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OK I have all of about 10 minutes, so I'll try to be quick with just the basics. We went from Aukland to Paihia in the north of the North Island, hoping to find some other people who were not just about to end their trip and who we may actually be able to spend more than one day with (we did! yay!). It was pretty grim weather wise and we had a nice afternoon nap, waking up to find Bart, our new roommate sitting watching us sleep... slightly creepy! Turns out the creepyness continued everytime we saw him- a few examples being dropping to ground and attemtpting (and failing) to do press ups, then trying to pass it off as a need for back exercises; teaching us some choice Dutch phrases that he later regretted teaching us; and telling us our whole trip was planned wrong and everything we are doing was a mistake... strange boy...
After one more day of torrential rain and a ridiculous amount of sleeping, we manned up and went on a day trip to Cape Rienga- It involved driving along 90 mile beach (64 mines long... go figure) and seeing a lost seal, a walk in a rainforrest with some very very old and sacred trees (yes we did a little sneaky tree hugging); a walk along a very very windy cliff to a lighthouse (during which, Laura turned into superwoman, her poncho ripping itself up in the wind and becomming a cape haha) and a bit of sandboarding. The sandboarding was definately a highlight- very very good fun. The driver told us that its better when it's been raining as the dunes are wetter and the you go faster (eek!). The rain had stopped but the wind plus a good few sandstorms made climbing the dunes a mission (my fitness level may not have helped much either) and meant that I had a good few inches of skin sandblasted from the whole of the right side of my body and enough sand in my ear, hair and clothes to make my own new beach. BUT I made it up, eventually and had a few runs down on my belly on the sandboard (basically a body board), which was loads of fun- He filmed Laura and me so you can see at some point. A few more strange traveller dorm antics and few drinks later, Nicole 2 and Vicki nearly got left behind and we had to run back in for them as our driver did not fancy waiting past the second it was due to leave.
We then moved on back to Aukland (we did not stay in the bedless hostel this time, so we found one that actually had more than 2 saucepans- they even had handles! oh the luxury!) We pottered about and found a travel shop that sold travel towels (very very exciting to us, me and Nicole both bought one- the next time I'm on the beach, I can actually get dried and dressed afterwards!) Our bus load of people from there seem to be sharing our route which is nice as we are getting to know lots of them now.
Aukland to Hot Water Beach-I decided I hadnt actually done very much so far so really needed an actual activity, so went sea Kayaking with Lydia, Nicole 2 and Vicki (who was shouting 'left right left right', army style) and Mike- we nearly capsized and enjoyed some monster waves. The kayak man set up a cafe on Cathederal Cove and made us hot drinks whislt we shivvered in our beautiful gear (the kayak skirts were definately a hit, I hmay take up wearing this sort of thing in my everyday life...
When we got to Hot Water Beach, we had a dig in the sand to make our own hot water pool- basically I think the idea is that yoiu dig your feet in the sand in a few places and if they burn, thats where you dig... however, people had got there before us and already found the best parts, so we had a few failed attempts and made a few fairly cold pools before settling for a vaguely luke warm one and finding warm bits by difgging further with our bums whilst sat in the pool. I recommend anyone trying this in the future to get there early and maybe think up a better plan. I nearly lost my shoes by leaving them on a rock somewhere before it got dark and before our failed attempts at pool digging (which involved moving pretty much down to the other end of the beach)- had to steal someones head torch (practically off her head- she was baffled) to find them- not worth it, they are so worn though that stones now make it through the soles to my feet...
Hot water Beach to Waitomo- Stopped on the way to walk across some wobbly bridges and through some mines- a standard bit of bumping my head on anything nearby- no wonder my memory is shot. In Waitomo theres a load of caves that are filled with glow worms (which apparently glow by secreating something that reacts with the air when they poo it out, making it glow, to attract bugs into their little strings... nice. I opted for seeing them with a bit of black water rafting- We went to choose our rubber rings for tubing in- basically involved squatting and sticking our bums through the hole to see if they fit- I wasnt sure, so backed up to the guide in the bum-in-tube position- classy as always... The caving was really good fun and floating in the dark down a river, looking up and seeing glow worms covering the top of the caves was pretty awesome- I will put the pics up from that soon too. We also had to back up to waterfalls with our bum in the tube and jump off- after floating for a bit, theyd tell us to get out of the ring (mine only just fit, so this was an issue everytime and I always looked incredibly cool when attempting to detatch the tube from my body). All in all, lots of fun!
