LOVING NZ!!

So I left the touristyness of Pahia just over a week ago to head up to Kaitaia - the so-called stepping off point for 90-mile beach. I did the beach as part of a day tour which took in a Kauri workshop - Kauri being a wood that has been under ground for thousands of years, preserved in bogs that has been dug up and is turned into beautiful trinkets for tourists like me to buy and large pieces of furniture for rich people to buy; Cape Reinga and the lighthouse there, which was built along absolutely stunning coastline; then went sand tobogganing which as the name implies, involves climbing up a very high sand dune and then sitting in a toboggan to slide all the way back down again! Was tremendous fun! Then to get back to the hostel we drove back down 90-mile beach which is actually only 67 kilometres long.
The next day I headed back to Auckland for the night on my way to my next destination as my buses didn't connect to get me there in one day which was fairly uneventful and then headed on up to a very beautiful part of the world called Whitianga (pronounced Fitianga). Stayed in a lovely hostel there which overlooked the bay so had great sunsets. At this point I hooked up with a girl called Sam who had been in my hostel room at Pahia but we'd gone our separate ways for a few days and just happened to meet up again at Whitianga and so together we crossed the bay and then got a shuttle bus driven by Dan, a cute kiwi guy who took us on a little adventure round Whitianga starting with Shakespeare Point which had the most amazing views and then we went to Cathedral cove which had pink sand! After that he picked us up and took us to hot water beach and on the drive there we looked out and saw some surfers who had a pod of dolphins swimming next to them so we stopped off and watched them for a while before going to dig out hot pool on the beach. It is very fun, you basically dig a hole in the sand and because of the thermal activity in the area it fills with hot water that you can sit and depending on how big you dig it submerge as much of your body as you see fit! We stuck to feet! The water got that hot our feet had turned red by the time we took them out about 10 minutes later! We then went onto Purangi vineyard to try some of the wines (yum!) and liqueurs (Feijoa - a local fruit one - yuck!) before heading back to out side of the bay for fish and chips!
After leaving Whitianga, Sam and I headed to Thames for a few hours before getting a connecting bus to Tauranga. We could have got a bus with only a connecting time of 20 minutes but I figured that I wanted to have a look round Thames to so took the bus that went 6 hours later. Big mistake. It was raining and so whilst I'm guessing there's little to do in Thames on a good day there's even less to do on a wet day so we just sat and drank endless cups of coffee!
Fortunately life got better once we got to Tauranga and we went to Mount Maunganui, a sleeping volcano in the area which we walked around because we were too lazy to walk up it! Then we went and lazed around in the natural hot salt water baths they have there which was wonderful!
I left Sam in Tuaranga and headed down to Rotarua where there is lots to do and so I hit the ground running there! The first evening I went to Maori cultural theatre night which involved a display of traditional Maori singing and dancing followed by a meal cooked in the hot water pools as would have been done in bygone years. Whilst it was very interesting and the food was delicious, I experienced what is the bane of a single travellers life where you are used to plug holes in tables and so I filled in the spare seat on a table with 5 non-English speaking Japanese tourists and family of 4 who didn't want to speak to anyone outside the family - but fortunately the NZ wine was good I discovered!!
The next day I went to Te Puia which is a Maori complex where I watched another Maori production, different from the previous day's entertainment so also very interesting and then went to look at the geysers there which were erupting at the time and so fascinating to watch - if a little bit smelly! They also had a weaving and carving workshop on site which you could go and look round which was really interesting. From there I went zorbing!! Which basically involves getting inside a big inflatable plastic ball with a bucketful of water in it and sliding down a hill. It was such good fun! Came home from there and that evening went to a Polynesian spa with Yasmina, another girl from the hostel I was staying in. It was wonderful. There were numerous naturally hot pools all at various temperatures and one which looked out over
Lake Rotarua and it was just wonderful. It was raining slightly and it just added to the ambiance. There we were, lying in these hot pools with the raining gently keeping us from turning into complete lobsters! Can't beat it! And then today I've come to Waitomo where there is nothing to do except for the glow-worm caves which is why I came here in the first place. You enter the caves which are full of stalactites and stalagmites and then head down the river and above you on ceiling of the caves are all these twinkling lights from the worms. It was quite magical!
Tomorrow I head off to Taupo but more about that after I've been there!!

