Hello everyone,
Well... since the chinese man snoring and the moving of rooms, I have been up to alot....

We went to a place called Piha with Leah and a few friends... was quality... big waves and body-boarding in the surf... ended up with a bag of chips... who needs the lil oyster?! After that me and Nick came home, got ourselves kitted out for the night and out for a few beers... was hoping to watch Man Utd play, but completly got the time difference wrong- result! oh and they lost, even better. The night ended with the traditional Kiwi food of Burger King.

The next day, we ended up in an aquariam/sea life centre... was really good, huge sharks, big stingrays and loads of other sea creatures... that night, ended up in the cinema, saw a film called 'Lars and the real woman', weird, and pretty much shat, although the idea of having a fake woman became appealing (just for ornamental purposes of course).

What else... we got on a random boat, ended up on an island called Devonport, got completly soaked by the rain, climbed a hill like everest (went off the traditional method of climbing a hill i.e. follow the made path, and ended up scaling a hill using footholes made of soft mud... flannel anyone?) Had some chips... ran away from enormous sea-gulls that eyed up Nick for dinner and came back to the hostel and packed for the campervan!

The campervan day has arrived (yes that is the sound of trumpet playing), me and nick travelled the length of Auckland to pick up the van.... got completely lost at one point finding the place, ended up at the wrong airport... work that one out. Anyways, spent what felt like 6 weeks trying to get the keys of the fella in the van place... and finally we were on our way! Went back into the city, got
all our bags and our bags of shopping (yes, including the bag with a great split down it, which if you have been keeping up, was the one which revealed all that expensive tesco value food) and drove North of Auckland and camped just outside a town called Whangeria. Lovely little spot we found- a lay-by next to a motorway and next to a field where the cows were bigger than the campervans- burger anyone?

Woke up the next day, bad back, smelling of a tent (yes you know that smell) and generally a bit damp...out came the baby wipes and i was as good as new. Got back on the road and drove for miles, up to a place
called Mantarai Bay (I'll have to check the spelling, as they're all weird). That wasn't dull, almost ran out of petrol getting there, ended up getting petrol from a hill-billy style town, which overlooked what can only be described as a gypsy site.... lesson learnt there! The Bay itself, when we found it,was beautiful, the pictures pretty much show that. A public toilet there too- even better! Once, we had our jam sandwiches and got off the swings, we were back in the motor and driving South to KeriKeri. We stopped for a bush walk... overlooked a little river and harbour, stopped near a beach had lunch and then we were off to find our next sleeping area... En route we came across Harura Falls just North of Pahia, 7m'ish (you know me/men, always exaggerate the length/height of something), picturesque place... (see pictures) and then drove into town, where we found a lovely little spot to sleep for the night, bang on the beach, overlooking the ocean.... Woke up and literally stepped outta the camper and into the sand. Reminded me of the years i spent in Shellness, although, it was without the needles and trolleys that you generally find- god i miss it.

We decided we'd go and find some nice beaches etc. found a place called Snells beach, had an outdoor shower, so managed to have our first wash in 3 days... the weather was warm'ish, but the shower was ice cold... was funny watching everyone walk past, whilst i was there armed with my tesco value shampoo,
surprised it didn't attract stray dogs. Chilled out there for a bit, went to Sandspit and then we decided to drive down to Hamilton... jesus christ... what a drive, almost all day was I behind the wheel of this.... stopped at a place called Orewa, was lovely, beautiful sandy beach, had some food there and chilled out for a bit... took a wrong turn up an unmade, almost vertical hill... like being
on scarborough drive, without the road markings, the tarmac, and the beautiful scenic views of the steel mill.

After that we were greeted with a day of complete rain! So, quickly went to an info place and decided there and then that we'd go blackwater rafting in the Waitomo Caves. Got down there, used every available plug socket to charge everything up... took the piss with the soup and free bagles... and launched ourselves into pitch black caves, armed with a rubber ring and a mining light... happy days. it was quality though, saw loads of glowworms and jumped off waterfalls backwards... finished the rafting off with a 'find your way out of the caves with no light'... was going round and round in circles for ages... then finally saw the light... sod being a glowworm. Spent the night sleeping in a car park... nice.

