so ive done loads since left australia and altho i miss it im having such an amasing time in new zealand now that i cant even think about it! do miss the girls alot tho.

first day got to new zealand arrived and did food shoppin had a lazy night played abit of pool but tired from flyin all day so bed!

got up the next day and walked to the kiwi office whcih was quite a walk, picked up some leaflets and sat in a cafe to decide how long we wanted everywhere. started walkin back and decided to catach a bus to teh sky tower. basically a huge tower liek the one in sydney but taller. caught the lift to teh top whcih was very scary as the floor was glass and so were teh walls outsied so could see everythin goin up, well scary! got to teh top and had a wandder ropund took in the stunnin views from the top, watched some people jumpin off the top abit nlike a bunjy but feet first very scary!

walked back to the hostel for dinner, went to the club downstairs that night fo drinks!

we were suposed to be leavin on the bus the next day but because its winter theyv all been shortned and had to stay another day. sop went to kelly talpins whcih was liek an arctic adventure, lots of cutwe penguins and you go round them in this wierd like cart thing. then went round the aquarium saw lots of sting rays, sharks, pretty and ugly fish, sea horses and star fish and stuff wich was cool! was there for a couple of hours and then left as there wasnt actually a great deal to do. had an early night that night as all quite tired from the night before. and leaving early the next day.

caught the kiwi bus the next day, monday.

the first day on the bus we drove till lunch and then stopped at a shopping center and ate at the food court. met melissa also on the kiwi bus and chatted for a while. hard to get talkin to people at this point though as i keep comparing themt o the oz experience lot but as i later learn they are really nice people too! and so far ive had a really wiked time with them.

afterwards we drove on to a hot spring spot by the sea but the swell was to high so the water was covering the sand and it was way too cold to get in the sea. the guys that did go in said that the sand was boiling hot under their feet, dale brought a spade of sand out and it was incredibly hot to touch strangely enough. i didnt quite believe it till i felt it for myself.

we carried on for another 10mins drivin and got to cathedral cove, where we walked for 20mins down to the beach. called cathedral cove i beleive because the sandstone cliffs have been worn away into huge caves round the cove. the boys went swimming, abit too hardcore for me! then we trudged abck upto the top whcih took about 35mins this time as was a lovley up hill walk with lots of steps!

another drive to our hostel in mercury bay called trutel cove backpackers. we shared a room with 2 americans liz and angie, and a german girl eve. walked to teh supermarket with eve and managed to get lost on the way back, oops. got there evetually though cooked watched anchor man and then off to bed! did meet and chat to some more people off teh bus too, joey, dan and elle. all really nice and quite funny.

early start the next morining to rotorua, drove for a while and then stopped and did a walk through some tunnels in the cliff face and walked down a big river, looked just like a scene form lord of the rings! as alot of new zealand does for obvious reasons!

was a nice walk managed to get ourselves lost again though, not hjust us quite a number of us did. found an old minining cart chained up and thought it would bea clever idea to jump in it and have a photo taken. kady ahd the even cleverer idea of sitting down in it so we did and the whole truck top turned over and spilled us out all over the floor in a pile. no one was hurt and it was hilariously funny! only got a photo of us lying in a pile on the floor though in fits of giggles!

jarred our bus driver came back and found us on the wrong path so took us back the right way, the rest ahead of us had gone on a 2nd longer walk but we didnt have time so sat on the bus and ate lunch. after everyone had eaten we drove onto rotorua and to the mauri center to pay for the show and dinner they would give us that night. also gave us a quick talk and tried some food while we were there. then we all went off to do teh activities we had chosen to do. some did white water rafting and zorbing, we did the luge!

went in a big gondala to teh top of a mountain and then got helmeted up and had 3 goes on different tracks sitting in a luge, whcih is basically just like a kind of go kart with a stop and start lever and steering. was really really fun, went really fast was abit crazy and daleo was a menatlist crashing into us constantly! the tracks were really windy and steep in places, concrete tracks. one girl crashed into a wall and cut her foot up quite badly whcih wasnt nice, also chucked it down so we got very wet as hadnt prepared for the rain! after we had finished we caught the gondala back to teh bottom and waited for the rest to catch us up and then jarred picked us up to go back to the hostel.

