Windy summit!

Took a short, but very vertical hike up to the summit of Mount Tauhara Maunga. We were very nearly blown away during this picture (as my hair shows). We met a friendly Canadian on the way up, who gave us a well deserved bottle of 'Lion red' Kiwi beer at the top too! There were a couple of slips and slides on the way down, but we survived and made it to the lake to have a little picnic. 

Cathedral cove

About a 30 minute hike down, up and down again to a beautiful little cove area with an variety of trees growing sideways from the rocks above you. You only have a limited time to enter through the arch to another beach area, before the tide rolls up and traps you in. 

 Pulled pork kiwi fruit nachos

Lots going on here! These nachos were an explosion of taste, finished off with an original 'Kiwi fruit salsa'...seeing as I am in Kiwi territory!

Cost: £££

Rating: 7/10

Pump up the heat at Hot Water Beach

A place where you use shovels to dig deep in to the sand to make your very own hot tub! You have to search around a little for the right spot of not too hot, not too cold. Just like Goldilocks and her porridge. 

...Legend has it that the native tribes used to cook their enemies alive in these hot pools and eat them to spite the other tribe. NICE. 

Burger Badness

Badness... actually meaning goodness! So I've heard that New Zealand has pretty tasty lamb, so I went straight ahead and got a lamb and feta special. It was truely sublime.

Where: The Lobby in Auckland city 

Cost: ££

Rating: 9/10

Auckland city

My first stop in New Zealand...Auckland City! Quite a small, cosy city with lots of fancy boats and yachts on the harbour. We were there on a Kiwi national holiday day, so got to see all the locals with traditional tribal  face tattoos and face paints. There was also a wonderful fireworks display in the eve.

Eggcellent start to my trip 

Having breakfast at the airport is a must do tradition of mine, that's stems from going on family holidays when I was younger. There were no English muffins, so I have to have a brown bread substitute. Needless to say that I still polished off the whole lot ;) 

Price: £ (cheap)

Rating: 6/10

...next stop NEW ZEALAND