Next was Rotorua- the home of the rotten egg stench- there's loads of hot bubbling mud pools, which give off sulphur and basically just reeks. We had a fairly free day, so we did a whole lot of washing (much needed- you cannot get away with tiny playsuits in spring in NZ!) Had a bit of a potter about in the mud pool park and got coffee with Lydia before heading off to a Mauri cultural show/ hangi feast thing- It was pretty cool, I was fairly sceptical beforehand, but they didn't try to pretend they really were just getting on with their lives there and we'd just happened to turn up as they began to dance etc- it was more just showing us how they used to live and feeding us with a very tasty roast style Hangi feast made in an earth oven (me and Laura giggled through her explaination... I won't go into detail but besically we are immature and it was funny). We all ate too much and me, Lydia, Katherine and Steph tested their kiwi fruit coctails- not bad, it has to be said!
On the bus the next day, we stopped at a place called Huka Falls (/hooker/)- apparently there was a politition a few years ago who liked to visit a prostitute and be whipped- one day she whipped him so hard, he fell unconscious and she thought she had killed him. Being very clever, she did what anyone in their right mind would do and hatched a plan with her boyfriend to dispose of the body- the 2 of them put the politician in a barrel and filled it with rocks, throwing it off the ironically named waterfall... The body was found a few days later and the post mortem showed that he had in fact died by drowning, not before... good move, lady!
Next stop was Taupo. We got up at 5am to drive back almost the whole way to Rotorua (hmm not sure that makes sense) so we could do the Tongariro crossing (climb Mount Doom from LOtR)- It was pretty amazing- the scenery was incredible and I got a little snap happy so sorry in advance of photos. There was a sign quite early on that said 'are you sure you're fit enough? If not, turn back now!'- Perhaps it was meant for me, but a bit of determination goes a long way (and a few 80s power ballards help too!) It took about 7 hours and we climbs hundreds of stairs (the devil's staircase), trekked through the side of steep, snow covered mountain edges, had lunch on the peak, sat on warmed rocks (it is a volcano so I guess that makes sense), etc. It was pretty hard work and definately has made me a little concerned about our 3 day Borneo mountain climb, but it's got to be good training anyway! Very very worthwhile! We all celebrated that night with a big kiwi bus night out, which was hilarious and involved a whole lot of walking like crabs (*coughLydiacough*) and covering our faces with our hair to hide the sunburn (*coughKatherinecough*)- very subtle. Oh, there was some rugby involved in there somewhere. It obviously meant a lot to me...
Next was River Valley- we stayed in a really cute little lodge at the bottom of a valley where the bus could not make it down, the toilets and showers were outide and the cheap down was affectionately called (by the staff) the 'orgy room' (sorry parents!) as it basically had 2 levels of mattresses all next to each other in a big line. I should maybe point out that I slept very well between Laura and Lydia, just to clear that one up! It was a giggle anyway, and we actually got a lie in while some people went white water rafting. On the way out, our bus broke down again (pprently it was the same one we'd been on previously that broke down- Laura's 'keep calm and carry on' t-shirt was obviously the reason- it needs to be burnt. When we were waiting to be picked up by the grumpy old man in his weeny school bus, the Irish boys, Spud and Ian went off to climb a very unsafe railway bridge over a massive canyon, with the rest of the bus looking on, expecting to see one of them fall. Crazy boys!
We decided to stay a few days in Wellington to allow for at least one day where we don't have to pack our lives into a rucksack in the morning, so we've spent the last few days chilling out, shopping (I actually have some jeans that were not bought to go with walking boots now- get in!) and visiting Te Papa museum, etc. Had a slightly crazy, very fun night out with everyone the first night, beforte being seperated as some of our bus load carried on the next morning- we went to Basement Bar for games night- lots of them put their names down for some pretty entertaining mystery games (versions of musical statues...) and then found a strange bar the had more spece behind it for the staff than in front for the customers and see-through 'porn star' toilet doors... nice! It stayed open 'til 6am and I'm not totally sure anyone noticed that we were there pretty much until then- some people had to then get straight on the bus for their next day of travelling, still drunk and having not gone to bed. Laura and I went for a pre-bedtime breakfast as they were heading off... fun night! Its a shame that we've been split but I think we'll catch up with some of them in a few days which will be nice.
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xx
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