Hey all,

First, sorry its taken so long to update and 2nd, thanks to Natalie for helping me sort this out !! Im not PC orintated.

Umm, first day we slept till lunchtime, 15 hours to be exact ! All caught up on sleep and laundry we headed out and did some gift shopping. Yep, a fridge magnet for all ! Except Richard !!

We've been for drinks in a bar made of Ice. for pics check-out www.minus5experience.com and enter the code: m5ak805181706462 where it asks, I've also had a major blond moment and forgotten my pin number and frozen my account ! Duh... but its sorted now. Had a few hours in Auckland Zoo and found that dissapointing, the Elephants looked very sad.

The Base Backpackers hostel was excellent. Floor 4 is female only with 6-8 beds to a dorm and the toilet seat stayed down !!lol

Took advantage of the Free Auckland City tour which included a Free (my favourite word for this trip ) Harbour Bridge Climb with an option to bungy jump off. No... I didnt, not yet anyway ! Enjoyed the rest of the city and ended up at the top of the Sky Tower, 328m, watching the sunset.

The big green Kiwi Experience bus took us north to Paihia on the Bay of Islands where we saw the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet. I conquered my intense dislike of sand and took part in Sandboarding. YeaHa, go me ! lol. Not so fussed on the mixed sex dorms. The two Polish guys sharing ours could drown James out with their snooring. 90 mile beach was intresting but not 90 miled long ?!

Back south to Auckland for 1 night then joined the main tour bus with our guide, Mangee, a peroxide blond,28 yr old bloke in boardies. Hot Water Beach was abit disapointing. High tides and a full moon ment the water didnt get low enough for us to dig holes to sit in. Oh well. The 32 travellers stayed together in Turtle Cove Hostel, Mercury Bay and enjoyed a home cooked meal from the host of spagball. A girl form Sussex in our dorm is covered in mossi bites from Fiji, she tells us there everywhere ! So i;ll stock up with spray before going !

Saturday 24th May 2008. Big day for me. I did some ZORBING... its a massive "hamster ball" you clime inside and get pushed down a steep hill. It was fantastic fun check-out my pics, I loved it and wanted another go. Decided Im gona try ALL extreem sports while i'm here !!!

For any Lord of the Rings fans, we passed through Matamata yesterday, umm that could also be known as "Hobbiton", but most of it is now back to normal as its a big stud horse farming ares. At the Maori culture evening 3bus loads of us enjoyed touring an old Maori village, seeing a show in traditional dress and a frast made the traditional way in an under grounf oven, Awesome! it was "sweet as" !!

Monday 26th May 2008. That days gona go down as ' the best day of my life!!' Awesome! I've done my 1st BUNGY JUMP over water. 47 m -154 feet. The rush was amazing, I cant tell you how proud of myself I am, Im on a real high and still shaking with the adrenaline buzz. To see me check-out : www.taupobungy.com click "daily pic", "find my photo" and enter photo coded: TBNZ805269405141 ...142, ...143, ...144, ...145. AM I MAD OR WHAT?

A few hours later, while still on a high, I did a tandam Sky Dive from 12,000 feet. Jeez, I thought the bungy jump was fantastic- it hardly compairs to this !! 45 - 50 seconds free fall then 5 -6 minutes with the chute open ! Amazing...just the best ! Floating over Lake Taupo with snow covered 'Mount Doom"(lord of the rings) in the background. Awesome...