Beginners luck and Cathedral Cove

Waking up in Auckland was so disorientating, I was very jet lagged, hungry and homesick. I had to get up extremely early to catch the kiwi bus, so I quietly packed my bag, crept out of the sleeping dorm and set of down Queens street. Queens street is like Oxford street, extremely long and extremely busy. It took me so long to find the kiwi bus and I got hot very quickly from the humidity! When I arrived at the kiwi bus there was a huge queue and my heart sank, there was absolutely no way I would fit on the bus. I asked an English girl about the bus and I found out that I was meant to have booked a week in advance to reserve my place on the bus. I was so worried that I would be left behind in Auckland but the girl and her friend took me to the bus driver and he very sweetly let me onboard as a few people hadn't shown up. Most people on the bus had been waiting for days to get a space on the bus so I was so so lucky! The girl who had helped me get on the kiwi bus, Marcia, and her friend Rachel have adopted me and I couldn't have found better travelling pals. Funnily enough they're from the Isle of Wight, crazy that you can fly halfway across the world and meet people who live so close to you. The first stop on the coach was Hot Water beach, which due to volcanic rock as geothermal activity. This means that when you dig into the sand, hot water comes out and you can sit in it like a bath which I think is pretty amazing! 

We dumped out bags at the surprisingly lovely hostel and went for a mini bath on the beach! We were then loaded back onto the bus and headed out for a hike down to Cathedral Cove. This was one of my favourite places so far, mainly because on the stunning views and beach. However our bus driver had told us that it was a small walk and that we could do it in our flip flops which unfortunately was not the case! The joke was full of very steep hills and uneven footpaths, which on top of steaming hot weather was not all that fun. However the walk was well worth the wait... 

We spent an amazing couple of hours exploring the beach and sunbathing - ye perfect start to my trip! When we got back to the hostel, me and the girls made pasta together and then spent the evening eating chocolate on the outdoor sofas with other people from the bus. Jet lagged and exhausted from a crazy start to my trip I crawled into bed and fell asleep in seconds! 

This is the first time I've had Internet in days so hopefully I will be able to slowly putting up blog posts from my the rest of my week!

Miss you all! 

Xxxx