Climate shock!

I have never felt jet lag in the same way as I did when I arrived in Auckland! I guess if I hadn't have stayed up drinking wine with Gemma and Sarah, and missed some films to get some sleep then maybe the change over in Melbourne and the continuation onto Auckland might not have felt so bad! The drive into Auckland felt very much like a bus ride through England on a November day, and finally I felt grateful for carrying round a hoodie, jeans and a waterproof for the past two months in Asia!

We stayed in central Auckland for a couple of days to get our bearings, get over the long flight from Singapore and to do a bit of shopping! Mainly for winter clothes and in my case, for a new camera (someone remind me to claim back on my tax before I leave for Australia!). We booked ourselves onto a Stray Bus Tour for the month (like Kiwi Experience bus tours but for an older and more sophisticated age group, obviously), and set off a few days later to travel through the North and South Islands. We whizzed through the North Island fairly quickly, stopping off everyday at different locations. The scenery along the way has been absolutely stunning, mountainous, green, rolling countryside everywhere. I have not seen a bad place yet!

Raglan was pretty sweet, a great little surfing town with amazing beaches. Sarah and Gemma went for a surf but I decided to leave that for the warmer weather in Australia! I was quite happy to snuggle up in my new coat and drink beer on a picnic bench with the rest of the bus! Another stop off was in Maketu for a Maori cultural evening, where we watched Maori guys perform the haka (they were very scary!!) and then we all had a go learning traditional dances. This was also Sarah's 25th birthday, so a few drinks were consumed along with birthday cake!

We have been on several walks through National Parks, looking like proper hikers with trousers tucked into our socks (very glamourous!) seeing amazing views, lots of snow capped mountains, caves with tiny glow worms inside (magical!), millions of waterfalls and crashing waves on gorgeous beach coves....New Zealand is just beautiful. I can completely see why so many people move out here - apart from the amazing landscapes around you, it is very quiet with such a small population, not many cars on the road, everything so clean etc etc. The winter season is not such a draw back either, as once again we benefit from discounted prices, and as long as you can put up with wearing a coat, hat and scarf it is fine. In fact, Gemma and Sarah had their bobble hats custom made for them by a fellow Stray bus traveller who passed the time on bus journeys by crocheting!

We got off the bus finally when we hit Wellington, staying here for three nights with some of the group. A big night out was definately on the agenda! Team building of course! We loved Wellington (capital of New Zealand) - it felt just like a big town rather than a capital. We amused ourselves at a great museum (free) called Te Papa museum for several hours, before stumbling across a boat quay with spherical sculptures - for those of you on facebook, you will see that we spent at least an hour messing around with a digital camera and the video function. Gemma's videos were hilarious, strutting about like a catwalk model, then running after joggers on the boat quay (before complaining to them that she couldn't keep up with them since she wasn't wearing her sports bra that day!), then she decided to run after skateboarders, flash her bra..etc the list goes on. A lot of laughs that day!

We are now in the South Island, and heading for Queenstown in a few days where we are planning to meet up with our friend Jon that we met on Koh Phi Phi. Gemma's countdown begins around now, as she flies back on 19th aug, but Sarah, Jon and I still have Australia to look forward to.

Reckon that is all I can squeeze in for an entry before my computer cuts out!

Love you all! Love New Zealand! Sweet as.