North Island New Zealand

I started my trip round the North island in Wellington after a bit of an interesting ferry crossing! From there it was an all day trip up to Auckland. There wasn't much going on there so I headed off round the North Island.
First stop was Hahei and a trip to the usually stunning Cathedral Cove. However it was a bit wet when I was there, thought I'm sure it's pretty impressive usually! There we went to a hot beach. If you dig a hole in the sand all the hot thermal water rises up to make a hot pool, and it was boiling hot! My bottom half was burning and my top half was freezing in the rain! It was the best thing and the worse thing all rolled into one.
Next stop was Raglan, usually a good place to surf but the waves were a bit big and the water too cold for my liking. Not exactly East Coast Australia!
The following day the weather was lovely, but I spent most of the day in a cave! I went down into a glow worm cave-it was beautiful! The roof of the cave looked like it was covered in stars. That day was pretty busy as after the cave I went to see rabbits, yes rabbits get a haircut! It was the weirdest thing I've ever seen but apparently they'd get too hot if they didn't get their hair cut. After that I threw myself down a massive hill in a giant inflatable ball-it was so much fun, I couldn't stop laughing!
In the evening we had a traditional Maori night with food and entertainment. The guys in the group learnt and performed the Haka and the girls taught us the traditional women's dance. I even got to try the costume for size.
From there it was onto the very smelly Rotorua and the hot mud spas. The mud just bubbles up from hot springs all around the town, but the whole place smells of rotten eggs!
Final stop in the North before I went back to Auckland was Taupo. I had planned to climb a volcano but the snow and the winds were to bad so it was canceled! I just stayed in the hostel and watched what I was missing out on in Lord of The Rings.
My final trip on the Stray bus was up to the Bay of Islands. Again rain stopped play on the first day and I didn't see any dolphins again when we went out round the bay!! I think the dolphins in Australia must have told them I was coming! But the next day was much nicer, so at least I did get to see how beautiful the Bay of Islands really was.
Then it was back to Auckland for a few more days. I was sad to leave New Zealand, but not Auckland!