Auckland and the Bay of Islands

I spent my final day in AUckland with my friend Jo (as she had just arrived in NZ and was staying at the same hostel as me). We just had a leisurely day; going to Gloria Jeans for brekkie (my new fav coffee shop - beats starbucks any day), then off to Auckland Museam for a wee bit of culture. IT was a great museam and we had a lovely walk in the Domain after, before heading back to the hostel to chill out. We went to a few bars at night, and then ended up in a chinese restaurant (which is becoming a regular occurance when me and Jo go out).

I was up early the following day to start my Kiwi Experience trip up to the Bay of Islands - more precisely, to Pahia. The Bay of Islands areright in the north of NZ, and comprise of around 144 islands. The bus picked me up at 7am and it was a 4 hour journey up to the Bay. On arrival, i checked into the hostel and then walked to the Treaty House.

The Treaty House is the mosthistorical placein NZ - this is where a treaty was signed between the Europeans and the Maori people, to ensure peace between the two groups. It is the place where the Europeans first landedin NZ, and there is lots to see here. AFter the Treaty House i spent the rest of the afternoon sunbathing - taking advantage of the unusually gorgeous weather.

Today has been fantastic as I went swimming with dolphins! We got on the boat at around 8am, and by 9am we were in the water swimming with flipper. THese are wild dolphins in the ocean, so we are not allowed to touch them as it harms their skin, so all notions of swimming whilst holding onto thier fins were quickly dashed out of the window. However, it was asolutely amazing - the dolphins were on average, arouynd 3 metres long and were really playful in the water. After our first swim, we had 2 more, but they were not as playfull and kept swimming away from us, and they are so fast, we could not catch them up!

I'm just waiting for the bus to come to take me back to Auckland and then its off to Mercury Bay tomorow.

Speak soon xxxxxxxxx