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For many people the South Island of New Zealand has got it all - breathtaking mountains, crystal clear lakes, beautiful bays and hair-raising activities galore.
But that's not to say the North Island isn't worth seeing. Because it's here you really get to grips with nature, including active volcanoes, devastating earthquakes, boiling mud and hot springs.
After Wellington, our first stop was Napier, a town destroyed by an earthquake in 1931 which measured 7.9 on the Richter scale (quite high!). Many buildings were destroyed but the subsequent rebuild produced many Art Deco designs. So now the city claims it rivals Miami as the 'Art Deco captial of the world.'
Our hostel was in an old hotel, which felt very grand, if a bit shabby now. And it was nice just walking round the city at night enjoying the architecture.
From there we made the short trip to Taupo and the pull of daredevil activities on offer again was too hard to resist.
We both did a tandem skydive over Lake Taupo, which was actually a walk in the park compared to the Canyon Swing.
We jumped at 12,000 feet but instead of feeling nervous we just went along with it and enjoyed the experience. It was fantastic and once the parachute opened we just enjoyed the ride back down to earth. It was all over in minutes and we couldn't quite believe we'd done it, but the thrill of falling through the air with wind rushing past will certainly live in the memory!
Lake Taupo formed inside a crater which was created by a massive volcanic eruption 26,500 years ago. In fact, there was also a smaller eruption in about 100AD and the plume of smoke was so big it was charted by the Chinese! Hmm. The volcano is still active so I was quite pleased when we moved on!
But our next stop was Rotorua, where the earth's crust is at its thinnest. So throughout the town there are hot springs and even pools of boiling mud. And this gives the town a lovely smell at times!
'Sulphur City' certainly has its charm though and we spent an extremely relaxing afternoon at the Polynesian Spa. We spent about three hours relaxing in rock pools overlooking Lake Rotorua, dipping in and out of waters which ranged from 36C to 42C. Bliss!
And so we pulled into Auckland, the biggest city in the country. In fact, the population of NZ is just four million and one million of those live in Auckland.
Our bus driver obviously doesn't enjoy the concrete jungle because he said the first thing you should do when you get into the city is get right out again. It certainly is a big contrast to the rest of the country but we're enjoying being back in a thriving metropolis with all it has to offer.
Yesterday we got the ferry across to Devonport, a quaint suburb on the northern peninsular. Here we walked up Mount Victoria, an extinct volcano (Auckland has 48 of them), for fabulous views for miles around.
And today we got another bird's eye view from the top of Sky Tower, a 328 metre communications tower - the tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere.
Tonight we may hit the town before our flight to LA tomorrow. We're both very excited about hitting the States, but will be sad to say goodbye to NZ. It is a fantastic country and I would definitely recommend it to anyone!
So for now, hope you enjoy these ramblings and keep in touch!
Lots of love,
Nikki
xxx
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