91Èȱ¬

A mate from Sydney is originally from Taranaki so I went down there to go a Maori music festival called the Parihaka Peace Festival – with the backdrop of Mount Taranaki, the sun shone down us whilst we listened to Reggae music into the early hours of the morning.

With this amazing weekend over it was time to hit the East coast of the North Island to an area called the Bay of Plenty. We have some lovely family friends who live in Opotiki called Pete and Toria. I spent an incredible five days with them playing in the Kiwi summer sun. We whiled away the days walking, fishing (in which I caught a baby hammer head shark – don't worry I put it back), kayaking and eating tasty home grown food made by Toria.

Sunset at Whangamata

Next up was the Coromandle to a place called Whangamata – where some other fascinating family friends live – Rick and Jo. They are originally from Cornwall but left here about 12 years ago to sail around the world on their catamaran with their three kids.

They spent the next few years sailing the high seas and after work as well as pleasure along the way, they got to Whangamata and were never to return to Cornwall – apart from for holidays. They fell in love with the place the day they docked into the harbour and I can see why – it's beautiful. But my journey was to continue, so onwards and upwards for me and off to Hamilton, somewhere I wouldn't usually choose to go but it was from here that I could get to Waitomo – where I went caving!

First it started with an abseil down into the cave and then battling against the water underground to see the most amazing display of glow worms that I have ever seen. It was like looking up a midnight sky gleaming with stars – spectacular. We also had to squeeze our way through tiny passage ways and water filled tunnels – a wee bit scary but fun none the least. To get back out of the cave system we had to rock climb our way out – an action packed day.

Mount Taranaki

After that it was back to Auckland for more fun filled action – this time in the form of cannoying. Now you're probably wondering what that's all about – before we had even begun the day's adventure we had to hike through a National Park for ¾ hour, which was a mission in itself. Once we were at the top of the water fall system it was time to make our way back down, in a much more fun way than walking though –Ìý it was by sliding and jumping down water passages and abseiling down waterfalls – something which I actually found a bit scary as it was so slippery and even though you are attached to the rock, you still feel that if you were to slip you would drop.

But the jumping and sliding – well that was just pure fun. We were out doing this all for about five hours so you can imagine how tired we were at the end of the day – but it was well worth it.

Next up it was time to head to the Northland – the area above Auckland. My mate Jon and I hired a car for five days and set off on our mini adventure. We headed up to the Bay of Islands to start with and it was gorgeous up there – reminded me a bit of the Roseland area in Cornwall. Lots of rolling hills and crystal clear waters.

After that we were back into the car and drove up the most Northern tip of New Zealand – Cape Reinga – where the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea meet. This area was so remote, just a light house at the cape and some far and in-between farms. Once on the road again it was time to head back south to investigate the Kauri forest on the West coast – now they were some huge trees, you sure wouldn't want one of them to land on you. After some more doodling down the coast via some beautiful beaches it was time to go back to Auckland.

The tranquil Waiheke

Next port of call – the island of Waiheke, which is north east of Auckland. Once again it was time for me to descend upon yet another couple of family friends – John and Carole. These two delightful people have built themselves a beauty of a second home that looks directly over rolling hills and out over the extremely inviting sea. In true Kiwi style my time spent here was 100% R and R, something which I was taking full advantage off before coming back to Cornwall.Ìý

Waiheke is an island of people who want to get away from the past paced life over in Auckland but still want to be near enough to commute – with it only being a 40 minute ferry ride away. If you like to lie on the beach, visit exquisite wineries and just contemplate the world whilst looking out to sea – then this is the place for you.

And I'm afraid that brings me to the end of my huge adventure – I was away for exactly a year, four months and one week and in some ways the time flew by and in others it seemed to drift along like a slow moving cloud.

I wouldn't change a second about my trip – I had the time of my life and all the memories will be with me till the day I die, along with the 4,365 photos that I took – any takers for the world's longest photo show and tell?

I would like to thank those of you who took the time to read this, it means a lot to me. Love Rachael xxx