Kiwi Experience Again!

The girls in my dorm were also meant to start this section of the bus tour but one of them has a stomach bug so they've had to to stay in Auckland for another day! I got on the bus and as it was Dad's birthday he called me, unfortunatly the driver started to talk on the speakers so me and Dad couldn't speak for too long!

We went to Parnell to the Kiwi office and for a last toilet stop! We then headed up to Mt Eden again! I just sat and reflected, mainly at the idiocy of a Jap who was climbing his way out of the crater with his mate taking loads of photos!

We then headed to the Coromandel, we stopped in Thames (yes - named after our lovely river Thames!) for supplies as it would be a beach picnic again!

Onwards to Cathedral Cove, the roads were so winding, but the scenery was stunning! I got chatting to a few people on the bus - a really good group on this bus! I asked Kozi our driver if he could sort out a female dorm for me in Whitianga (Fit E Anga - Pronounciation) and he said he would do it! My nickname on this trip is Pinkie. Kozi called me it as I wore a pink shirt on the first day of my trip and Craig up on the Cape Reinga trip called me it because I lent him my pink iPod!

We got to Cathedral Cove and spent a few hours here, the walk down to the cove took around 45 minutes through an amzing countryside! On one side you could see the sea and beautiful cliffs, hear the waves crashing and on the other was rolling lush green countryside with lots of cows!

The beach itself was perfect, It has a cave which goes through to another beach, you have to walk through the water to get to it, I got a bit wet but I had my board shorts on so it wasn't so bad!

I sat down and had lunch watching people in the water so I went for a paddle and thought - hell why not! So I went and changed and dived straight in - it wasn't cold at all! It's crystal clear and the waves are quite big so I had a right laugh jumping them!

Walking back was a bit of a pain as I hadn't brought a towel down to the beach so I was dripping wet walking along in swimming costume, board shorts and a sarong wrapped around me!

We then headed to Whitianga and the hostels, I stayed at the turtle cove backpackers and it was gorgeous! We had reading lamps on each of the beds - even the top bunks! The kitchen was spotless! I cooked my own meal that night - I'm trying to budget! So it was Mr Ben's Microwavable rice! Me and the girls from my dorm all chipped in for some wine and we sat and ate our meals then had a game of darts which I'm rubbish at!

I got chatting to the lady that runs the place, she's from Devon and she's married to a Kiwi dude. They actually live at the hostel, the kitchen is their kitchen they have their own lounge but they were out eating their dinner with us and having a few drinks!