we've now been in New Zealand for about 12 days. started our Kiwi Experience bus tour on the 1st, and weve been to the Bay of Islands, in a town called Paihia. it was a really cute little beach town, with a population of 1000 people! we put our names down to go swimming with the dolphins, which we were very excited about! ther day came, and we got on the boat, and we sat theer for 4 hours while we drove around the islands! turns out there were no dolphins around that day! but luckily, because there is like a 99% guartantee that u will see dolphins, they let u go again for free if u dont see any! so we got back on the next day, and went and sat out the front of the boat to get a better look. it was absolutely freeezing! it wasnt exactly a sunny day, and travelling at that speed got awfully chilly! we were on the boat for about 3.5 hours, and they got a call to say there may be some on the far side of the bay. so we sped to them, and i saw about 3 dolphins before we had to return back to the wharf! i wasnt too impressed, by this stage, as id paid $100 to see dolphins and i hadnt really seen any! so we went to book our next day on the boat, and they were all booked up!! gutted! not to mention annoyed! silly dolphins, why do they have to be so free, they should come and swim around our boat, like theyre required to do!! tut tut!

right now we're in a city called Rotorua, and it absolutely stinks!! because of all the geothermal activity it releases so much sulphur, that the whole place stinks of rotten eggs! its disgusting! but last night we went to a Maori village, and they did a whole welcoming ceremony and selected a cheif, and we got to look round their village at how they cooked and stuff, in the olden days! then they sung and danced for us, and did the Haka in their tribal costumes! it was so scary! i just sat with my mouth open for most of it!

the landscape here is very like Scotland. or what id imagine scotland to look like, as ive only been ther a few times. pretty mountainous and GREEEEEEEN! its very bizarre coming from the deserts of Oz, thats for sure!

there u go! hope all is well xxxx