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Well hello for South America. HAHA. Not really there yet but will be soon. Well i say soon, we have a 12 and a half hour flight coming up. We are in Auckland waiting around for a shuttle bus to take us to the airport. The five and a half weeks we have spent in New Zealand have absolutely flown by. Its been absolutely brilliant here. We have done more activities here than anywhere else we have been. The scenery, especially on the south island is second to none. I must admit though i am very much looking forward to leaving western living for a bit more cultural living and harder travelling. Everything is so easy in Aussie and NZ. South America will be a different kettle of fish altogether. Definately feel ready for the challenge. The Inca trail in Peru is going to be one of our main events there.
Anyways, just a few things to tell you about in our last couple of weeks in New Zealand. After Taupo we headed to Rotaroa. Arriving in Rotorua and you immediately know you are somewhere like nowhere else. The distinctive smell of sulphur together with lazy drifts of steam escaping into the air let you know you are in Rotorua, NZ. Just minutes from city centre hissing geysers, scaling water, bubbling mud and sinter formations provide more evidence of the incredible earth forces. A remarkable place. Here we went caving for a day, known as the Abyss. We Abseiled down a 40 metre drop into the depths and then floated down the under water rivers, illuninated by the glow worms. Pretty cool. Also celebrated Leeroys birthday here, which is also St Patricks day. So double the drunkeness that night. As a birthday present for Leeroy, we all went Zorbing (rolling down a hill in a big ball) and luging down a hill. Both were great fun. We all went in the same ball for the zorbing and its absolute chaos as you can imagine. I accidently elbowed Tom in the face on the way down. Will send the photos soon. almost forget. Here in Rotorua we also went to Mauri village for a cultural evening, learning about how they live and a full buffet. Was a really good night out, especially watching the Haka. The buffet was just awesome.
Leaving Rotorua, we headed to Auckland for a night before going north to the Bay of islands. Its was Toms birthday so me and Leeroy treated him to a Japanse meal. The next day we were off to do some diving at the poor knights islands, which required a two night stop over in Whangerai. The hostel we stayed at here was very homely and even had a trameline that we put to full use. The diving at poor knights islands was really good. Rated by Jack Cousteau as one of the top ten dive sites in the world. Very different to the Barrier reef as you can touch everything here and are allowed to use as much oxygen as you like. In Aussie you have to leave a certain amount. Here they said use it all if you like. The atmosphere of the dive is very different. More sinister I thought. Not as colourful as the GB reef. Kinda felt like a great white was lurking around the next corner. There were also this bushes under water, with red/autumn type leaves that Me and Tom went diving into. Was great fun. We also saw a sting ray and a scorpion fish, whilst on the dive. I now have 12 logged dives and 17 altogether, so starting to feel a bit more experienced. When i get back to England im planning on doing some wreck diving and maybe get my advanced qualification.
After two nights in Whangerai we continued north to the bay of islands. We were purely here to do some sea fishing. We were fishing for the snapper fish and for our dinner. Unfortunately the ones we caught werent big enough to eat. I managed to lose a monster of a fish as he swam under the boat and snapped my line. Kind of reminded me of the Jaws scene. After our trip here we headed back to Auckland. We stupidly decided to drink on the bus, which resulted in us all bursting for the loo by the time we arrived back in Auckland. Was a funny sight watching us all running from our bus to the nearest loo. Anyway, turned out to be a good night. Strolled in as the sun was rising and climbed into the nearest bed to the door, which didnt happen to be mine. Whoops. Yesterday was hangover day and today is going South America day. I have one last thing to say about New Zealand
SWEET AS SWEET AS SWEET AS (from the infamous Cheese, kiwi bus driver)
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