Starting the North Island

So it it now break (thank goodness) and Kallan and I are off on our grand adventure! We were hoping to rent a car on Friday and start then but because we were so disorganized and last minute in our preperations things didn't get going until late, we couldn't get a car until Monday (durn Easter). So after a relaxing weekend in Wellington we set off early(ish) Monday morning for Taupo. Taupo was beautiful but since things were slow getting out of Wellington (Starbucks and the like) we had little time there.
Jason lent us a tramping club 2-man tent and assured us that it was easy easy to set up. wrong. We struggled (in the dark) trying to set it up, called him during which he confessed he'd never actually set this particular tent up before, and finally a friendly neighbor came over to help. Since we were using the car headlights for light, when we went to turn the car on again, battery was dead. The same friendly neighbor jumped the car for us the next morning, and off we were to Rotorua! We stopped to see some of the thermal pools (which now cost $30 to walk through! stupid NZ!) so we decided to save our money and keep going to Rotorua, walk back to the car....keys locked inside (totally my fault). So we had to call AA and after a very short wait (only 1/2 hour) they came out to rescue us. They had our keys back to us in a jiffy, and off we set to complete our trip to Rotorua. After getting into Rotorua we went white water rafting (sorta lame...much tamer than expected) which was fun but we were with all girls that were all 'omg this is so scaaaaaaary'. We found a hostel that let us pitch our tent for cheap so spent the night there (campgrounds here are so expensive! like $17/person, so Kallan and I are doing our best to find cheap alternatives). It was so nice to shower and eat a cooked meal before falling exhausted into bed.
Today we are off to Tauranga and then spending the night on the Cormandel Peninsula in a basic DOC campsite. Then Thurs PM we're off to Auckland sothat we can make our Friday AM flight to Christchurch and start our South Island adventure. So while this North Island trip has been way too whirlwind and we've missed way too much, its been fun so far!
I don't even notice the difference in driving anymore (wait...have I been driving on the left side??) and its so nice to be behind the wheel again.
Below are just a couple pictures as I'm running out of internet time!


After White Water Rafting:

Mud Pool:
The sunset we ate dinner to beside the lake in Taupo:
Huka Falls: (Don't know how to rotate it...turn your head to the right):