5, 4, 3, 2...1

As you know from our last blog, we spent St.Patricks day in Auckland. It seems the Auklanders celebrate it in a big way with parades, dressing up and lots of drinking. The Volvo Ocean Yacht Race was also in town, so we walked around the marina past many very pricey yachts in time to see the NZ team yacht leave for the next leg of the race. After a pint of Guinness we headed back to our campervan to make our way to our last campsite only to find some scumbag had broken in and stolen pretty much all of our belongings :( everything we'd collected along the way-even our journals worth nothing to them but everything to us! After a loooong phone call to the Police we were advised to leave the van so it could be finger printed. Finding new accommodation was not an easy task with a pop concert on in town and St. Paddy's festivities we had no chance in the city and ended up in a hotel by the airport. The next morning we had to buy a new case for the few things the robbers had left us with!
At the airport we briefly met up with Vicky, a friend from home who moved out here 3 years ago (we'd have met the night before for drinks if circumstances were better!). It was great to catch up and she did manage to redeem some of Aucklands good points!
12 hours and 7 films between us later (we don't sleep well on planes), we arrived in LA. We were a bit disorientated after departing at 2:05pm and travelling back in time to 6:20am on the same day. Being too early to check in and catch up on sleep, we headed to Santa Monica to see about replacing some of our clothes. After a real American breakfast of eggs benedict and coffee on free refill (much needed), we trawled the shops for some clothing bargains.
Up early the next morning, (NOT!) we headed over to Warner Bros studios for a tour. We learned the secrets of the trade and got to see some memorabilia from past films including the 'Tumbler' from the new Batman films and loads of Harry Potter props too. We even got sorted by THE Sorting Hat into Gryffindor House. Yay!
Afterwards we went for a walk around Hollywood to see the infamous sign on the hill and the walk of fame. It also happened to be the world premier of American Reunion, so we got within arms reach of Jim, Nadia and S*#tbrick!!! But the real highlight was seeing Jedward arrive at the premier!?! We celebrated with dinner and drinks at Hooters (Matt's suggestion).
We spent our last day taking it easy with a few beach walks and a coastal drive. First we went to Santa Monica beach and had a walk along the pier and took a look a Muscle Beach where all the Arnie wannabes pump iron. One supposed Beef Cake had sprained his poor lickle army warrmy and called the paramedics. How we chuckled! We then took a drive up the coast to Malibu for another stretch of the legs along the beach before heading to LAX to catch our flight home :-(

Happy St Patrick's Day

Cheers!

From caves to coastline

Next stop was Taupo, on the edge of the largest lake in New Zealand (Lake Taupo). We took it easy as we were still achy from the previous days shenanigans! We milled around the town for a bit before heading to the Huka Honey Hive where we unsuccessfully tried to spot the queen bee in their live hive display! We tasted about 9 different honeys - all very different but equally as yummy, from the light floral lavender, to medicinal Manuka to the god damn super tasty Tawari. We parked up at a free campsite and took a walk to Huka Falls. Quite spectacular falls on the Waikato river which starts from Lake Taupo and ends in Auckland making it the longest river in New Zealand. The flow over the falls is 40 cubic metres a second and as a whole the river produces 15% of New Zealand's power (hmmm interesting I hear you say!!??).
From Taupo we headed West to Waitomo, famous for its expansive cave systems, home to the even more famous glow worms. Here we took a legendary black water rafting trip of three hour adventure, hiking through a jungle, venturing into a dark cave, jumping off waterfalls (in the dark cave) and floating in tubes while glancing up at the glow worms living on the cave ceiling. It was quite amazing, they look like little blue stars in the night sky! After a much needed hot shower and soup we headed north to the Coromandel Peninsular where we'd spend the last few days in NZ.
We started by visiting the famous Paeroa (L&P) and had the customary photo taken with the giant bottle! We spent the following day driving up the west coast visiting various picturesque beaches, some of which featured nude sunbathing - not by us may we add! We finished the day by hiking up Mt Paku (all of 178 metres of it) for stunning panoramic views. The 'short walk' to this extinct volcano took somewhat longer than expected, so the offer from an older unfit American couple (who drove most the way up) back to the town was much appreciated!!! We rewarded ourselves with fresh caught fish and chips- red snapper and Dory-yummy!
Up early the next morning for our 3 hour sea kayaking trip around Hahei Marine Reserve to the famous Cathedral Cove among other beautiful secluded beaches. Luckily the sea was flat as a pancake and we managed to remain vertical at all times. Matt spent the rest of the day unsuccessfully fossiking in Gemstone bay for Sam's amethyst! That evening we thought seeing as we were in the area, we should do the customary touristy thing and dig ourselves a spa on Hot Water Beach. Natural hot springs under the sand provide water up to 75 degrees celsius, and 2 hours before and after low tide you can dig yourself a spa. We learned theres an art to it from the locals. Dig half in a hot area and half in a cold area and you get a good mix.
Next day we ambled down the east coast of the peninsula and saw some huge Kauri trees around 600 years old and 6 metres in diameter but still only a 10th the age of the oldest recorded, before heading up to Aukland for our last day in New Zealand.