Well i have an absolutely essay to write now...if you're reading this you might want to go and get a cup of coffe and lots of chocolate to see you through the long old hours it may take!!! I will try and keep it short and sweet so you don't get extremely bored.

So New Zealand. Well i started my Haka tour in Auckland about 20 days ago and since then i have had the time of my life!! Lets start from the beginning....

day 1 Auckland:

Talk about chucking you in the deep end when you first start, within an hour of meeting everyone in the group and the amazing leader Si and i went to an aquarium, put on a snorkel and swam with sharks!! Literally in the same waters with only a thin bit of rope between me and the scary looking sharks. But i learnt that sharks are actually really quite friendly and they're a bit like under water teddy bears to be honest :) you can even cuddle them sometimes and they will cuddle you back with they're fins, aaw. I also had a backstage tour of the auqarium and feeding the sharks and sting rays and all teh filtration systems and the quaratine for naughty fishes. Then had a nosy around the aquarium and saw lots of penguins and fishies which was rather nice.

We then went up Mount Eden and had a history lesson all abotu the Maori's and their culture of hiding on the mountains. Watched some tennis and got free burgers and then relaxed with the new group of people, they were only 7 of us plus Si in the beggining which was really good size.

Day 2 Auckland to Coromandel:

RAIN RAIN RAIN AND EVEN MORE RAIN! It was just like being back in England but actually the rain was heavier! Madness. The Maori's have a long tradition of making charm necklaces for themselves out of bone or jade and wearing them for life, they all symbolize different meanings. So we went to bone carving place and carved our own necklace out cow bone, my one means hope and prosperiority i think... ? So we had to cut and shape and polish this bone into a symbol, i kinda was bit naughty and made my into a braclet instead of necklace but same difference it was good fun.

In the afternoon we then fought the rain and went body surfing in the ocean! So it was chucking it down and we decided to get into our bikinis and surf with our bodies :) haha cant say it ws very successfull i didnt surf at all just kinda sank instead! But it was good fun and pretty warm considering. We took shelter from the rain and stayed in for the night with everyone.

Day 3 Coromandel to Waitomo:

Well all of that rain the day before caused heaps loads of floods! So the drive to Waitomo was very eventful to say the least. we got stuck in flood after flood after landslide after flood and we advised to go drive but being in New Zealand and all whats life without a few risks so we drove on and made it eventually after alot of water and rocks and fist clenching moments we arrived to Waitomo safe and sound. We'de been in the van all day as the tings we were meant to do like go to hot water beach and cathedral cove were shut off because of the roads had turned into rivers. So we played some football or soccer as it was to the Swiss and guess what... i was top scorer out fo the boys and girls! Oh hell yeah! i did a quirky little catch of the ball mid air between my calves and then just tossed it into the net.....next beckham i think so :DWe took a walk around some caves, they were pretty spectacular and all in the rainforest bushy thingy. Luckily not in Oz so we didnt have to worry about deadly spiders on our shoulders.

Day 4 Waitomo to Rotorua:

Early morning start to go lost world caving!It started with a 100 metre abseil into the cave which was scary in itself, is much longer than i thought. Then we reached the bottom and

(to be continued i must dash to the airport and fly to syndey now...

