Hello from New Zealand!! I thought it was about time I wrote an entry as we have been here over a week now and the adventure has definitely begun! After 3 nights and a few drinking sessions in Aukland we caught a bus up north to Paihia to discover the 'Bay of Islands.' Here there are 144 Islands which we got to view in a pretty cool way as we got the 'EXCITOR' speedboat.....and exciting it was indeed! It went at a rediculously fast speed and we crashed over huge waves which got us in the face! haha it was fun. The boat took us to 'The Hole in the Rock' which I shall upload pictures of in the near future and also a rock which is shaped like a woman when viewed from the side. It then took us to see an island that is owned by the guy that owns Sky TV....he has built an 11 storey house there and has a seperate garage and helicopter pad all of which are connected by purpose built underground tunnels. On our second day we took a short boat ride to Russell Island where we sat and had a beer in the 'Duke of Marlborough' which is oldest pub in New Zealand. It was really nice lazing there in the sun for a couple of hours! After that we went back to the hostel and chilled out in the hot tub for a bit!

The day after 'Bay of Islands' we went back to Aukland and stayed there for one more night which was last night. By this time we had made quite a few mates who travelled with us on the bus so we went out for a few drinks on the viaduct which was cool. This morning we got up early and caught the magic bus to waitomo where we went black water rafting in the caves and saw all the gloworms!! That was really good! Went through some small spaces and down a couple of waterfalls backwards! A couple of hours later and all adrenalin pumped we hopped back on the bus and now we are in Rotorua. It's Ellie's birthday tomorrow so i think we have a few fun things planned.....luging, zorbing and a swoop!! (well im doing the last two i think the others might chicken out!) hehe. But you'll have to wait until the next installment to tell you all about those! All exciting stuff anyway, we're having a fab time! Hope all is well back at home....i'll write again soon! xx

.......22nd Oct 07 - thought i'd update this entry about Rotorua! 22nd was Ellie's birthday and me and Fran got up early and trekked all the way across town to get her some balloons and a birthday cake - a huge chocolate one! mmm! she enjoyed us lighting a few candles for her and we sang happy birthday in the hostel and put all the balloons on her bed! god knows what the maid did with them all after we left! haha. i fancied going zorbing and doing a swoop but the conditions were too windy but i did something more exciting with the money that i saved from them which ill tell you about in the entry for Taupo. To celebrate Ellie's bday we went luging in Rotorua which was such a laugh!! We caught a gondola ride to the top of of the mountain and did 5 luges down, one scenic, two intermediate and two advanced. It's like a go cart i guess hurtling down concrete tracks! it was so much fun and the views from the top were spectacular! That night we went to the 'Tamaki Village' to learn all about the Maori culture, we watched them do the traditional Haka and had a 'Hangi,' which is a traditional Maori meal cooked in the earth for hours.....delish!! what a way to spend El's bday ey?!