Hey everyone, well i have got the daunting task of summarising the last week.  It has been so amazing and action packed i am actually nervous about doing it!   Plus i am absolutely exhausted (and rather smelly)as i have not quite recovered from sleeping in the car last night (Richard's money saving scheme)!!  Actually, despite my negative attitude to the whole idea it wasnt such a bads night sleep and im only slightly crippled as a result.  :-)  The most amusing bit of the whole affair was not the getting settled and going to sleep bit as it was dark and quiet in the rather posh residential area we chose to gypsy-fy but in the morning when we somehow managed to sleep in longer than planned and we were just 'getting up' as the local school children walked past.  Hummmmm  Anyway, it saved us $50 so it was worth the mild humiliation!!

Right, ill go back to the start of NZ....
We arrived into Auckland in the early hours of last Sunday morning after a 12 hour flight from Santiago, we picked up our hire car and off we went...  We were slightly nervous about our (Richard's) first drive being into the centre of one of NZ's largest cities ..but we needn't have feared.  NZ, we have discovered doesnt really 'do' cities and even the very centre of town was very very quiet!!  We managed to fight off the temptation of going to bed as we were moving on again the next day. Instead, we got some food and set off to 'hit' Auckland...we had a great time up the Sky Tower, the Southern Hemispheres tallest structure, and then spent ages watching the cities Christmas parade go by....  Its still weird getting our heads around CHRISTMAS...i mean how can it be...?  its sunny and hot!!  Weird!!  We bought an advent calendar for the car yesterday so we are starting to get in the mood!! 
On monday we drove north up to the Bay of Islands.  The drive was an experience in itself...we kept doubting ourselves as to whether we were on the right road as State Highway 1, the biggest road in NZ, really doesnt feel like a main road, its one lane, windy and so so quiet- giving us a taste of how unpopulated NZ is.
On Tuesday we were up and about early and down at the pier for 8.30 am for our action packed adventure.  First we were taken out into the bay to see if we could spot dolphins..... and then, once they were sighted, we were quickly kitted out in out wet suit and snorkle gear before being pushed off the back of the boat!!  The next 50 minutes were truly amazing as we SWAM WITH THE POD OF DOLPHINS. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!  They (about 6 ) were all around us and so so friendly and happy, plunging under us and then jumping out of the water.  The lady who was running our tour guide said that we had really had a good day and that, because it was one of the first really hot and sunny days of summer, they were in a great mood.....  And what was even more special was that they were wild and we were seeing them and interacting with them in their natural environment.  And they were choosing to hang around with us :-)  In the afternoon...after a hot shower to turn my lips back from blue to red and stop my hands tingling, we had a boat cruise around the hundred or so islands of varying sizes and poped off a few times to see the views from the various islands themselves.  A really great day...finished off with fish and chips - yum!! 
On Wednesday we drove south, back past Auckland and down to Waitomo.  This area, famous for its limestone caves is lovely countryside, lush and green and hilly (not dissimilar to home actually!! apart from the palm trees...oh and the sun :-)) 
Then Thursday (which was actually a disgusting wet and windy day) we were on a mission for another crazy, adrenaline pumping adventure.....this time, caving, abseiling and black water rafting!!  I really wasnt sure what we had signed up for but we were all syked up to give it a go ;-0  and it really was fantastic!! Once we had kitted ourselves up into wetsuits, harness, boots and helmet we absailed 35 meters or so into a cave, then crawled along a narrow passage before zip lining in the pitch black..  It was only once we had all got together again (6 in our group) and we were allowed to turn on our head lights again did we realise that we had just zipped over an underground river!!  Then they made us jump into the river off a 4.5 meter rock - jeees it was cold.  Then we hauled ourselves up steam by a rope on our little individual black water rafts.  At the top we were once again made to turn off our head lamps so we could clearly see the glowworms which populated the top of the cave and shone like stars in the night sky - Beautiful. Then off again down stream.... by now the disgusting wet and windy day above ground was starting to affect us under ground too....and water levels were rising!!  hummmm this was not part of the plan!!  After floating down steam, using our wetsuits as boyancy, and throwing ourselves, bellyflop style to ensure we didnt go too deep, off a 4 meter high waterfall we then tried to turn up a side stream and walk against the current.  Our guides quickly decided that this might not be a great option as the current was so strong we almost couldnt move against it....  And when they checked a guage they realised the waters had actually risen too high to get out that way anyway.  They used an underground phone to call the office and found out that the cave had actually been closed off to other tours, ours was the last one out...dedederrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.... So, we were taken the long way round, more floating, another waterfall to negotiate before we finally saw the light!!  So exciting, slightly nervewracking, but definate worthly worth it...."the most extreme it ill ever be"said our guide - AWESOME!!! 
On Friday we drove North again, this time up the Coromandel peninsular to meet up with Susie and Shane at Cook's Beach.  They had kindly arranged with some friends for us all to stay at their bach, (NZ beach house)  which was really beautiful, situated in an area oozing with white beaches! and this was where we spent most of the weekend.... or on Shane and Susies's profoundly named 'yella fella' boat!  On saturday we went fishing and despite us all getting wetter than planned (me especially) which was due to the extra weight in the boat apparently (what extra weight!!) we had a fantastic days fishing, we somehow managed to anchor ourselves above a fish congregating hole (technical fishing term) and caught some absolute woppers....which we went home and cooked for tea- yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum.   Sunday, we went to an even more secluded bay and Shane 'hunter provider' donned diving gear and loaded us up with Scollops which we then cooked on their cute little stove on a beautiful white beach, with not another soul in sight...... and ate within about 15min of them leaving the sea....will resaurant scollops ever live up ?? - i doubt it!! As well as all the fishing and eating it was so so nice to catch up with S&S (sorry guys, is that cheesy?) we managed a bit of card playing too (which i have only mentioned due to the fact i won....coming from the back to win a mammoth game of mexican poker and stealing the victor from MR W, hummm it was sweet :-)he he...he'll hate me when he reads this!!  (She cheated! -R) That reminds me...MUM - can you email me the propper rules for mexican poker?  We kind of had to make them up!!  Sunday evening, after sad goodbyes Richard and i set off south whilst S&S went back to Hamilton....
So, then it was the night in the car, enough said..... and today we have arrived in Roturua, booked White Water Rafting for tomorrow.....and spent the day looking at bubbling mud and squirting water which is erupting all over this volcanically active town.  Plus we saw a maori show - check out the photo....who has the scariest hakka face ;-)  he he.....
So thats us, up to date!  Hope you enjoyed the read.  Love sarah xx
ps, Rich is having photo uploading problems so they might be a day or two when we get somewhere with a faster connection - sorry!