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Hello All,
Sorry it's been a little while but i haven't had a lot of time so far to be onthe internet so thought i could update everyone on what we've been up to thislast week in one go! (its an essay I apologise!)
Our Journey started late on Saturday night (26th March) when we left London Heathrow for Dubai with the standard one hour delay. Then with a quick dashthrough Dubai airport and Jack being randomly searched/felt up (obviously dodgylooking!) we made it for our connecting flight to Auckland via Melbourne. Againafter a slight delay we started our 17 hour flight! We finally arrived midday inAuckland on Monday (28th) to glorious sunshine (mid 20s!). We headed straightfor our hostel 'Base' which was located in the city centre. Knowing that weneeded to stay awake till at least 8pm we decided that after a long day of planefood we would grab some dinner early. Being the adventurous people we are wetried an unknown restaurant called Nandos (!) (p.s. not as good as the Englishversion). Once getting back to the hostel at roughly 7pm we realised thatstaying up for that extra hour was going to be a serious challenge and we weresoon tucked up in bed, lights out, bang on 8pm. Just before we got to sleep werealised that Jack had gained 'Kankles' from the plane journey and they werescarily massive! :)
Tuesday 29th March
With Ankles back to normal and a lay in the next morning allowed we soonrealised there was lots we had to do in Auckland. We started off exploring thecity surrounded by blue sky and bright sunshine (easily mid 20s). We soon foundour way to the kiwi experience office to confirm our booking and to find outwhat type of thing we had in store! After a quick visit to a supermarket weheaded for our first new zealand attraction - the Sky Tower! We went up the 220mobservation tower which gave us spectacular 360 degree views of Auckland. One ofthe activities related to the Sky Tower is to do a jump from the top to thebottom. Before this fall the jumpers get spun around to find loads of peoplewatching them from the observation tower. The face of the girl jumping waspriceless - she was absolutely bricking it. The evening finished with us meetingup for dinner with Jack's work friend Annabelle(who happened to be holidaying in new zealand at the same time as us) for a gorgeous meal in her family-owned restaurant. It was really surreal but really nice to meet up with someone connected to home but literally over the other side of the world!!
Wednesday 30th March
Today the real adventure began bright and early as we joined the Kiwi Experience Bus. With nearly 30 other people on the bus from all over the world (Canada, Holland, France etc) we were introduced to our very eccentric/crazy driver and guide Flea. Our first journey was from Auckland to Mercury Bay. On the way we stopped off at Mount Eden which is the highest point in Auckland and gives some amazing views of the city. We were then informed that our next activity Kayaking was not available due to rough seas, however this was no reflection on the weather as the temperature hit high 20s. As we headed into the afternoon our driver suggested that we delay our visit to Cathedral Cove and instead go for a bbq at her's that night. With everyone starting to get to know each other, we all thought it was a great idea and when stopping for lunch we gained essential alcoholic supplier from Pack'n'Save. After being on the bus for a couple of hours we arrived at Turtle Cove Hostel in Mercury Bay which was a lovely privately owned hostel. We were lucky enough to get put with two lovely Canadian girls, however with 26 girls fighting for two showers and only four boys for the male two showers you could say the ration was somewhat unfair! Flea picked us up at 4pm for a 20 minute drive to her house which was in the middle of nowhere! Her house which consisted of an old Kiwi Experience Bus (which she had made into her bedroom) and a newly built demountable which had her kitchen and sitting area in was situated in the middle of a 280 acre forest which she shared with seven other family owners. It was one of the most bizarre houses we had ever seen but explained a lot about Flea's Character! We had the bbq and some drinks and lots of us got chatting in different groups where Jack managed to start talking to some Surrey Boys and I found out one of the girls was from Essex (definitely not your typical Essex girl though!) The group were very friendly and very easy to get a long with and lots had been travelling for at least a few months if not a year already so I looked especially pasty next to them! It soon got very dark and Flea's house didn't yet have a bathroom so we weren't too late in getting back and get into bed!
