Hello all!

Sorry our blog hasn't been updated in yonks- clearly we've been having too much fun and haven't had time! (we did manage to upload a few photos though!)

We are loving every minute of our time in New Zealand and started off our North island adventures with a trip up to the Bay of Islands where we took a jet boat around the islands which had BEAUTIFUL beaches. Alas our "Excitor" Jet boating experience was a little disappointing, as we had expected some super fast beast and were kitted out in waterproofs and life jackets (please see our attractive red outfits) and were given safety briefings, but it was really quite tame and probably less scary then our Fijian cyclone cruise - haha!!!

We have also smelt the delightful smells of sulphur in Rotorua, and have seen some pretty cool mud and thermal pools, and also immersed ourselves in Maori culture for an evening at a Maori Village. The Maori's sang and danced for us and gave us a traditional Maori feast, which was AMAZING! (definitely better than super noodles!)

We have also been zorbing (flying down a hill in a hamster-like ball full of water) and of course let's not forget our mighty SKYDIVES- which were AWESOME! Can't believe we didn't wimp out! (that may have had alot to do with the fact that we were strapped to an instructor so actually had no say in the matter!?!) But we definitely recommend jumping 1200ft out of a plane! From Taupo we also did the Tongariro Crossing...an 18.5 km trek across the Tongariro National Park, the scenery was amazing (hopefully you can tell from the photos) AND it was sunny and did NOT rain at all (like they had predicted!) so had a pretty good - but tiring - day!

After Taupo our next stop was Wellington, where we pretty much spent two days chilling out and saving a few pennies after our previous daredevil antics! From here we took the ferry to the South island...which we shall fill you in on soon!!!

Sorry this blog entry is quite brief and list-like, but hope you enjoy our photos and we shall update you all on our Southern antics soon!

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