Monday soon followed Went to a huge waterfall called the marokopa falls... well worth the long drive up mountains to find the place, also saw a natural bridge made of limestone (can't remember the name of it) but do remember trying to climb up it and falling arse over tit down the slope whilst a huge cow looked at me.Fantastic. Like the true tourists that we are, we visited the caves museum (actually got it free with the rafting) was full of rocks... rocks... stuffed animals... and a small cave you can try and fit yourself through... well, had to have a go, just about got my arse around the corners. Then it was off to a place called
Otorohanga where randomly we decided to do some rock climbing, was a laugh... Jade pretty much nearly killed nick by forgetting to tighten up his rope as he was climbing.

Left the rock climbing with sore nuts and sweaty hands and drove down to a place called Matamata... here is where they filmed Lord of the Rings... complete and utter rip off, about £30 to see a house, didn't like the film that much! Decided not to bother; however, Matamata was not without incident... we arrived there quite late at night... parked up on this sort of deserted sittingbourne like place... just got out the car to chat to Nick when this fella just appeared from nowhere... did he come out of the wheel arch, the drain, on top of my roof-rack... nobody knows... anyways, his name was Martin... proceeded to be a tour guide around Matamata, he started off by giving me directions to a place we
could park (he went on for 15 minutes with direction, i lost the will to live), then told Nick that the cut on his foot could be leading to septacemia, and this is what Martin had and died from it, but somehow he was standing there talking to us, he then told us about someone getting killed by a 14 yr old apparantly it was a backpacker, then he invited us to stay in house for the night... i didn't fancy getting carved up, cooked and eaten... so we drove off in a hurry... ended up sleeping in McDonalds car park... wish you were here?

Woke up to the Golden Arches (McDonalds), brushed our teeth in the toilet and quickly got out of the place... we were heading to Tauranga and Mount Monganui... arrived there, climbed an enormous mountain for an hour and a half, got some quality pics of the area... had lunch on the beach and then headed off towards Rotorua.

I managed to pick up a random leaflet called 'hells gate', was a natural mud and thermal spa... drove there on the way down to Rotorua... was a joy being caked in mud and smelling of egg for the next 3 days.., then we ended up sleeping outside a school (another glamorous setting).

Wednesday, woke up, decided to go and book some activities.... the weather was lovely, so there and then I booked myself onto a sky dive! Drove straight down to Taupo, got myself in the jump suit and we were off in the plane... the views didn't compare to those from my balcony at home, looking over a canal bank ridden with rubbish and the scenic views of a breakers yard, however, that didn't matter, i was about to jump out of a plane... the freefall was quality... had some german on my back... was worried (wondered if his descendants had been shot by mine, and therefore he had it in for me), anyways, held on tight, and flew towards the floor, he spinned it around when we had the parachute up,
left my stomach on the plane at that point... was quality though! Went back to Rotorua, with a clean pair of pants and off to a Maori village... not alot to say about that really... bit too commercialised, although there was an 'all you can eat buffet', so made the most of that one.

Next day, we decided to go whitewater rafting... see the pictures... was good, 7 metre waterfall and a couple of 3 metre falls, almost came out of the boat a few times, nearly broke my legs when i was sitting on the front of it and we collided with rocks, got completely soaked... reminded me of the days down barton's point, where i was guaranteed to get the canoe with a hole in it. Ended the day with another eggy spa.... full of Japanese!! Me and Nick had never seen so many naked japanese men in all our life, was quite disturbing!

Well, the next day consisted of a bungy... called the swoop, was tied up into a sleeping bag and drop to the floor, only to be swung back up, the freefall was quality.. thinking my stomach is getting better with the drops! Hopefully
I'll have uploaded the video onto facebook for you all to see.... then went on a jet boat around a track, 450bhp, was quick, but wasn't worth the money really. Finished the day off with zorbing (getting into a massive inflatable ball and launching ourselves down a zig-zag track down a hill), oh and the ball was full of water, so was flying around everywhere in it.

Last activities in Rotorua consisted of a Gondola ride (like a chair lift) to a top of a huge hill, and then basically getting on a skateboard with handles, pull it forwards to brake, leave it forwards and there's no brake... me and nick
raced down the hill, Nick flew out once... was funny. Finished the day off by going to the 'craters of the moon', a thermal valley with steam and craters coming out of the ground, cheap and cheerful and filled some time.

Anyways, that's all for now.... pretty much updated with my life in New Zealand.... it's been quality so far, probably the best part of the whole travelling.

Keep in touch if you're reading this.

Take care,

Much Love,

Marcus x