Thursday 31st March
Our First stop today was Cathedral Cove situated in the Coromandel Peninsula. It was a 30 minute walk up and down this washed away path into this small beautiful beach which was deserted when we arrived ad it was still quite early in the morning. With gorgeous weather, the photo opportunities were endless. We then jumped back onto the coach to head to the 'hot' springs beach. The theory was that at low tide there was a point on the beach that if you started digging into the sand, the water underneath would be really warm and thus you would create a natural hot spring. In practice the only part of the beach that this actually happened on was already taken by other people and they had indeed created a got bath in the sand. For the rest of us the digging got us nowhere before the sea would come and wash any attempts we made away! For a late lunch we stopped at a town called 'Hobbiton' which has become well known because of the Lord of the Rings films and a new movie being made called The Hobbit. After a quick photo we headed for the hostel that evening in Rotorua which was another Base Hostel called 'Hot Rocks'. We didn't have long to get ready for the Maori Experience Trip that we were going on that evening but when we found out the hostel had an outdoor heated pool we managed to find time to have a quick dip and it was seriously lush! We were then picked up for the Maori experience by our Maori guide called Mark who we could tell was a little bit crazy from the start! He introduced us to the word 'KiaOra' which means hello, goodbye, how are you, please and lots more! He then continued to tell us the meaning in 63 different languages - all with their own accent as well - amazing. We then had to pick our Chief for the night who was supposed to represent our tribe so we picked a guy called Ben. They performed a traditional Maori welcoming and showed us around their reconstructed village, We then saw how our food had been cooked - in the ground under hot coals smoked for 6 hours. They performed traditional songs from the Maori culture followed by our buffet style dinner from the food cooked in the ground. It was really tasty but after a while the smoked taste of everything was a bit too much for me. On our way home the bus driver was even more hilarious, as he decided to go around the roundabout several times in a row singing the song 'round and round the mulberry bush'. Was truly hilarious and I was in tears from laughing so hard. Over all the evening was really good as it was both entertaining and actually really authentic.
Friday 1st April
This morning we has the choice of four activities - a geothermal springs centre, a farm show, Luging or Zorbing. We chose Zorbing and with quite a few others headed to the place in Rotorua where they did it. We decided we would definitely do two go's each which came to 75 pounds for both of us to do two runs so didn't think the price was too bad for it. For anyone that doesn't know, Zorbing is basically a giant inflatable ball (looks like a hamster ball) that you sit in the middle of and get pushed down a big hill! Our one also had water in it so you get really wet as well! The ride only actually lasts two minutes but we went together in the same ball, so you end up being thrown around and crashing around in the ball which was absolutely brilliant and so funny! The second time we went down we had quite a few of the people from the bus lying on the ground so that we rolled over them (the ball is really soft so it doesn't hurt!) which again was really cool. We got the photos of that so you can see the pictures on Facebook! We then headed to Waitomo which is famous for it's caves and the glowworms tours. We went on the Black Water Rafting Labyrinth Tour which lasted three hours with just over an hour being spent in the caves in wetsuits with a rubber ring style piece of equipment to float inside the caves with. The rafting was so good, at certain points we were told to turn off all our lights so we were floating along the caves in pitch blackness with only the glow worms on certain points to guide us. The two guides Tom and Cam were good fun and made it even better. Just over an hour was the right amount of time as we were absolutely freezing from the water in the caves (as I'm sure you can imagine). We then made our way to Kiwi Packa Hostel and for dinner went to a pub called 'Curlys bar' which was right next door to the hostel. We all had a bit of a drinking session after in the pub, with a game of killer pool (which Jack came third in) and everyone getting a bit merry! We eventually left at about half 12/1 in the morning but found out this morning that some of the girls and our coach driver got involved with a lock in and didn't leave the pub till gone 5am!! So think it turned out to be a pretty messy night for some people!! It was such a good night and feels like our whole bus really get along with each other and actually have such fun doing everything!
Saturday 2nd April
This morning Flea slept through her alarm and had to be woken up by us to get going! She was very apologetic and we'd all heard the stories from the night before so wasn't really surprised to find out she over slept! Today we started with a half an hour walk looking round the area we went caving in on Friday. We then moved onto Taupo where we have two nights at the Base hostel booked. The sky diving trips were supposed to take place this afternoon but with the weather changing it has been on and off all day (they'll only let you sky dive if its clear skies! About two hours ago they decided that they were going to try and take half the group to sky dive so Jack has managed to get on that group and could be free-falling as we speak!! I decided to save my money (costs about 130 pounds for the 12,000 jump) as I've already done it once before so that I can do more activities later on, plus I was a tad worried about my ear drum bursting again and then having to fly a lot with it!! Tonight we haven't got too much planned as tomorrow we will be doing the Tongariro Alpine Crossing which is a 5.40am start as it's an hour and a half drive away and it is a 19km walk over mountains so can take between 7 to 9 hours but is supposed to absolutely beautiful and is rated as one of the top 10 walks to do in the world! I expect to struggle a lot but hopefully I'll be able to do it! Going to have to take a lot of food and water with us as well. If Jack doesn't manage to skydive today I may have to go with some of the other people in the group but fingers crossed the sky will be clear enough for them! Spent far too long on the internet now so I know it's an essay and a half but hopefully up all caught up with me now
Sweet as Bro!
Lots of New Zealand Love
Kat
xxxxxxx
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