Finally im in New Zealand! Have fallen in love with this country already and have achieve so much in 5 days!

The flight over from LA was a bit long, but pretty good. I really felt the cold once id landed, going from 100degree to 15degree heat is quite a big shock! Kate met me at the airport and we headed into Auckland centre to find our hostel. The main thing that has struck me about New Zealand is how lovely, clean, quiet and peaceful it is, even in the cities.

Our trip with Stray buses started on Saturday and we headed to Raglan, which is known for its surf. Our accomodation was lovely. Set on a hillside near the beach we were really tucked away in cozy rooms. We have met lots of new people travelling on the bus too so activities have been all the more fun. We decided to embrace the weather and for some silly reason hired body boards and in 10degree temperatures and clad in wet suits we hit the beach. It was FREEZING! However, once you got in the water we really enjoyed ourselves. The waves were huge and great fun to be splashing around in (I did a lot of splashing...im not that great on a body board). Managed to catch a couple of good waves and board right into the shore, but they were few and far between.

The hot showers could not come fast enough once we got out! As a group, along with our bus driver Nat we had bought tickets to the Union Rugby Cup Final and so all piled on the bus back to Hamilton to watch the game. A pretty chilly evening but I really enjoyed it. We supported waikato we were playing canterbury...sadly waikato lost but everyone stayed in good spirits.

On Sunday we headed to Waitomo Caves and did a 4hour excursion called 'Tuma Tuma Tubing'. Again, fully clad in wet suits, wellies and helmets we headed down a tiny ladder into the caves. After checking the water level was ok our two guides led us into the caves. Getting the water into our wetsuits up to our waists was pretty cold! I was then sent first through a tiny hold and into a huge pool of water...I had no idea that it would come up to my chest and may have let out a bit of a squeel! Once we were all inside they forced us to make a circle, un zip our jackets and all duck into the water up to our shoulders so the cold water got into our suits to start warming up...that was not so much fun. A bit later we gained mud masks, jumped off a ledge into inner tubes and the dark water below, floated through a cave of glow worms in the dark, swam through a large underground pool, checked out stalactights and stalacmights before climbing our way back to the surface. It was an incredible adventure and a huge amount of fun. My muscles ached the next day from squeezing through holes that im sure my body shouldnt fit through!

During the afternoon we went Zorbing (getting into a giant inflatable ball and bouncing down a hill). Really fun but a little scary when you start bouncing and cant make out the sky, floor or anything around you!

After the caves we enjoyed hot showers back at the base before heading on to our accomodation for the evening. The next day we were up early and all set to go white water rafting. The plan was to raft the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world...7m. The river was running at 6.5m so not much less than usual. We learnt the basics as we started off from our rather crazy instructor 'Gofor'. We were the raft of 5 girls which made it great fun, but hard work. The rafting was amazing! Each rapid got a bit harder to navigate, and Gofor enjoyed paddling us back towards one, which sank the front of the raft underwater and soaked us through. However, when we got the the 6.5m drop I was fairly terrified! All you could see was water ahead of you and then it vanished... We were taught all the positions to hit when we went over the top and basiccally hung on for dear life! We hit the bottom and sank into the water, completely submerging the raft. unfortunatley we had hit the water at a bit of the wrong angle and so came out and flipped completely over! So after some coughing and spluttering, floating and hanging on to the raft, the other instructors kayaks etc we were back in the raft and laughing a lot. I loved it and would do it again and recommend it to anyone who can face it. We were also allowed to get out of the raft and hang onto the side to "swim" down a rapid section while our instructor paddled. All in all it was a great trip, but pretty exhausting.

We headed out after the rafting to a hot mud area where the mud bubbled and steamed around us. Then the best part was getting our swimming kit on and getting into a secluded hot spring. It was so nice to sit in the warm water...as long as you didnt mind the sulpher smell and bits of dirt :)

Have spent a night at an eco-lodge in the middle of no where which was stunning! Its a huge conservation project called 'Blue Duck'. A farmer has bought the land and is trying to save the blue ducks and conserve the area. We took a lovely long hike to a waterfall and were able to enjoy a warm fire when we all returned.

Yesterday I took on my biggest challenge yet. The Tongariro Alpine Crossing. An 18km, 7hour hike over two active volcanos. It was just stunning! We started with a fairly gentle 3km climb, followed by plenty of stairs and slowly but surely more and more snow. We had been kitted out with Crampons and ice axes and had to use them to climb the two very steep slopes to the peaks. Sitting on top of hot rocks at the top of a volcano was amazing and definatley a highlight of my trip! The weather was beautiful and sunny which helped and you felt as though you were on top of the world, I didnt want to walk down.

The walk down just got better and better. We crossed a crater full of snow and walked around the edge of the volcano, and were met with views of Taupo lake and rolling hills as far as the eye could see. It was just breath taking and worth the pain and sweat! The walk down was fairly long and painful on our legs and joints but we all felt a huge sense of achievement once we completed the day. Our hostel had two jacuzzi's and so once we were back we jumped in quick to ease the aches and pains and the enjoyed another evening and lovely meal by a log fire.

Today we have driven to Wellington at the bottom of the North Island and tomorrow we head to the south island and Abel Tasman National Park, were im sure more adventures are in store!

Ive uploaded all my picture to facebook if anyone wants to take a look. Will get them on here as and when I can! Sending lots of love to everyone at home...xxxx