continuining, now is sydney but i shall carry on the New Zealand chapter...) Then we reached the bottom and that was humungoose too! Huge boulders everywhere, but not to worry the last boulder had dropped only 30 years before...EEK! So we clambered all over the rocks with our hard hats on and good we did or else i would have had a severe head ache afterwards with all the bumping incidents that occured. Saftey is definitely not as paramount (is that the right word?) in New Zealand as it is in England, we literally were allowed to jump over 50metres drops in the rock with out any ropes ect, was pretty good if you ask me very dare devilish :) one slipped foot and you were goner! (haha not to worry mum and dad i am still alive) So we climbed further and further into the cave, getting rather dark and scary and then we had to squeeze our bums through a tiny hole in the rock, i just manged it thank god that would have been rather embarressing! Then we got to the glow worm section and it was incredbile, had to turn all of our torches off and looked up at the ceiling to thousands of blue glowing worms!! looked the a really good starry night. To get out of the cave we had 113 stepped vertical ladder, now that i was scared on! was really tiring as well but we all managed it and made it out safe and sound. Was really good fun. Then we got back in the van which was named Betsy and began our drive to Rotoura, i do love NZ! We stopped at a zorb place and some of the group went zorbing in the bubble. Then we went to cute little very NZ country fair with smelly cows and donkeys and sheep :D i loved it! We spent the evening at a Maori dinner experience and that was really quite good!! it was traditional way of maori life so it was quite touristy but it was a good experience, and some of the maori men...oooh yum ;) We saw them perform the haka in very little clothing and lots of tatttos all over the place, and the women maori were just as aggressive as the men. they sung and dance the night away pretty much. Did you know their facial tattos represent 4 sacred birds?! At dinner i was given the nickname 'little zoiley!' it means a little pig in swiss but a sweet little pig apparently, great! just because i like my food haha but at least i am sweet.

Day 5 Rotorua to Lake Taupo

woke up super early all ready to go to rafting down 7metre drops of white water only to find out it was cancelled due to the immense amount of rain and it was extremelt dangerous! So that was alittle dissapointing but better safe than sorry i suppose. So instead we had a relaxing morning in the hot sulphur springs. Rotorua stinks! It has lots and lots of natural hot sulphur springs so it makes the whole town reak of it. The spa was just divine though, it water up to 42 dergrees, was luxury. We had lunch at a cool, quirky place called FatDog and then hopped in Betsy again and began the drive to Taupo. Stopped off on the way to Waitopo sulphur pods which was huge hole sin the grounds with bubbling, boiling water and even oil in some and loads of steam coming off them. Felt like we were on "Tonight matthew i'm going to be..." in some places haha.

We then took a dip in Butchers pool, which was a bright green, alage filled natrually boiling hot pool in the middle of a random feild up a trackway. Was really quite cool, i got foole dinto beleiving it was once where the old cows were slaughtered and all the rocks were dead cow bones! but then i lost my gullability and discovered it was just rocks (hopefully) We arrived in Taupo and cooekd dinner in with the group, loading up on carbs ready for the next day!

Day 6 Taupo

we climbed Mount Ngaurhoe aka Mount Doom from lord of the Rings aka the Tongerio Alpine Crossing!! And boy that was long old walk, 19.4 km to be precise. The first part was super hard, climbed up the devils staircase and that was just a killer, i need to get fitter! The very fit swiss climbed up to the summit of the crater of the volcanoe but me and Robyn wimped out and took the rest of the walk at our rate, enjoying the sights and not getting out of breath. Plus it was stupidly windy so we were warned against climbing to the summit because it hsa been known for people to get blown off into the crater by the winds and die, eek! I'm talking up to 50km winds at least when we were up there. The scenery was just so beautiful! We reached the middle point and there just bright turquoise lakes and mint green lakes just there against the blue sky and the sun shining, it really, truly was magnificent. Got some very good pictures of that, and mountains stretched for miles and miles and miles around, the pictures really don't do it justice. It was by far one of the top walks i have done, man i sound like such a geek!

Then we reached the bottom and go the bus back to Taupo and we were aching like anything so our lovely guide Si took us to some natural hot springs to relax our aching muscles. It was all natural just a little inlet in the side of the river with boiling hot water coming out the ground and into the colder river, was so beautiful. I pretty much fell asleep in the river :) Now that really was heaven on earth. When it came to depart the beloved springs i shed a little tear, haha we went to a irish pub for dinner and filled myself with ahuge pie and pint and then we played the pub quiz, we won of course...ahem maybe we didnt. then i slept so well that night....zzz.... :)

