEOTHERMAL HIGHWAY > 81km
At last the sun had come out again! We went out in the car again to explore the things to do arund taupo. It was great having the transport and independence with the car to see the region at our own pace instead of paying to go with expensive tours. That day we visited:
Huka Falls, although the falls are not that high an unbeleivable amount of water passes through here everyday; 220,000 litres of water per second, thats enought to fill an olympic size swimming pool in one minute! 
Free honey tasting at the Honey Hive :) 
The smelly Prawn Park.
New Zealand's only geothermal power station.
"Craters of the Moon" which is a famous geothermal site. Combined with numerous steam vents constantly shifting, collapsing and reforming giving the whole area a desolate appearence and a sulpher smell. the whole area has an unearthly atmosphere!
DAY 5: TAUPO > WELLINGTON > 372km
On our last day of the trip the weather was awful again so we spent all day driving back to Wellington in the cloud which covered the lakes and national parks we were driving past. After a super fish & calamari super we arrived back at Alison & Brian's house where Grace was waiting for us to introduce us to their new guests... 4 tiny kittens! Grace was fostering the kittens for the RSPCA until they were house trained and ready to be re homed.
Later that evening all of us went down into the city to see the beautiful Christmas lights and the Christmas tree, made out of thousands of lights and a big pile of bean bags underneath in the middle to fall on and gaze up to the top.
WELLINGTON
We still had the car for one more day so we took it out to see more of Wellington and went up Mt. Victoria to see the view from above. It was a great lookout where we could see the city perched on the edge of the harbour and encircled by the green towering hills. 
Back inside the city we went to visit the National Museum Te PaPa. Situated on the waterfront this nationally acclaimed museum combines high technology with traditional exhibits to tell the stories of New Zealand's land and people. My 2 favorite things were the Giant Squid- 5.4 meters long! and the Earthquake Simulator.
Back inside the city we went to visit the National Museum Te PaPa. Situated on the waterfront this nationally acclaimed museum combines high technology with traditional exhibits to tell the stories of New Zealand's land and people. My 2 favorite things were the Giant Squid- 5.4 meters long! and the Earthquake Simulator.In the afternoon we found ourselves stuck in the vibrant city centre and caught up in the pre- Xmas sales - a dangerous place to be for a poor back packer!
Cable Car.CHRISTMAS DAY!
Yey the sun was out for us!! It was a beautiful day :) Santa had visited us both a left lots of 'lollies' and chocolate goodies! After breakfast and a big present opening frenzy of treat and messages from home we packed up the car and went down to the beach! 
We met with Alison's sister, Miranda, and her kids Ashley and Chris. The 8 of us had a huge picnic and while Caitlin and I were happy in the heat of the sun there was Frisbee games, swimming and rock pooling going on too.
We met with Alison's sister, Miranda, and her kids Ashley and Chris. The 8 of us had a huge picnic and while Caitlin and I were happy in the heat of the sun there was Frisbee games, swimming and rock pooling going on too.
Caitlin, Me and Grace on the beach, Christmas day!That evening we sat down to pull crackers before we stuffed ourselves with a winner chicken dinner and an enormous New Zealand raspberry pavlova.
"What do you call a cat on the beach at Christmas?" ... "Sandy Claws!"
BIG CHRISTMAS TUMMY! Boxing day we spent our time nursing our newly round tummies, playing with the kittens (who all had names by now; Hercules, Delilah, Lilly and Luciano) and watching the Glee box set until dinner time came round again! This time for roast mutton and everyones favorite... the towering chocolate fountain! I'm not sure how we managed it, but we did!
ROTORUA
We had a night in Rotorua as a stop over on our way up north. Like Taupo, Rotorua has lots of geothermal activity in the area. On the way in I could smell we were there before the bus driver had announced it! The geothermal activity leaves the town with a strong smell of sulphur, and the best way to descibe the smell of sulphur is ROTTING EGGS!
That evening we went to the Tawa Forest to visit the Ngati Tama people, the Mouri Tribe that inhabits the area. After the welcome ceremony we saw the village and watched some of the time honoured crafts and past-times of the people. For dinner we were invited to a back packers favorite thing, an ALL YOU CAN EAT buffet. The food was a 'Hangi' feast, which means it was cooked beneath the ground on hot roacks. The evening finished with songs and stories from the past before we returned to the hostel.
AUCKLAND
Driving into Auckland I was surprised at how large the city was compared to the other main cities in New Zealand, Wellingotn and Christchurch. It is infact the largest city in New Zealand and inhabits a larger populatiojn than the entire South Island! Auckland is situated at the bottom of the cape on the North Island streching itself from shore to shore, because of the large amout of coastline and the off shore islands the number of boatsa around has given Auckland the nick name ¨City of Sails¨.
Our first day Caitlin and I went down to the harbour in the moring and caught a ferry across to Rangitoto Ialsnd. The island is an example of New Zealand´s changing landscape due to it´s situation on the fault line between the 2 tectonic plates. Rangitoto Island is a dormant volcano and has formed itself though a series of erruptions in the past, it is one out of 144 volcanos in Auckland alone.
On the Island Caitlin and I felt like intrepid explorers! First we headed west to find the light house at McKenzie Bay before heading inland up the steep tack that took us to the summit of the volcano and around the crater edge. Below is the View from the sumit.
On out way down we found lava caves and tunnels to explore formed years ago from previous erruptions. Luckily we were told to bring a torch and it was a good job we had a sturdy walking shoes... erm flip flops again!That eveing when we were back at the hostel we had a fire alarm, it was no drill there was a fire in the building! This made me quite nervous as the assembaly point was inside on FLOOR 3!! It turned out it was only a small fire and everything was okay but we were not alound on floor one where the fire had been , also our floor, untill the smoke had cleared. We couldn´t do much in the meantime as our bags and money were stuck on our rom and the TV rom and kitchen were off limits too. 20 minites waiting turned into 30 minites which turned into 45 minita and after an hour the hostle bar staff eventually took the hint and it was free drinks all round! Later I found out that the cause of the fire was a girl who has left insense burning unattended to get rid of the smell of the boys toilets next door!
NEW YEARS EVE
In the moring we went over to the Victoria Markets. It was a quirky place with some fun items for sale and lots of interesting characters who wanted to dress us up in period clotheing, tell fortunes and read us tarrot cards obviously all for a price whcich we did not have!
After lunch we went to see the Sky Tower and got combo tickets for the Observation Level and Sky Deck. It was a spectacular view at the top giving 360 degree lookout over all of Auckland.
Glass floors 220 meters high!View of the harbour and Rangitoto Island on the left in the distance.That evening Caitlin and I were back, all dressed up, at the Sky Tower to see the city lit up, again the views were amazing and from the top we watched all the firework displays happening from all around the city. 
Just before midnight we made sure we were outside at the bottom of the tower to see the main firework display in the city, set off from the roof of the Sky Tower... ooh... ahh!
Just before midnight we made sure we were outside at the bottom of the tower to see the main firework display in the city, set off from the roof of the Sky Tower... ooh... ahh! For the rest of the nightwe were drinking Sangria in a funky little Soith American bar with the locals!On New Years Day we packed a picnic and went over to Albert Park for the afternoon. It was a beautiful day with glorious sunshine as we toasted to 2011 with our pink champagne... in tes cups!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christams and a great New Years.
Next stop South America!
Next stop South America!
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