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We woke up early on Tuesday morning and headed over to Mercury Bay on the north eastern peninsula. It was a pretty rubbish day and we couldn't really see anything so we couldn't make hot pools in the sand on hot water beach and we pretty much just went over to our hostel and had a bit of a dvd day. This being the case, we decided we weren't going to let the rain dampen our spirits and some of us swam and paddled anyway, including me! Despite the rain, it was a bit of a bonding day and we got to know each other and made lots of friends. One girl I get on particularly well with is called Sinead from Bath in England.
On Wednesday we woke up to sunshine thankfully! We headed down to a place called Rotorua and went on a lovely gorge walk, then went to one of the 3 places in the world where there are natural geysers. They were incredible, steam coming out of the ground everywhere and mud pools over 100 degrees C! Unfortunately it didn't erupt when we were there but apparently it often erupts with water up to 30m in the air! It was really cool though, definitely worth a couple of hours wandering around there.
In the evening we went to a Maori cultural type thing, it was really cool and well worth the money. To begin with, we had to choose a cheif from our tribe to stand infront of the Maori warriors who came and challanged them with their spears doing all kinds of war dances and war chants. It was really interesting to see. We were then allowed to enter their village and we looked around there a bit and spoke to the Maoris and saw how they lived. We went into a little theatre and they sang lots of Maori songs and told us stories and did an AWESOME haka! It was sooooo cool. Then we all had a traditional Maori feast which I can't remember the name of right now, but it's like a delicious roast dinner cooked in an underground oven. I ate so much and could barely move afterwards!
On Wednesday morning we got onto the bus and headed to an activity centre where all the activities only cost NZ$25, so I decided to go on a jet boat which sprinted around a 1km race course a couple of times, reaching 100km/h in just 4 seconds! It was so much fun! Very scary though hurtling towards the edge of the track and turning at the very last second! Our drivier is apparently 2nd in the world which is awesome!
In the afternoon we went on south to Waitomo where there are amazing natural lakes made from limestone, and Sinead and I and some others embarked on an adventure called "the Black Abyss" which was 5 hours down in the cave. It was pretty cold but well worth the experience. It started off with a 40m abseil down into the caves, then a zip wire down further. I think the zip wire in the pitch black was my favourite, it was soooo much fun and really fast! Then we jumped off a cliff about 4m hight into a pool and went on rubber rings through the caves quite a long way looking at the millions of glow worms all over the walls of the cave, it was pretty magical and felt like a dream just floating down. We went down a little water slide which was good fun, but unfortunately one of the other girls dislocated her shoulder on this and had to leave early from the nearest exit! The rest of us soldiered on though and ended up by climbing up two waterfalls to exit the caves. It was a gorgeous clear night and we could see the stars when we got out of the caves. They cave us hot chocolate and cookies and all sorts down in the caves which was a nice added bonus!
We then got into a nice warm shower as quickly as we could because it was flippin freezing in the water down there! 12 degrees I think it was. We did have wetsuits which made it better but it was still nice to get into a shower to warm up! Then when we finished that they gave us toasted bagels and piping hot tomato soup which was a fantastic way to finish off the experience! It was so exciting, it was my first time caving, and it was certainly worth the money!
When we got back to the hostel we had a quick change of clothes then headed over to the only "pub" in Waitomo and hung out with our guides for the evening because they were pretty cool Kiwis!
All in all, it has been a pretty awesome first few days in New Zealand! And even though it is still pretty chilly here considering it is winter, it seems to be really sunny and clear the majority of the time now, so it is really beautiful. The landscape is just stunning and I can't wait to see what else New Zealand has to offer! I am pretty nervous today because I'm about to get onto the bus and head down to Taupo where I will be doing my first skydive from 12000ft!!! ARGH! HELP ME!!
Anyway, I hope you are all having as good a time in England as I am here!!
Lots of love
Joelle
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