Day 7 Taupo to Wellington

I DID A BUNJY JUMP! Oh hell yeah i did it was so much fun. I have never ever ever ever ever ever been so scared in my life!!! It is such an unnatural feeling just free falling, just standing on the edge with the rope pulling your feet it felt that i was going to slip off. I honestly was so full of fear, i dont usually get too scared and definitly not scared of hights but at that moment i genuinely felt i couldnt do it and kept asking the man to push me off but I DID IT! i just thought stuff it, lets do it and kind jumped off... i felt the biggest relief of my life when the rope pulled tight with tension, major phewf! but then ibounced back up and had to free fall all over again! Then i bounced a little more and got slowly lowered to the ground, meant to land on the boat but the wind took me and blew me onto the beach and apparently that has never happened before, oops! Then i climbed onto the boat and sat in a metal chair and got lifted up to the platform i jumped from, i didnt stop shaking for a good 3 hours after that. But it was so much fun, i would definitely do one again.

Bunjy jump was in the afternoon so we shall rewind and tell you what happened in the morning. We left Taupo and stopped off round the lake a bit and jumped into the lake from 20metre cliffs!! That was good fun, i wanna do it again and again and again. Got some good pics of everyone jumping into the water there :) I am slowly but surely falling in love with this country.

In the evening it was very active, swiss couples last night so we went out to dinner to a cute, quirky asian restuarant. And ollie gave me a new name instead of being little zoiley i am now Victoria The Brave! :D Because i try everything and dotn get scared apparently :D wahay! We had a mass communal strecth in our dorm room before we went to bed, haha we were all still aching from the tongerio crossing, was a very sight to see!

Day 7 Wellington to Kaikoura

Got up super duper early. I was still asleep when we got in the van and then asleep when we got on the ferry. We arrived in the South Island, wahay! Apparently that is real New Zealand according to Si. We began the journey to Kaikoura stopping off at a wine tasting place ;) We tasted lots of wines from Branchotts estate if ever you see it in tesco. And i was the only one who liked red wine so i may have had a bit more than the rest, getting tipsy for free dont mind if i do thanks :) Then we got back into Betsy the van and drove along a wee bit and stopped off at the cpast and saw a wild seal colony!! Now that was awesome, they were so close and so lazy and not timid one bit. They were a bit smelly though but there were loads of them just soaking up the sun. And that is all on peoples doorsteps just to go out, amazing.

Checked into the hostel which was super lovely, had a swimming pool and sauna and jacuzzi, luxury! felt just like a 5* hotel except the dorm rooms. Cooked spag bol for everyone, Grandads recipe of course and relaxed in teh jacuzzin with a beer in hand overlooking the sunset over the mountains.... absolute heaven.

Day 8 Kaikoura to Christchurch

I went whale watching this morning in Kairkoura, you can see anything from dolphins to orcas to great whites, the trip i was on saw 1 massive sperm whale. it came up from the water and squirted its thing that it squirts quite a few times and then dived back down and got some pictures of the whales tail up the air out of the water. It was good but didn't sound as good as the others who went dolphin swimming but still good it's not everyday you get to see a whale in the wild.

So then we drove down the Christchurch, the earth quake capital of NZ! It is very english, one side of the river is called cambridge and the other Oxford and they have punts have everything.. iw onder if they know the rivalry between Oxford and Cambridge. Went out for dinner to a korean place, was really yummy. Stayed in Auroura's room this night as she had like a hige whole apartment to her self with sofa and kitchen and bathroom and we were in a tiny box room for 4 rooms and nothing else so she was super lovely and generous and helped the poor :) Yippeeee!

Day 10 Christchurch to Lake Tekapo

Met the new groupies this morning, 6 more people joined us, pretty good. we took a drive to a view point that was extremely cloudy so we had to imagine the view. Then we took a wander around christchurch going to the museum and marjet where i bought a few goodies :) Got myself a ring made from a butter knife, ooh lala hey. Then we hopped in Betsy and drove to lake Tekapo, it was a cute little town usually used a ski town in winter and meant to be the best spot for star gazing but it was a bit to cloudy to do that unfortunatly. ah well i shall just have to go back. the lake is pure turquoise colour and huge! Went to the pub and watched the NZ sevens, NZ beat england oh no! haha so we retreated back to hostel to drown our sorrows away from the locals.

Day 11 Lake Tekapo to Queenstown.

