Auckland to Rotarua

Auckland city centre

So, time to catch up on what has happened since we arrived in NZ. We arrived in Auckland early in the morning after a 12 hour flight (around 5am). We caught a bus from the airport to Auckland city centre, to our hostel - Base. Base is a big backpackers chain in New Zealand and I was actually dreading it because I had images in my mind of it just being a big party hostel full of English gap yahs. I was pleasantly surprised however, to find a big (very big), clean, hotel/ halls of residence type building right in the city centre with not so many English, but more Asians. We had a 4 bed dorm to ourselves and it was really quiet. The kitchen was huge compared to what we had been used to in South America (about 8 sinks, and 8 hobs), and it was like a students union, with a travel agents, dvd room and computer room. It was like being back at uni. However, one massive down point was that it did not have free internet. In fact, nowhere in New Zealand has free internet, apart from McDonalds, which has it, but wont let our net book connect to it for some reason. So if we want to go online, we have to pay and there is usually a download restriction. We were so jet lagged when we got there on our first day and really wanted to sleep, but instead, we had showers (and blowdried our hair for the first time in 3 months!) and then we went out for the day to look around Auckland. Jemma bought a new macpac fleece and we had a subway. I keep getting headaches at the moment which is really annoying. I am 99% sure its linked to my back, because if I press on the right point on my back, it relieves the pain, so I have been sitting with a water bottle pressed into my back. Anyway, a bit off subject there. After the subway, we went to bed, exhausted.

The next morning we had to be up early to catch our magic bus. We are travelling around NZ on the Magic bus network. We have a pass and can hop on hop off all around both Islands. Its kind of a tour bus but you aren’t stuck with the group because you can hop off any time you like and stay where you want, but you have a driver who gives you all the information about where you are and what there is to do. You also have the 'magic bible' which is a handbook of all the activities and hostels in NZ. It takes all of the hard work out of travelling. So the next morning we had the free breakfast in the hostel and then caught the magic bus outside, where we were greeted by our driver 'Buzz' who made us do a Maori style greeting where we had to rub our nose against his. New Zealanders are very big on their Maori culture and like to remind you of it at every opportunity. All the towns have Maori names and all the schools and buildings too. The bus driver keeps playing Maori songs and going on about the haka (or however its spelt) all the time. We had a lovely set of people on our bus and got talking to a girl from Malaysia, one from Vietnam and one from Korea. We spent the rest of our time with them. Our first stop was Hobbiton where the Lord of the Rings was filmed. We had lunch there but didn't go onto the set as it was too expensive. We actually bumped into a Scottish couple we had met in Bolivia whilst horse riding which was very strange. That was our first cross-continent reunion. After Hobbiton, we carried on to Rotarua which is the stinkiest place I have ever been in my life. It is a town built on bubling mud pools of sulphur and the whole place smells of rotten eggs...