I'm sorry it's been a little while - the Kiwi Experience bus has been non-stop! This is going to be a long one..!

I set off on the Kiwi experience bus on the 31st May. First stop that day was Cathedral cove and Hahei beach. Even though it was raining when we left Auckland - by the time we reached the beach the weather was pretty good and some even went for a swim in the sea and the boys decided on beach rubgy! Our accomodation that evening was in Whitianga. It's a pretty small place and the hostel is family run. We enjoyed some home cooked spag bol for dinner which was a treat!

The next morning we headed onto Rotorua. Guy our bus driver also introduced the bus rules to us...We were not allowed to say Flip Flops or Thongs (you can only use the New Zealand name for them - Jandals!) and we're not allowed to mention the word 'Mine' either. Punishment was 20 press ups for boys or 10 sit ups for girls! So for the rest of the trip there has been sit ups and press ups in the aisles of buses, the floors of bars and other random places! We stopped at Paeroa (home of L & P - New Zealands soft drink) and Hobbiton along the way. Rotorua is home to several Geysers and lots of thermal activity - it also has a very distinct eggy smell due to the suphur there! Once at the hostel we went Luging. We went to top of the hill on a Gondola and then raced down the hill in these go kart type things called Luges. The boys were very competitve and ended up with some injuries! Kat and I hung to the back and let them get on with it! In the evening, we went to a Maori cultural evening. This was so interesting as the Maori people showed us around their traditional village. We also had to choose our 'Chief' from the bus, so Jimbo represented us (which involved him rubbing noses with the Maori chief!) They shared lots of stories and traditions with us. They then put on a little performance before showing us where our evening meal was being cooked in the ground. The dinner was buffet stylee so we took full advantage! It was really good. We went for drinks in the bar next door when we got back and this hilarious guy dancing made our night!

The next day we moved onto Waitomo. First stop on the way was a sheep show! I wasn't too sure about this but it was actually really funny and I got to hold a baby goat too! I met a girl called Kirstie who was going to be travelling all the way down to Queenstown today too. When we got to Waitomo I went black water rafting. This seemed like a good idea at the time but when I got there it was actually a bit scary! We had to put wet suits and a thermal top on as it was going to be so cold in the caves. To make our way around the caves, we would be sitting in a black tube and floating around. We had a practice at getting pushed off the edge and into the water in our tubes. My practice run didn't go too well and I had a little freak out! I got over it in the end and carried on. It was so dark inside and absolutely freezing! Once I got down the first waterfall I started to feel a bit better about it. After a while, we began to see the glow worms on the ceiling of the caves, which was pretty cool. I must admit, I was pretty relieved when we got back to hot showers and soup and bagels! Some of us went for drinks in the pub round the corner when we got back.

Next day it was onto Taupo - stopping off at Huka Falls on the way. When we got to Huka Falls, we were met by a mini bus which would take us to the skydiving centre! It all happened v. quickly - one minute we were in the bus and the next moment we were getting kitted out with skydiving gear. I was so scared when we were going up in the aeroplane! I was first out of the plane which I was quite relieved about as I just wanted to get it over with - apparently as people jump out, the aeroplane bounces up and down too and I didn't fancy feeling that too much! It was amazing though and once the parachute was open, the tandem guy let me have a little go at steering! Later in the evening we all went out to the bar downstairs and had an awesome night with lots of drinking and dancing! Next day we were feeling pretty hungover and the weather was terrible so we stayed the hostel most of the day before going out and doing it all again in the evening!

On the Sunday, we moved from Taupo to River Valley. We stopped mid morning for a walk through Tongario National Park. Everyone was feeling a bit delicate so we weren't that up for walking - that's probably why Guy told us it was only an hour when it was actually 2 hours! The walk wasn't that bad once we got going anyway and we had some really good views across the National Park. When we got back to the bus Guy had organised an eating competiton which was quite amusing! We arrived at River Valley in the afternoon. It is totally isolated and we were staying in a lovely little lodge with a huge open fire in the middle. The dorm was huge and everyone on the bus shared the same dorm! We had an amazing roast dinner and drinks at the lodge in the evening.

The next morning Kirstie, Mark and I went horse trekking! My horse was called Rico. He was a bit unimpressed when I got on, which made me a bit nervous! However, once we got going, Rico was really good and I became more comfortable. The guide who took us out was also British and really lovely. She lead us all around this huge farm which had amazing views over the valley. We were riding for about 2 hours and when across some huge hills. Later in the afternoon, we left for Wellington.

South Island update to come...