Backpacking through New Zealand

Having only 5 days to go on a short discovery of the North Island of New Zealand, I decided to go on a bus tour with the Stray Backpacker Bus. I bought myself the TOM-Pass, as it seamed to me the best possible way to see and experience as many things as possible of this beautiful part of the world. Here is my report of these amazing 5 days during which I had so much fun! Starting point was the YHA in Auckland, 8:00 a.m. in the morning. The bus comes directly to all the main Backpacker Hostels in the city, so I just had to wait in front of the door (and get some valuable more minutes of sleep  ) On the way out of the city we made a short stop at Mount Eden, a old volcano in the south of Auckland from which you have a stunning view over all the city! Just the right thing to wake you up and get you excited for all the great things that are still to come. The main destination of the day was Hahei, a little village in the middle of nowhere on the Coromandel Peninsula. As I wanted to do as many things as possible in those 5 days, I joined the kayaking Activity along the coast to Cathedral Cove, an amazingly beautiful beach with a big stone arch (everybody who has seen Narnia 2, might recognise the scenery). After a short break and a little stroll along the beach we carried on in our kayaks around two little islands with cool caves and scenery. Kayaking is really fun, even though I got a little seasick at one of the „rougher“ parts along one of the islands  To break a bit the ice our driver made a really nice BBQ for all of us and so I got the chance to speak to most of the people on the trip. Before starting the tour I was a bit unsure about the other travellers and how it would be on a bus tour, but I was really impressed how nice and open everybody was. There were no little groups within the bigger group, but everybody was talking to everybody and the atmosphere was so relaxed (and even more after the first beer ;-) ).