Hello to you So last time I wrote I was preparing to head off to the Yasawa Islands in Fiji. We decided to buy a week's pass, meaning that we could hop on and off the Catamaran as we pleased; this turned out to be a good idea. The Yasawa's comprise of almost 200 Islands in total, most of which are uninhabitabal. They're best known for the film 'Castaway' being filmed on some of them. Having started on one of the most Northern Islands, I soon found the locals welcoming, and happy to have us stay with them. Our first night (on Matacawelu) came as a welcome surprise. It transpired that there was to be a local ceremony being performed by the residents of the Island, thanking an Englishman for his efforts in helping them obtain clean tap water for the first time in their history. Many of the events I'd been to in Fiji had been catered for the locals, well this one wasn't - I was pretty lucky I guess. A group of us were invited to watch the ceremony, and for dinner afterwards. Due to how far the Yasawa's are from the mainland, most of them don't have electricity, clean, or hot water. Beleive me when I say that I didn't enjoy taking showers in cold salt water; yuk. As each day passed, we headed south, stopping on other Islands. Each Islands general has a different settup. One night we'd be playing dancing games, then doing something different the next. Us four lads spent time playing cards, snorkling and swallowing salt water (I knew I should've invested in a set of snorkles). I almost forgot. The Catamaran we were on hit another, causing the side of our boat's glass side to shatter.....that was pretty funny; the staff just boarded it up and carried on sailing; thankfully no-one was seriously injured. The other islands we stayed on were Naviti, Waya, Waya Laili and.....I've forgotten the other. For our final two nights, we decided to stay on 'Beachcomer'. This Island is considered a party Island, and is USA's / New Zealand's version of Ibiza, we'd timed this stay with Alex's birthday, he was to turn 24. As always with travelling, we met some more great people whilst here; mainly Kiwi people. Without Alex knowing, we'd bought four lime-green Sarongs and a Hawian shirt for us to wear on the night of his birthday; he didn't look too happy about wearing them at first. So off we went for dinner in our sarongs. We'd arranged for a surprise birthday cake to be brought out for him. A typical drunken night followed. We arrived back on the main Island and decided that we'd head for New Zealand as soon as we could. For some reason, I started feeling really unwell. I rarely get ill, so this was a surprise. In all, it took me a week or so to get over it - tonsilitis. We caught a flight to New Zealand the following night. Aukland wasn't as cold as I thought it'd be. I stayed here for about five days or so and wasn't too impressed. I treated myself and went to the cinema (transformers). We went to a Kiwi Pub to watch the Aussie's bet the Kiwi's at rugby. Andy starting cheering for the Aussie's, which clearly didn't go down too well. Whilst there, we went to the harbour and had some drinks in an ice bar. A bar completely made off ice - including the glasses - it was cold. The ornaments were impressive (PAul broke one - silly boy), although we weren't allowed to take photos whilst inside. There was another night were we meet a few girls, who had been invited to an MTV afterparty, so we decided to tag along. Aukland has the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere, it's a skytower stading at 280 meters or so high. I met with Annie (a girl I met on Beachcomer - who was travelling alone having just parted ways with her friend) at the skytower where she gave me a guided tour. Oh yeah, and there was a pool competition on one night, which I won, giving me a $60 bar tab; that doesn't go too far between four lads. We met up with an old school friend (Karla) and her boyfriend (Andrew) for a few drinks, catching up etc... It was good to see a friendly face). At this point of out trip, the four of us decided to go our seperate ways, meeting up again in Queenstown on 2nd August (the first date for when we'd booked our skiing). Due to time-tables etc, Alex and I left on the some morning, as we both wanted to see the far north of NZ. It's said that the far north still holds the history of NZ, and is untouched in terms of landscape - suppossedly beautiful. The bay of Islands is the most northern point of NZ. En route, we stopped at the site of a Kauri tree, a giant tree which can live in excess of 30,000 years. I took a boat ride out to the 'hole in the rock'. This was a tour where we'd see dolphin's, with a possibility of swimming with them; unfortunately we couldn't, as their younger dolphins were with them. We also went to Cathedral Cove. We did however, against expectations, come accross a school of Orca whales which were heading back out to the pacific Ocean. The following day Alex and I caught our bus to Cape Reinga (the northern most point of NZ). We were driven up ninty mile beach, literally on the sandy beach in a specialy adapted coach. Many vehicles get caught in the tide of this beach; this was evident as we saw a few cars half burried in the sand. We came accross some sand dunes and done some boarding (not as good as the sand-boarding in Peru). Our coach then took us up to Cape Reinga. This si where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean met - the waves clashed against eachother showing that they have different tides. After a couple of nights in the North, we headed back to Auckland for a night. So off I went on my own, really looking forward to it. I caught the bus that morning (to the Coromandel Peninsula - Whitianga) via Mt. Eden and, to my suprise, I was the only fella on there (with 12 other girlies - umm). After a while I found myself becoming really annoyed with all the girl talk; it was doing my head in. This is where I met Karen, a teacher from Ireland who I'd end spending some time with. Whilst in Whitianga, I went for dinner with the girls, relieving myself of their company as soon as