I just got back from doing the Northern Highlights finish Wellington. This was my first Contiki experience.

The trip started rather oddly. I arrived from Melbourne, Australia Aug 20, one problem, my luggage was in Brisbane, and would arrive later. I arrived at the Hostel without a change of clothes.

However, my bag did arrive just before the start of the tour at the Mercure. We took off for the Bay of Islands.

The group was half in half, half were the remnants of the previous Grand Explorer who started down in Christchurch. They left us newbies out of their circle of friends, but it didn't matter because we immediately began connecting as the new group.

We arrived at the Bay of Islands after hugging the Kauri tree. Some of us took advantage of a combo, doing the fast boat out to the Hole in the Rock, which came with a trip to Cape Reinga. Others did parasailing, while others did nothing. The fastboat option was that, and the waves were pretty choppy out by the Hole in the Rock. We did get wet, and some of us did get some air as the boat jumped around.

We had a bbq dinner which was pretty decent, many went to the bar. I chose not to.

We woke up early, the bus came at 7:30 am. I almost missed it, but my roommate woke me up.

The scenery up was beautiful albeit long. We did a bush walk, stopped for food and were at Cape Reinga at about noon. One of our guys actually got motion sick. Spike our bus driver was pretty funny and informative. Cape Reinga was absolutely stunning, exactly what I expected. Seeing the waters crash and the isolation of the lighthouse, absolutely stunning.

We went sandboarding. You climb up an 85 meter sand dune, wonderung if you were in Egypt. Some people ended up sandboarding into the river. I only did it once because I didn't want to climb up the dune. We ended the day grabbing some pretty good fish and chips. The Aussies, almost all of the group, went to watch the rugby. I went to bed satisfied with the day.

We left early Sunday and dropped off half the group and picked up new people. We then went to Waitomo. Many did the Black water rafting, however, I didn't want to do it. I chose to take the Aruraki Cave tour. The caves were stunning and awesome. We had a decent pizza party. Many chose to go the bar, maybe to forget how much they had to pay for the optionals. I chose not to go the bar.

We left for Rotorua the next morning. We went to the sheep show. Many were skeptical. Sarah (Tour manager) and Richie (bus driver) tried to encourage the crowd. It was actually quite entertaining seeing the sheep and some of the group participated in the show.

Many did the Zorb. You need to do it if you go to New Zealand. I did the wet option and came away laughing the whole way down. You can do it wet or in a pack seat, do it wet.

We then had many do the luge. I did the Rainbow Springs walk. It was neat as I saw the Kiwi.

Visit the Maori Thermal village, you'll learn a lot about the village and the geothermal uses.

We all did the Hangi. The food was pretty good, and the crowd participates. The girls juggle the Poi balls. The guys practiced the HAKA.

Taupo was next. I chose not to do the optionals. I ended up visiting craters of the moon, which is over a lot of geothermal craters in the area. I went to Honey Hive and met some nice people. We shared ice cream and stories together. I did bungy, however chose not to get wet. It seems crazy that you are held only by your ankles, but it did the trick.

We all did the cruise, it was fun.

Next day we took off for Wellington. What a beautiful drive down. Many did the Quad bikes that afternoon. The rest got a quick tour of the city up to Mt Victoria. I chose to visit Parliament after we got to th hotel. We all did the Wellington Dinner. I got sick during the day and went home early while everyone else partied.

I did the seal tour the next day. It was more incredible scenery and the seals were pretty funny.

That was my trip, I had a lot of expectations and this tour covered them all and abve that. Can't wait to do South Island, next year maybe?