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Hello,
Firstly as pointed out by Mr Lythgoe... I know my last entry was full of ??? but it was something that happened in the transfer as I always write it in Yahoo! I have said before that I dont pay attention to any detail! hee hee. It must be hard to read though.
Well the ferry to the North island was fine, this can be a bad crossing taking up to 9 hours but we got across in 4. It was a huge ferry with 10 floors, cinema the lot!
We got to Wellington and had a walk around, seems like a nice city and it is actually the capital even though most think that it is Auckland. The next day was an express to Auckland, a 9 hour bus journey on the smallest most uncomfortable bus ever! We went out for a gorgeous curry.yum. Then went to the bar for abit.
The next day we met our bus and our new group for the north island and headed to Hania, which is a beach town. Stayed in a lodge and we went for a hike through the rainforest to Cathedral cove, a lovely beach for a few hours then we went back to camp to have a BBQ.
Then about 7 at night we all got taken to a near by beach, if you dig into the sand and make a pit natural hot water bubbles up and makes a little jaquzzi! Real nice but it was absolutly boiling and I couldnt get in it was so hot! Some did though and it looked fun but a few of us just paddled, i burnt my feet it was so hot! Very weird place though, just on a normal beach!
We left the next day for Raglan, a beach place famous for its surfing! We stayed in an absolutly gorgeous place, loads of wooden cabins in the rainforest! Really cool, this was a place I could have stayed for ages if it had not been for lack of time! Alot of people say allow longer for the South Island but I prefer the North 100%! I wish I had more time here. The South was good but all too organised and safe for me. Everything is too sorted and it almost seems false.Think 'The stepford Wifes', I only saw one police car and people leave keys in there cars etc, sounds good I know but can be dull. The scenery was good but I much prefer the scenery in the North.The North is more culteral and and has abit more grit to it. Given my time again I would spend one week South and ages in the North.
Anyway surfing... i absolutly loved it!!! I felt like i was on a high and i couldnt stop smiling for days!!! I was giddy! We were out for out two hours and i managed to stand up alot! And a few times i even surfed to the beach!!! I love it love it love! it was ace! (even tho we didnt get booties :(
my new hobby!
I am buzzing! Its the best thing i have done all trip! I thought i might get bored of it but i was gutted when the guy said come back to shore! Cant wait for surf school in OZ now! Yippee! The sea was quite warm! Great waves, the best in ages apparently! One girl did dislocate her finger and hurt her ankle! the sea was quite rough, I?had a few hairy moments when I got shoved under, hit by bored and?dragged along by my foot! But it just added to it really! I wish we had more surf near us... the north sea makes me nervous! Wendy and Rich?i def think you should get married in Cornwall now!?And that?Me, Phil, Kirsty and James should go down and 'organise' things a few days before (or surf) hee hee.
I was gutted to leave Raglan the next day, I wanted to stay for?ages! But we were heading to Rotorura via Watima Caves. At the caves me and Kirtsy along with a?couple others decided to do the dry option, as abseiling wouldnt be advised as?our arms were aching so much from?surfing!!!?So we went walking through caves, helmets lights the lot! We all had to turn our lights off? about 25 mtrs in and it was complete darkness, you could not see a thing. Then we turned them on and got on a raft to go down the cave river, turned them off again and the whole cave was just lit up by glow worms! Amazing! It was like the nights sky! We floated down the river in silence for about half hour, it was so?stunning. We?turned round when we got to a waterfall, thank god as I was at the front! But the guide did make sure he hung?the front over the edge! When we walked out of the cave he told us to turn our lights off and we all had to walk, conga?style for a while then?at the same point?as before where we couldnt see a thing, we could now see very clear, plus more glow worms!?Amazing how your eyes get used to it! the glow worms are brilliant creatures, adapting like that to survive caves!?They are actually maggit type?things but they think glow maggits would be harder to market! If anyone saw the David Att prog about glow worms it was here that?it was filmed!
Then we looked around another cave, which was impressive and huge, saw the remains of a Moa (the big bird I was talking about).
Then back on the bus?to Rotorua, we were meant to go Zorbing but it had closed early! So we arrived at the smelly town of Rotorua, smelly coz of all the sulphur from the thermal springs, geyshers and mud pools! It is a crazy town to drive around, steam just coming up from the ground in random places! Me and Kirsty decided to stay at a different hostel than the others as it didnt sound too good. Ours had a massive climbing wall but as I still could barely move my arms from surfing I didnt do it. Kirsty was abit poorly tonight so she had an early one and I made loads of phonecalls!
Today we went to a Maori village. We had a tour around by a local. This village has been there for hundreds of years, all based around the hot spas which they utilise. Its a big family or tribe who all date back to the same ancestor. They cook in the thermal water, bath, boling veg (not the same pool) Its hard to describe really, the photos will make it clearer.?Because its built on kind of a crater of volcanic activity new holes in the ground appear all the time, part of a road just dissapeared the other day! And they have mud explosions about once a month! It was so interesting and I like the fact that they keep their culture and traditions but?still arnt afraid to move forward and modernise. Even though you have to pay abit to get shown round you dont feel ripped off and there are no hidden charges like in other places. After the tour they put on a show for us, Maori dances and songs, the men are so?scray when they do the tongue thing... I thought they were gonna get me! Then we had food cooked in the traditional way, corn and steamed?cake which is wrapped and put in the ground for hours! Very nice though!
Then we left for Taupo, stopped for Zorbing, kirsty did it but I gave it a miss, need to save some money and it was something i wasnt crazy to do! Sooner go surfing again! Kirsty loved it though. Then we all had a last night out in Taupo, lots of drink in hostel bar then on to a couple of bars! Had a dance and even called at the garage for a midnight feast! Just like been a student again!
The next day me and Kirsty got a nomal bus to Auckland... goodbye stray! We went out for our last meal as she left the next day and helen has now arrived!
Me and Helen have booked to go surfing on tuesday before we fly to the Cook islands as I cant wait until OZ to surf again!
Now i need to tell you something important that i forgot on the last blog... in the south island we did a pud quiz, 25 teams, just 5 of us girls, me, kirsty, Selena, Sophia and Fanny. Anyway we came 2nd! Can you believe it! We well beat the lads and everyone else in the plce for that matter! Rachel, Phil, Kev and Rich I think you hold me back when we go to the Chemic... i will be in a team of my own next time and will beat you all! (well maybe not you Kev... you can join me if you want?)
Anyway we are meeting tanya a girl who lives here who i met in SA tommoro i think and probably do some museums and go walk around a Volcano! I am actually for the first time ever up to date with my blog and Photos are on there too. Hopefully they will be videos of me handgliding but maybe not as this comp is rubbish and i cant even view them so they are probably of someone else! Also on the pics and vid the reason i look?stupid, apart from the clothes and the fact i'm hanging froma kite! IS i couldnt turn my head coz of the strap!
Just realised this is full of ??? too, Matt Cheshire why is this happening? (i meant that ?)
Well until next time.
Take Care Love Emma.xxx.
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