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Kia ora everyone!
Ok so we bailed on our last night in australia being neighbours night because it was really random members of the cast going and not the infamous karl kennedy etc that we had been promised, so we went to the argyle which is 1 of our favourite bars. We went with the people we met from the afl (aussie rules, sydney swans vs brisbane lions...which was so much fun) the night before instead.
Really good night and up early to get to the airport, check in, lose dunks' purse, have a major stress, run round the whole airport looking, cancel all her cards and fly to aukland, arriving at 2.30pm and going to find a police station to register the purse as stolen...drama, then we went to father teds pub and had some bangers and mash, explored aukland a bit more before accidentally falling asleep at 8 o clock! wow party animals (:-s)
Up for 7.45 when our mauri tour guide mangu, who will drive our bus for the whole of our north island experience, was waiting to pick us up. First we went for a maccys breakfast, up mount eden to take photos of aukland city and then onto waitamo caves which you walk and boat through. As you get to the really dark parts of the cave, the whole roof is lit up by glow worms, it really is amazing and I totally have a brilliant idea of how to have my bedroom ceiling now!
Then, onto rotorua, where as we came closer the smell got a lot more potent and despite warnings we'd had from many friends, the city really did smell like poo! yuk, we quickly got changed into our bikinis, braved the cold and ran down to one of the hot outdoor spas which are plentiful in rotorua as it is the part of the world where the earths crust is thinnest and so there is a lot of places where lava runs close to underground streams, heating them up. It is also a place that has many geisers dotted around so the whole landscape is covered in random spots which have steam rising..really amazing! We'd also been warned however not to put our heads under the water as there is a risk of meningitus...lovely!
We waited until our fingers and toes had taken on the appearance of dried prunes and then ran (and I mean ran) through the freezing cold up to a shower, got dressed and were picked up by our coach or 'waka', and taken to a mauri village for an amazing evening beginning with a traditional mauri greeting of the highest respect and then being taken into the village, where we had photos with some of the villagers before being led into a hut to see a show where the villagers put on 2 dances, 1 of which was an early mauri dance which included the 'haka' (rugbys all blacks trademark) which was incredible and amazing etc and then took a skip through time to the invention of the guitar where they performed another piece of dancing and singing which involved the use of weapons which was seriously absolutely quality...SOOO GOOOD!! After this we were all treated to a mauri buffet, which had been cooked in an underground oven or a 'hangi' which we were then shown how to build.
After a brilliant night, our coach driver honnay (i dont know how u spell it, but thats how u say it) took our 'tribe' the 'weka waka tribe' home to our hostels where we almost immediately fell asleep due to eating more than our share of the buffet...backpackers perogative!!
The next day, mangu picked us up and took us to a green lake where mauri legend has it that a princess disappeared therefore making it sacred and naming the lake 'tiki taupo'. After getting completely lost on a walk we were eventually met by the coach and taken to bubbling mud pools where, after fighting the stench and taking photos, we jumped back onto the coach and went onto lady knox geiser which we watched go off, were splattered with water and then onto haku falls which is an amazing waterfall which isn't particularly high but the volume of water and speed it passes under the bridge is amazing! back onto the coach and into taupo where we are staying tonight. Down to the river to take some photos of the lake which is the same size as singapore and to mulligans pub where louis the bar man managed to sell us some random pints which are made from honey on the condition that with every drink we buy, we get a photo wearing one of the many hats that adorn the bar, as well as being able to play rock paper scissors every round to see whether or not we get 2 dollars off the next round...good deal I think!
Anyway on that note...back to mulligans to meet mangu our tour guide and get some more money off from louis...good times!! see you all soon x
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