Since Dallas Fort Worth!

Well, this is the 2nd time I'm sending this post - tried yesterday but having typed or at least 30 minutes I then went and lost it all! So hopefully more successful the 2nd time!
So I left you in Dallas Fort Worth Airport and thankfully made it to Vancouver in the end! There I stayed with my friends Sunita and Franck who moved to Canada in March. For those of you who know them, it's true what Sunita says, they are obviously very happy there which was really good to see and it was lovely to spend time with them. Those who know Sunita would also not recognise the woman that you all know and love because the first day I was there she took me on a bike ride and then a couple of days later on a hike! AND, she even owns a hiking stick to help you walk up hill! Anyway, it was all good and the views both from the bike ride to the beach and hike up the mountain were amazing. It is very easy to see why they're so happy there. We also did a BBQ on Wreck beach one evening. On approaching Wreck beach there is a a sign that says clothing is optional and so when the sunset appeared I was faced with 2 dilemmas. Firstly, was photography allowed on a nudist beach, and if it was, would the very tanned not very attractive naked man standing in front of me enhance the photograph or detract from the view?!?! Fortunately he moved on and so I didn't have to worry about the latter! I should probably say, we decided to keep our clothes on for those of you who were wondering!!
After spending a lovely few days with Sunita and Franck I got the bus down to Seattle and a flight into San Francisco which amazing was fairly uneventful giving previous travelling traumas! Even saw the Starbucks HQ on the way! I arrived into San Francisco to be greeted with the infamous SF fog! Fortunately it had cleared by the next day and so I spent a few days walking up - and down - some VERY steep hills (they are so much worse than they look in the movies!), went to Sausalito, Fisherman's Wharf, Alcatraz, Golden Gate Bridge and of course, had the obligatory ride in the Cable Car! I met some lovely people in SF as well, including Esra a really funny Turkish girl who I shared a room with and had many laughs with .
From SF I had a connecting flight through Los Angeles to Auckland which should have been easy but the fog was back! So my flight got delayed and instead of having 2 hours in LA I ended up with 55 minutes! With changing airline from AA to Qantas I had to check in for the Qantas flight when I got to LA and with being delayed I was a bit concerned I wouldn't get my aisle seat but all was good and the check-in guy nearly got a kiss when he said there was still one available!
So at the weekend I lost a day from my life (the 8th of September is gone forever!) and arrived in Auckland at 4.45am. Yuck! Fortunately my lovely friends Rachel and Jim had paid for me to have a couple of nights in a hotel as a joint birthday and Christmas present and so the lovely hotel let me in check in that early which is good as it turns out there is virtually nothing to do in Auckland on a Sunday in early spring! Having heard it described as being like a wet Saturday afternoon in Hinckley I can see understand the description! Fortunately as I discovered the next day when I met up with Chris and Kiri, once you leave Auckland things improve considerably! We went to Mission Bay which was lovely. Chris used to service the piece of equipment I worked on in the UK but he managed to escape the evils clutches of Bio-Rad and he and Kiri moved to Auckland the week before I got here. Having only stopped a couple of nights in Auckland I went to Waiheke Island which was so beautiful. Actually I should say now I'm out of Auckland everything I've seen is so beautiful, you could just spend the entire day taking photos! The hostel was a little odd as it felt like I'd stepped into a hippie commune and so wasn't really me but it was very relaxing! (without any chemicals before you ask!) Whilst there I went to do a wine tasting in Stonyridge Vineyard and by some stroke of luck the manager had decided to open a bottle of their $200 a bottle the previous day and so they were offering tastings (normally they don't - you have to just buy one!) so of course had to try it and it was delicious!
I'm now in Pahia which is very touristy but very easy to get to non-touristy places form so today I've been to Waitangi Treaty Grounds where the treaty that marked the "birth" of New Zealand was signed and then later I've been to Russell which has the most amazing views. Was a bit cliched last night as in the hostel we watched LOTR! but with scenery like this you can so see why you'd want to make movies over here!