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Ben & Zella's travels
Hi Guys,
Yet another long one I'm afraid!
Started off in Auckland on 20th June. Stayed at the Fat Camel hostel, which is in the heart of the city. We spent the first day exploring the city and ended up the skytower which has the highest controlled jump in the world - impressive. We then headed off for a bit of culture to the Auckland Museum where we had a great time learning about the Mauri culture and exploring the different exhibits for around 4 hours-time flew!
Our second day was spent chilling and buying thermals to prepare ourselves for the cold. We managed to meet up with Robbie who we met in Thailand and spent a good afternoon with him. That evening we went to the minus 5 ice bar. This was a cool half hour where I had a frisky penguin cocktail and Ben had a blue freeze cocktail - both v.yummy. In here Ben bumped into his old rowing captain from Durham - small world.
On our 3rd night after a day exploring outside the city (volcanoes and the harbour) with Stray travel we headed out with a few friends from the hostel including crazy Devonshire Lou and the Irish Sparkies Trevor and Dennis. We started out at the hostel where I gave a haircut to Devonshire Dan who we met in the fantastic but slightly cold ice bar (I will add this skill to my C.V!) It turned into a bit of a late one and we visited a couple of bars and ended up in a great club till 4am.
We were meant to be catching the bus early Sunday morning but after not hearing the alarm and a mad dash attempt to get to the bus we missed the bus again! So we spent another night in Auckland recovering from the previous night and tying up loose ends.
Finally leaving Auckland we headed North to the Bay of Islands where we spent one night, and we went on a boat trip out to the hole in the rock and saw these private islands where mega rich people have holiday homes, v.nice. On the way back to the port we were escorted by a group of dolphins which was pretty amazing as they jumped through the wake at the front of the boat. That night we had a nice bbq and met Ed and Kate from near Milton Keynes who we will be traveling with on the kiwi experience for the next 3 weeks which is cool, they are really funny guys.
The next day we left to head back to Auckland for one night. On the Tuesday morning we headed off again past the Coromandel Peninsula to Mercury Bay. Here we went to Hot Beach where we tried to make a hot tub in the sand. Unfortunately the tides were against us and we failed. We then went for a great walk to Cathedral Cove. We spent the night at an interesting hostel in Whitianga where we went out with Mylo, Ed and Kate to a dodgy pub called the Blacksmiths Kitchen. Here we got accosted by 3 of the locals on the pool table and had a good laugh in the process.
In the morning it was onto Rotorua where we went on yet another walk through the old mines at Karangahake. This involved running over unstable bridges and nearly falling over. The scenery is out of this world, stunning, We drove through the home of Hobbiton at Matamata into Rotorua where we went Zorbibg. This was great fun as Ben and I sped down a steep hill in a big ball with water in it falling all over the place and laughing hysterically - great fun. The evening was spent at a Mauri culture evening. Here I was presented with a whale bone necklace for remembering the last place the Mauris landed before NZ - pat on the back. Here i did the the Hongi (touch noses twice) with a Mauri lady! It was an interesting evening where they did the Haka for us and cooked us a traditional Mauri meal Hangi style where its cooked under the ground. Very tasty and Ben had 2 helpings of the pavalova dessert - predictable.
Thursday we traveled to Waitopo where we saw a massive rabbit being shaved of its fluffy hair - this is one of the funniest things we have ever seen. Priceless. I went on a walk through the Waitiomo caves to see the glowworms which was really cool to see thousands of little lights on the roof of the caves. It was just like looking up at the stars.
We are now currently in Taupo where we have been for 2 nights. Here we watched fellow team extreme friends jump out of a plane and bungee. We have soaked in the Hot springs and have been soaking up the nightlife in Taupo and dancing on tables!
Today we met up with Joyce and Charlie our Great aunt and uncle. We went out for lunch, went to the Huka falls, Haki powerstation where they take the moisture out of the steam for power, Taupo lake and to a honey centre. It was great to see them and catch up. The afternoon flew by.
Tomorrow we go further south to River valley where we and our kiwi experience friends will be exploring more of this fantastic country and having more laughs.
Hope all are well.
Love you lots
Lots of hugs and love Zella and Ben (aka Chief!!!!!!)
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