politeness would allow. That night was to be the start of NZ's bad weather. They were recording their highest winds ever and we were lucky to get out as they'd declared a state of emergency in that area. Now on to Waitomo. Best known for it's cave's, consisting of glow worms, Stalacmites and Staglagtites. Karen and I went to the caves. It was a bit starngs looking up and seeing 1000's of worms glowing in the rock above you - kind of sereal. Later that day I caught the bus to Rotorua, bumping into.....Alex. Rotorua in known by the Kiwi's as 'Rottenrua' as the geothermal activity causes the place to permanently stink like rotten eggs (due to the sulphur). Whilst there, we bumped into Dan (who we'd met in Auckland). He kindly cooked us dinner, so we repaid him with beer. Karen and I went White-water-rafting the following morning, on a grade 5 river (the highest raftable grade). This was great fun. I've done this kind of stuff a few time before, however this river had a seven meter drop amongst others. That evening, Karen and I went to Tamaki Villlage, a Maori Village showing us their history, Haka dances and Hangi food (cooked under ground). Onto Taupo the next day. En route to Taupo, we went to various geothermal pools, and a geyser. We stop at a place called 'rock n ropes'. I took this opportunity to jump from poles to trapeze's twenty meters above ground level; Alex whimped out - he's a big girl when it comes to manly stuff. Then we went to Taupo Airstrip, the venue for our skydive. I was a little nervous before boarding the plane, however when in the air, I just couldn't wait to jump out. My instructor done well to keep me laughing, telling me some appaling jokes whilst on our 12,000 ft ascent. So I'm staring out the side of a rickity old plane above the clouds, I admit to having a few butterflies floating around, then off I jumped. At 12,000 ft you have about forty-five secs of free-fall before the parachute opens. It was nothing I've ever experienced. From that hieght I could see all of Taupo lake (which is the size of Singapore) and both coasts of NZ. I didn't enjoy the opening of the chute - ouch. This is something I'd definately do again; everyone felt the same. At that point I realised that, whilst hiking the Inca trail, I was hiking at 5,000 meters (about 15,000 ft I think), and so put into perspective how high I'd climbed in the Andes. Full of adrenaline, we all went drinking (again) that night. Alex and I parted ways at this point. I went to Wellington (in preparation to go and stay with Lisa and JT), and Alex went on to Wanghnui to see his great auntie. I went out to watch the rugby with a few of the group on my bus, and ended up spending the night with Karen, and a girl named Rosie (who Alex and I had spent a night with in Taupo) amongst others. Whilst in Wellington I met up with a bunch of Kiwi lads Alex and I had met in Taupo - crazy bunch. I parted ways with Karen and spent the following day with Rosie, doing some shopping etc... I'm pleased I met Rosie, as she's not the kind of girl I'd find myself meeting back home. She made me think a little differently about things. Rosie's lives in London, so we'll be catching up back home I hope. The following day I caught the train to Featherstone to see Lisa and JT. I used to work with Lisa and we were quite close. Lisa left work about a year ago to move over here with JT, who'd managed to get a job with the army. Seeing Lisa was great. They looked after me way too much. JT's friend form Uni (Olivia) was also visiting, and so Olivia and I shared a nice little cottage together (big double bed all to myself). I don't remember cooking a meal, or even lifting a finger. We went wine tasting and to a cider orchard, played cards, silly drinking games and had stupid moments in Cape Pallister. Having sepnt a four/five days with Lisa, JT and Olivia, I went back to Wellington to catch up with Alex. Alex and I spent a night with Sam, a girl who we'd met in Beachcomer and lives in Wellington. Sam took us to some bars and we met some of her friends, we had a good night. The next day, Alex and I had romantic moments in the Te Papa Museum and took a ride on the cable-car; exciting stuff. Alex and I then went back to Featherstone as Lisa and JT had kindly offered to loan us one of their ars for a few days. The purpose of this was so that I could then visit Susan, Nigel and Lousie, some extended family who lived nearby. Susan is my aunt's sister who I'd never met before. They live on farmland in the middle of nowhere - which was a welcome experience, having never been in such a position. So Alex and I arrived at Sue's, about two hours late after being lost down various country roads. It was good getting to know Sue, Nigel and Louise; they looked after us well. We found that Louise (21) had alot in common with us. Having Lisa and JT's car meant that we could get about and do our own thing. We met up with Lisa, JT and Olivia once again (for dinner and a poker night). Olivia ended up getting wasted (and she's suppossed to be a responsible 29-year-old lawyer), a funny sight none-the-less. I'm sure Lisa and JT will read this. I'd like to thankyou both for putting up with me. Your over-generosity was greatly appreciated, I know Olivia feels the same. Thankyou once again, I wish you both all the best in your new home. On our last night at Sue's, she kindly cooked us dinner. I downloaded some of the pics I have of her side of the family (Florida holiday snaps). Sue could've believe how much my three cousins have grown up; they also think I look alot like my uncle Aiden, which dissapoints me, as he's getting old, fat and balding. We said our goodbyes as Sue and Nigel would leave early for work that morning. I hope to stay in touch with these guys, particularly Loiuse. So that's me for now. I catch the ferry over to the South Island tomorrow. We've booked some skiing (for a week) in queenstwon. I've been invited to stay at a friend (Matt's) brothers' whilst in Queenstown. Sorry for the delayed blog entry... Take care for now. Ps. I should have some pics on here v.soon. xPx