got picked up by our mauri driver at 730 for our mauri expereince, our driver was called wati, he told us what to do taught us a few words all i can remember was that kiora was hello. arrived at the village, by this point we had chosen our bus chief as rob, we all stood round the enterance to teh village ina big circle, there were alot of people ther not just us. the chosen cheifs stood in a line at the fornt of us all. the gateway to teh village had 3 entrances and was covered in wooden carvings and plants. drumming and music started and in pairs mauri warriors came out and did war dances to scare and initimidate the chiefs this went on for a while with different warriors coming out and then finally tehya ll came out and the chief of tehir village chose our chief rob to be the leader and presented him with a gift. the dances were quite scary the way they use their eyes and sudden movements and facial expressions. really good and impressive though. we then all followed them into the village. we split up into smaller groups and gathered around huts were individual mauris gave us talks on different things, our taught us about there main weapon use. after thsi we then followed them into a hut and the men and women perfoemed adnecs and songs and teh haka for us. the women dnaced with poi's traditional balls on string used to strengthen the wrists for war and the men perfomed teh haka, a traditional war dance to intimidate and scare off enemies before war starts. the reason the women used the poi's was because the amuri no longer ahve to fight so the men ahve stopped using them and therefore the women have taken it up. the women are not allowed to learn the haka though. after all that we were allowed to eat, all absolutley famished as was like 9 by this point. the food was so good, a big buffet of fish, meat loads of veg, salad everything! best meal ive had since being away i think. i went outside then and listened to a guy telling us how they cook their food in big holes in the ground with heated volcanic rocks in woven baskets.

after dinner we got back on the bus and left, the driver made rob sing to us on the way back and he in turn made lots of people get up and sing mostly thsoe from diff countries around the world. was a really good night enjoyed it alot! went to the bar below teh hostel that evening for abit and had a dance but went to bed fairly early.

next day we checked otu and went to a hot springs place with geisers but we chose not to go in and so wandered round the town for a while before going back and learning the mauri dances. the boys and girls got split up and us girls got taken off and shown a song and dance using poi while the boys got taught the haka. we then had to perform it to each other, was incredibly funny, the boys were less scary and more funny! enjoyed it.

we then drove out of rotorua to waitomo, after checking in i went for a walk with the group. we firstly went to a bunny shaving place though! was really wierd, they tied up, not in a horrible way though, these really fluffy angora rabbits and then shaved them infront of us. they use the fur to amke clothes as it really soft! we then went onto to do a walk in the forest. i walked it with helen, whos alot like me and we pretty much just talekd about football and grils sport and stuff whcih was cool a change from the usual conversation! really nice girl too got on well! we walked were we would be doing the blakc water rafting the next day.

got back and made a big dinner for us 3 and daleo of bangers, mash, gravy and veg which was really really good! we went out with the group that night and had a bonding session of ring of fire with about 40 people which was funny. melissa i discovered is so so funny! couldnt stop laughing.

got up very very early the next morining whcihw asnt pleasant to go balck water rafting. i was in a group with dale, rob, christian, amy, melissa and helen. we had such a fun time, had to wear stupid wet suits with these wierd shorts whcih were really funny. drove to a river to practice jumping in with our rings, so cold woke up me up straight away! black water rafting is were you sit in individaul blow up tyre rings and go into a cave and use them to float around teh caves and also jump down waterfalls, and generally clamber around caves! had a wiked time cave raving! called ourselves the wetsuit bandits.

got back showered and had hot soup and bagels wcih was v nice as it was freezing cold! then got back on the bus to drive to taupo! stopped at a waterfall just outside and dropped of a few epople for sky divong and thenw ent and took photos of teh water fall whcih is the biggest in new zealand regarding the amount of water coming over it per second. checked into our hostel and then waited to get picked up for our sky diving! got there signed all the forms but then unfortunatley it got too dark for us to do it that day! which sucked as i was really hyped up to do it, but oh well!

booked int o do it the next day. went to teh bar for a drink that night with teh group but was tired and went to bed, fresh for sky diving the next day!

got up quite late next moring, first lie in for a long time. got ready and waited to get picked up for sky diving. had to wait ages till we actually got to do it and in the ned did it about 2 hours after we got there. but it was amasing, got dressed up in bopiler suits with harnesses and stuff. my guy was called damo and i met him , really nice guy, he explained to me what would happen and then we got in the plane! we all decided to 15000m in the end. on the way up i really was completely fine i was first so was sat closest to teh clear plastic door, but i was fine, no fear! took a while to get up and had to use oxygen near the top but once we had they opened the door and my camera man got out and held onto teh side of teh plane, i then sat on the edge with my legs dangling out the plane. dame pushed us off doing lots of somersaults and my camera man followed! was amasing and i wasnt really scared at all. teh onyl thing i didnt like was that i found it hard to breathe for teh first 10secs, but once i had controlled my breathing i was fine and absolutley loved it! was the best thing ive ever done in my whole life, so exhilerating, felt like i was flying! when he pulled the parachute we got pulled upwards and for a monet ti was scary as he unclipped me to amke it more comfortable and at this point you can register how hgih you are wereas before you cant tell as your brain doesnt register it. he let me steer for a while spiralling and stuff was fun! we landed and i was so so excited as you cans ee by the photos! anybody do it its impossible not to love! well for me it was!

after the amsing day we got back cooked and wne tout taht night. had a really fun night with everyone dancing constantly and having a laugh. chattde to lots of people i hadnt really spoken to much before too!