Went up a mountain to see some more views today, it was SO windy! So much so a man bought a coffee and took it outside, sat down and went to drink, nearly had the cup to his mouth when the wind blew so much that if blew all of the milk froth off and onto the lady next him all over her and he didnt even know her!!! it was hilarious!!!!!!!!!! :D A definite you've been framed moment!

We drove on for a bit and stopped off at a salmon farm. I dont like salmon i have discovered. And i especially do not like waisabi! it was very very fresh salmon literally been out of the ater for 5 mintues before we ate it but it was very tough and a bit yukky. Drove on some more and arrived in Queenstown, i like Queenstown.

Day 12 Queenstown/ Milford Sounds

Today i spent all day long on a day trip to Milford Sounds. It is the iconic view of New Zealand, such stunning scenery. We dorve down on a bus that had a glass roof and stopped off at a place called Chasm which was a powerful waterfall. Then we got on the boat at Milford and cruised around the sounds which is incorrectly named and is actually a fjord because it is made from a glacier and not a river, oh yeah i am geeking tit. Got some beautifil pictures but again they just dont do it justice. It was such a glorious day with the sun shining and bright blue skies, perfect for views and photos :)

In the evening we all went out for evening. Went to world bar which serves cocktails in teapots!! Reminded me of my birthday :) Was really nice, may have a got a tinsy winsy bit tipsy! Randomly met some welshies that i met a few weeks before so spent the night with them as everyone else went home, couldnt keep up with the baby of the group you see haha :) We also tested the famour fergurger!! Yum! I saw lots of sheep going to slaughter on the bus though so i stuck to veggie stuff :) lady Soverign even came on in the club and it reminded me so much of the beloved ellis!!! laugh out loud comedy gold of memories of that! Some of the welshies walked me home and in our drunken phase we were amazed by the stars so we laid in the middle of the road for a good hour staring at the millions of stars and the milkyway galaxy :)

Day 13 Queenstown to Wanaka

Bleurgh! Woke up at 7am, wasnt that hungover but just had a sever lack of sleep! but i didnt let that put me off the days activities. First of all we got the Gondola up the hill at Queenstown, very picturesque views. We then went on the LUGE! that was so much fun, just like mario kart but in real life with no yoshi or luigi there. You could go really fast and tip over on corners, we all had race, i could have won but i let the others win instead :P There may have been a few crashes here and there but no fatalities. We then started the long journey to Wanaka in the trusty Betsy. Stopping off at a few photo opportunites along the way. We then put our lives in Auruoura's hands and sat in an old school bus converted into a monster whilst she drove! Man i thought we were going to tip over quite a few times there, was a HUGE bus, the wheels were the size of car themselves! We arrived in Wanaka and had the whole afternoon to explore. Me and the 2 germans decided to be adventourous and go kayaking on the lake despite the high winds. We got on the lake and i was given a very unstable sea kayak of all things so i had to keep my balance very corrrect. It was very hard kayaking as the winds and currents were against us but we managed it and arrived at the beach thingy, just needed a beer and we would be sorted. Then we headed back and despite a few bumps into other boats i arrived back on shore without capsizing. For dinner time we went to the yummiest mexian resturant ever :)

Day 15 Wanaka to Franz Josef Alot of driving today, 5 hours in total but Si was good broke it all up for us. Stopped off and NZ's oldest pub which wwas rather english looking, it was very quaint, had lots of money of different currencies on the ceiling and one was was from the back of peckham with delboy and rodney! haha made me chuckle! Had a pizza for dinner and got a free beer, sweet as bro. and that was that for the day. Day 16 Franz Josef! We went on a glacier hike this morning! Was fantastic!! a definite highlight of the trip. Git kitted out in big boots and blue rain coats and hats and gloves and crampons ect, but it was really warm so i was wearing shorts but bit of a weird mix. I loved the blue coats mind! Got onto the ice and went through tiny gaps and new trails and up and downs ledges, was really spectacular to have mountians and lush forests with an huge uce glacier in the middle. The guide had to pic axe his way through at some points and makes sure it was safe, the ice moves up to 4 metres a day so you make new trails every time you com ethrough, very strange. spent a good 2 hours up on the ice with oru crapoms on, came back down and went for a wee walk to some tiny man made tunnels and back and then just relaxed at the hostel, i fell asleep in the hammock lovely!

