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Well hello there everyone and greetings from extremely hot and sunny Rotorua and a Katie who is very proud to announce that she has not yet diced with sunburn. I am a nice biscuit colour all over thank you very much Carly so you can shove that up your arse please.
Hmm, well since I last wrote I have installed myself on the Kiwi bus and made a group of friends who I will be travelling with for at least the first few days, which is nice. It's so weird out here, you know someone for an hour and you feel like you've known them for your whole life.
After I last wrote I got myself on the bus and we had a bit of a tour round Auckland. You know how I love a good fact so pay attention please: New Zealand has about 4.2 million inhabitants and 1.2 million of them live in Auckland. It is the only city in the world which stretches from the west to the east coast and because it doesn't have a circular motorway like the M25, it takes the same amount of time to get from corner to corner as it would to fly to Australia (4 hours).
We spent our first night in Mercury Bay which was just a stopover really but a very pretty town. There are waterways going to everyone's back garden so they can sail to the shops. Now we are in Rotorua which is a very volatile part of the country where the earth's crust is very thin. About 130 years ago lake Rotorua erupted and covered everyone's houses in metres of mud, trapping whole families so they suffocated. There are weird hillocks in all the fields which are rocks thrown by the explosion, and some have been pushed up from under the earth. New hot geysers sometimes open up in the middle of the night in the city's parks and have to be taped off because they can melt a hole in your shoe instantly. Everything smells of egg because of all the sulphur.
Last night we went to a cultural night to learn about the Maoris, in a purpose built Maori village in the woods, it was really cool, especially when you consider the massive free buffet. It's amazing how hot weather and lack of funds makes you eat only when you actually need to, all my trousers are too big for me now,I am going to have to buy some smaller clothes!
I have been chilling out today in the pool which is as warm as bathwater. Sometimes I suddenly realise all over again that not only am I in New Zealand but I am on holiday for a VERY long time.
We are going out for a few drinks tonight, wine is pretty cheap here - a bottle of Hardy's Well is the equivalent of 2.50GBP but no refrigeration in our very basic hostel which means it's going to be deliciously warm, I estimate about 25 degrees.
I will add phots in a few days but I don't have loads at the moment and it takes bloody ages so I will get the uploaded while I do my emails or something at the weekend.
Activities for this week include visitng a glowworm cave (by floating through it on rubber rings in wetsuits) and skydiving (I won't say when as the mother has requested that I don't) I have also spanked 300 quid on a trip out to the east of the island which apprently is amazing -I get to stay on a farmstead and watch the sun rise at the first part of earth to see a new day. It will be mint but it may mean extending my stay in NZ for a bit - there is just too kmuch to see.
Oh yeah, I went to hobbiton yesterday and had my picture taken with a statue of Gollom, I only mention this for the people who don't think Lord of the Rings is a load of turd.
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