Sooooo....I know I haven't written for aaaaaages....well infact it's only just over 2 weeks but I have done soooooo much that I am going to have to split this blog into 2!

So mike and I said farewell to Australia and landed in Auckland on 22nd Feb. We had one night in Auckland before catching our Kiwi Experience bus the next day...(this all nearly went very pete tong as our alarm didn't go off and we woke up 7 minutes before the bus was due...cue massive panic and throwing of items in to rucksack!

So onto the bus...weather was pretty pants for first few days of trip...lots of wet sodden walks...I was sensible enough to buy a waterproof but Mike refused so spent much of the first week drying his clothes! First night was spent in Mercury Bay with not too much going on except some good old bonding over a game of ring of fire! Met an amazing crowd the first night (mainly 3 bornemouth lads, Mark, Ryan and Paul (who looks a lot like Ringo Star) a german girl, Annika and a German guy, Tim and 2 surrwey girls, Sarah ad Anna) who we have stuck with all the way to Queenstown! Next stop was Rotorua...or rot-a-rua....as the stench from the thermal rock pools smells a lot like sewage! Wasn't too sad to leave there...stopped in at a maori cultural centre where the guys learned the haka (or the rugby dance done on that BBC1 advert for those of you who are uncultured...such as myself)! the guys are supposed to look intimidating...sufficed to say Mike looked more like he was grinding to a Jay Z song than doing an intimidating Maori dance!

After all that poncey dancing we headed to Waitomo...here we had booked to do some black water rafting! I was cackin it a bit because I'm not all that comfortable with small dark spaces and this is a lot like caving...but ended up having an awesome time! They suit you all up in a wetsuit and boots...oh not forgetting the helmet with the lamp on...was looking rather sexy...and then head off to the caves with a rubber ring in tow! Wlak round these incredible caves and do a bit of floating on your rubber ring...also had to jump arse first off of a few waterfalls! A few times we had to turn all our lights of to appreciate the glow worms! Was pretty cool! Glow worms are infact transparent and the glowing substance is their poo...but as the guide quite rightly told us, noone would go and see it if they advertised it as the cave worms with shiny sh*t! nicely put!

Back onto bus and next stop is Taupo....this was big decision time as the list for people wanting to skydive was rapidly approaching me on the bus! AHHHHHHHH!! After much peer pressure from Mike and our little possy I decided to go for it...there was the option of doing 15000ft or 12000ft...for some absurd reason I was comforted by only doing 12000ft...god knows why as your pretty much b*****ed from any height of the parachute doesn't open!

So on approaching Taupo all skydivers jumped in another bus and headed for the skydiving centre! Think my brain actually began to shut dwon at this point! Me, Anna and Sarah managed to go first...less waiting around and less time to change ones mind! Only 3 go at a time...plus the perosn you are strapped to and your personla camera man! Get all geared up in the very flattering red jumpsuits and skullcaps and off we go! My skydivig guy was called Mike...coincidence?!? All jump in tiny plane just about big enough for the 9 of us! Me and the girls played Rock. Paper Scissors for the jumping out of plane order! I drew last!! DAMN IT!!! Which meant I had to watch the other girls plummet first! the skydiveing guys all really wind you up...we were their 12th group of the day so they don't really have much sympathy for nerves...your best to pretendt yoru fine otherwise they mess with you even more! Anyway...count down begins with 30 secs till destination height! Anna goes first but I don't notice because I have forgotten how to breathe and cut off the oxygen supply to my brain! See sarah go and begin to slide forward to the door! Chris (my camera guy) steps out on to side and mike sits us on the edge....OH HOLY MOTHER OF GOD....WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING!!! No count down....just tumble out....the girl at check in had warned that we night black out or not know what the hell was going on...but I knew exactly what was going on! Freefalling was amazing!! Chris was infront filming and making me do poses such as superman and swimming! Was extremely surprised to see that my brain was working! Then chris grabbed my hand and sent us into a spin! Before i knew it our 45sec freefall was over and Mike was tapping my hands (the sign to hole my harness because the parachute is about to open) Bit jerky when the parachute opens...and then all of a sudden eerily quiet...don;t realise how much the wind makes noise until you stop! Mike takes my goggles off and puts me in a better seatind position so that I can just chillax after my 8000 ft plummet! Views are out of this world! Can see both sides of New Zealand! then Mike starts to have a laugh and spin the old parachute...don't realise it at the time but the spinning is making me incrdibly motion sick! Land with a bit of a bump and stand around screaming like a massive girl with Sarah and Anna....none of us can quite believe what we just did! Go to watch our DVD's and Mike and Mark comment that I have gone a very green colour...think I may chunder for a while...but that soon passes! Can't wait to show you all the dvd!! Luckily they put music over it so I don't think you will be able to hear my profanities as I tumble out of the plane!

Anyway my fngers are going a bit numb now so I will stop it there...tune in soon for second instalment!!

xxxxxx