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Hello again girls and boys,
I did it - I left Australia after 9 months of loving it. I was sad to leave Oz behind but excited to see New Zealand too. We landed in Aukland and were picked up by our friend Jade who lives in Aukland (we met her in Manly). She very kindly put us up for 3 night which was great! We spent our first evening catching up over some vino (surprise surprise!). Our first day was spent maininly sleeping and when we eventually rose we went coat shopping because it was cold and rainy and I had left my coat in Melbourne! We decided to invest in some 'Mac in a bag' style anoracks... and they are matching!!! Jade took us into the city and we went up the sky tower. The views were great and the lift had glass floor and a glass front so going up and down was a bit of a scare! When we were up there some nutter did a freefall jump off the top, we saw him go flying down passed the window. Jade also took us to Piha beach which was awesome. The waves were HUGE and the mountains surrounding it were gorgeous.
On our 4th day we started our Tour with the Magic bus which we will be on for the rest of the month hopping on and off at various locations around New Zealand. We strted by heading north into the subtropical rainforest ehich was beautiful. We stayed at Paihia at The Bay of Island which was stunning. There are 144 tiny islands around the bay and it felt sooo tropical. OUr hostel was really nice like a lodge set in the mountains. On our way back down we walked through the rainforst and saw some 'Big Reds' and Jesus that was the biggest tree I have ever seen in my life! After our taste of the north we began to head South of Aukland to a place called Waitomo.
Waitomo is a tiny place and I mean tiny, there is practically nothing there apart from caves. If anyone has seen the David Attenborough, PLanet Earth programme on caves and glow worms, this is where it was filmed. We decided to go black water rafting which involved dressing up in a wetsuit, a helmet with a light attached and a pair of Gumboots. We walked down towards the caves and were given a rubber ring! As we went down into the cave we had to turn our lights off to adjust to the light - it was pretty scary! We clambered through little underground passageways through the rock and down deeper and deeper into the underground caves. We hit water and whenit got to waist hight we had to get on our rubber rings. We again had to turn our lights off so we were floating through the cave rivers 300m underground in utter darkness. It was AMAZING as there were glow worms everywhere, they looked like stars twinkling above it was beautiful! All was going well until I heard the murmer of a waterfall and realised we were getting closer! We had to jump backwards down the waterfall (again in pitch black) It was really scarey as I jumped backwards and went underwater at the bottom in complete darkness! We also had to go down a slide thing which made me scream so loud I think a few of the group have gone permenently deaf! It was an amazing experience and I was so glad I did it.
We stayed in a really nice mountain lodge style place in Waitomo and woke up to a stunning view of the mountains. We went to a Rabbit Shearing Shed and saw a German Angora Rabbit get sheared which was really good. The rabbits were HUGE and were like massive puff balls. They are bred like this for their fur and have to be sheared every 3 months or they will die from over heating! We then were picked up by the magic bus and dropped in the next town on route - Rotorua.
As we came into Rotorua we noticed the eggy sulphur smell - and man it was strong! Rotorua is a volcanic area on live thermal activity land so there are thermal pools around spurting steam from the boiling earth beneath (which is what stinks!) We went to a Maori Village that evening which was great. We were shown traditional ceremonies and then walked around the village watching different activies going on. Then we saw a concert of their singing and dancing which was great. After that we had our 'Hangi' meal which is cooked on white hot thermal rocks and burried in a 6 ft hole for 5 hours! The food was delicious - a real feast! The next day we went to a Polenisian Spa. It was amazing. We opted for the 'adult area' which had 7 thermal pools of different temperatures to try. The pools were set right on the side of the Lake and it was beautiful. We chilled out or should I say overheated ourselves in the boiling hot spas for a couple of hours as it got dark looking over the lake.
We went to 'Thermal Wonderland' and saw buubling mud and a geyser erupt which was wicked (see videos). There was a little stream running near and people were bathing in it as it was running hot water. Our next stop was at an adventure playground place where I took it upon myself to try out the giant swing. It didn't look too high from the ground but as I climbed up the 90ft pole I started shaking and nearly messed myself! I got up onto the platform which was rocking all over the joint and the instructor attched my harness to a Huge rope then on the count of three I had to jump... I did and it was AWESOME (see video). I think that is about as extreme as I get!! After that we went to a Honey Making place where we saw behives and got to taste loads of different honey yum yum. We then went to the Huka Falls which was a pretty but dam violent river (see videos).
We are now in Taupo which is beautiful. It is set on the side of a HUge lake with Snow topped mountains on the other side - bloody gorgeous!
Next stop in Wellington and then we're off to do the South Island so I'll update in a couple of weeks before we're off to Thailand.
Lots of love and kisses
Loz
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