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Sorry it has been so long! We have been struggling to find internet access!! So the last update was at the end of our really long walk, and since then we have spent 2 more weeks with our friends we met in Peru, Jennie and Steve. It was so nice to speak to other people! Leigh and I were sending each other mad! So, we went up around the East Cape and stayed in a campsite on the beach where we finally managed to go in the sea without a wetsuit! The waves are big here and Leigh has been teaching me to dive under them, I think he is aiming to mould me in to a surfer chick!!! (???) So then we drove round the cape but in true NZ style, it rained! But we did get to stand on the most eastern point of the world, where the sun comes up first. Shame about the lack of it on that day though! We then carried on to Whakatane where we all went out for a curry to celebrate our engagement, thank u Jennie and Steve! We then worked our way around the Coromandel Peninsula and down to Rotorua where there was another Luge!! This one was bigger, better and faster than the one in Queenstown and we had 5 goes!! Racing each other down! Leigh did look like a little boy though as his helmet (which were proper ‘my first bike’ helmets) kept sitting sideways!! Ill try and upload some photos! We then moved on to Lake Taupo where the A1 GP Rally was on, it was a great atmosphere so we went out drinking! Sadly, none of us were rich enough to actually view the GP so we moved on to our next place! We decided to the Tongariro crossing which is a 8-9 hour one day walk up and over a Volcano. A doddle, we thought, having already done 2 massive walks as a group, so of we went to get our supplies, made loads of sandwiches and at 6am the following morning we got on a mini bus to the foot of the Volcano. It was foggy, very foggy! The visibility was very poor but we were assured that we couldn’t get lost, oh and that it was very windy at the top so to be careful on the ridge!!!! So off we trotted. The first hour was fine, the second however might aswell have been rock climbing!! It was hard work but when we got over the top we were in a massive crater, it was quite surreal because of the fog and further up there were big crater pools that were bright blue and smelled of egg! We then had to climb up again to get out of the crater and this is where it started getting a bit hairy! This part was the ridge and it was extremely windy! Just to give you an idea, if Steve hadn’t have been holding onto Jennie we are not sure where she would have ended up!!! I think I was very grateful for the fog as it turned out we were really high up and the path was only about 3 ft wide at points! I was very glad when we got home! But just a bit gutted that the weather had been crap as the postcard we got of the top is stunning!!! The following day we had to say goodbye to Jennie and Steve, it was very strange being on our own again! We headed over to Mt Taranaki which is supposed to be a perfectly conical, we wouldn’t be able to tell you if this is the case though as it proceeded to drizzle for 3 days non stop so we didn’t get to see the mountain!! Typical! So we gave up and went to Waiotomo Caves where we went on a glow worm and cave tour. We then drove up past Auckland and are now in the Northlands. We had a little mishap on the way where I was driving along a gravel road and as I rounded the corner I saw the massive drop to the river on my right so panicked and neatly put our car in a hedge!!! Thank god we were only doing 20k! Leigh drove after that! We have been snorkelling and wave jumping and have our fingers crossed for some decent weather, although im not sure if we are ever going to be that lucky!! Oh well, lets hope Fiji will be better!!! Well, must go and set the tent up! Hope everyone is ok back home and if anyone fancies a holiday in OZ we will be staying put for a while so come out and see us!!! We miss you!!! Loads of Love Gemma and Leigh x x x x x
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