Day 55 & 56 & 57: New Zealand, North Island

Day 55: Well today I went to the famous 'Sky Tower', which is the tallest tower in the Southern Hemisphere, it is 328 meters. It iwas pretty amazing up there to see the whole city. When you walked around they had pieces of glass instead of concrete where you can see all the way down to the street. Pretty scary in case the glass broke. I stepped very carefully over it. I have noticed there are alot of Maori people in Auckland and there seem to be alot of intermarriages between the Maori's and New Zealanders. They seem to be better integrated into the New Zealand society than what I have seen from Australia with the Aborgines. There are also alot of Asian people here as well.

Day 56: Today I headed out of Auckland. I was pretty relieved as I was starting to get a little restless in Auckland as there is not much to do here. I have been told there are more people in Auckland population than the South Island put together. By the way for those of you not familar with New Zealand. New Zealand is broken down into the North and South Island. Today I took a tour up to the northern part of North Island. We headed to the 'Bay of Islands'. When I first got out of Auckland I noticed all the sheeps everybody kept telling me were around everywhere. Then I noticed the beautiful scenery, the North Island is extremely hilly with different shades of green and yellow that cover the hills. There are flowers, patches of trees ,and forest that cover the hillside. Can't wait to see the South Island as I hear that is more beautiful down there.

Day 57: Went on tour of the Ninety Mile beach with the tour bus and then went to the Tasman Sea, to help our tour guide gather clams on the beach, I think for his dinner that night. I was hoping to try some, but he said I could only have them if I tried them raw, which I happily declined. Then we headed to the Sand Dunes, where we went sandboarding. Boy that was alot of fun. We climbed up to the giant sand dunes and used boogie boards to get down. We even had a guy in his late 60's try it. Then we headed to Cape Reinga, where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet. The Tasman Sea is blue and the Pacific Ocean is green. The Tasman Sea is named after the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, who named New Zealand. Then we went over the Pacific side. It was interesting we noticed the weather is very temperamental One minute it is warm and sunny and then the next it's chilly and rainy. I notice this more the in North Island than the South Island. Finish the tour with New Zealand's best fish and chips from Maungaturoto. Headed back to the hostel and had a nice glass of New Zealand wine with my Swedish roommate.