Day 17 Franz Josef to Christchurch:

We left Franz Josef pretty early ad made our way to Hokikita in good old Betsy Van. We stopped off at a Jade factory and nosyed around and saw them all make the necklaces and how it is all done. We had some lunch on the beach, there must have beena driftwood competition recently as there were thousands of driftwood sculptures all over the beach, they were pretty cool!

Then I made a new friend of the Kiwi bird variety J We went to a place that had HUMUGOOSE eels and even little guppy fish and also a Kiwi!They are extremely rare in NZ now and the only way yu can really see one is in a sanctuary, we were all staring at this kiwi like you do and it kept coming back to me running back and forth and tapping the glass where I was J haha I am a kiwi magnet! They are so adorable. We then drove on a little bit further and swapped Betsy for the Tranz Alpine Train. We chooed chooed all the way from Aurthurs Pass to Christchurch, through some gorgeous valleys and mountain ranges! We arrived in Christchurch and went for dinner at a Japanese little place where they served shark fin, dun dun dun! Had to say goodbye to Sandra and Auroura L I don't like goodbyes. Afterwards wandered around town a bit and bought some goodies and then headed back to the hostel and didn't sleep all night long because of some stupid, hideously fat woman who snored and snored and snored…actually she didn't snore she more like grunted and moaned and shouted through her nostrils!!!!!! AARGH!

Day 18 Christchurch to Kaikoura:

I wasn't meant to be going to Kaikoura today as technically I finished Haka tours tour however Si was driving up there anyway with the rest of the group and there was room at the hostel and I really really wanted to go swimming with the dolphins so I did J Spent the morning on the internet catching up with all the people I am missing! Later another goodbye as we dropped Robyn and Liam off at the airport, and then off to Kaik's!!! :D

We arrived in Kaikoura and it was boiling hot! So we a took a dip in the freezing cold ocean & I mean freezing it was like the antartic! There were tonnes of seagulls which meant there must have been a big school of fish about so Si being Si whopped out his fishing rod and went fishing off the beach. It was pretty successful, caught3 big fish! Was funny watching the fishies wriggling around on the beach but the wack on the head with the stone was not so funny.

Day 19 Kaikoura to Christchurch:

Oh my golly gosh! It was most definitely worth coming back to Kaikoura for… I went swimming with the dolphins and it was absolutely fantastic, a definite highlight of my life! Not like your average dolphin swim, we're talking over 400 wild dusky dolphins in the ocean and only 14 us humans in our wetsuits. I was a little panicky to begin with as for some reason I am little scared of big open waters especially as there was 120metres of deep ocean waters beneath us and god knows what was lurking down there. But once I calmed down I loved it! The dolphins were just swimming so close, brushing up against us, they are so playful. You could spin around on the spot and they would circle you and spin with you and play games of who would lose eye contact first, 9/10 it was us humans who lost. Amazing! I cant get over over how many there were, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds, everywhere you looked there was at least 10 dolphins looking back at you. We were swimming with them for a good 45 minutes and then we headed back to the boat where everyone was being sick except Mitch, Frauco and I (we're 'ard!) So we sat up front with the captain, dangling our legs over the water and took some really good pics of the dolphins riding the waves created by the boat. Jumping out of the water and somersaulting and generally showing off. We also saw atiny blue penguin and fur seal just chilling in the sea on the way back to port. Frauco had an underwater camera so hopefully that has turned out some good photos.

For lunch Si had smoked the fish he caught yesterday and we sat on the beach and had fish sandwhiches, they were surprisingly tasty.I had to say goodbye to all of them and left Si a little card to say thank you and then I was off, back to Christchurch all on my lonesome. Had a nice surprise when I arrived back at the hostel to have my bed made and "reserved for Victoria" J don't know why that was but I'm not complaining!

Thanks for reading :)