New Zealand's North Island

Whilst trying to be efficient and emailing soon after the last email, New Zealand is so jam-packed with activities that there is a danger of this being a rather long one too!

Our first part of the Kiwi Experience was taking a dog-leg north of Auckland to Paihia (Bay of Islands). It was a really quiet little town with not much to do but as both James and I wanted to visit the most northerly point of New Zealand, we stayed a few nights so we could include the day trip to Cape Reigna. We had been slowly adjusting to the weather so braced ourselves against the winds and rain to walk to a lighthouse where you can see the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean join. Following that was a drive along 90 mile beach with a misty view of the 'Hole in the Rock' before sand boarding down a gigantic sand dune... well James did. I, on the other hand, successfully walked bare foot(!) along the freezing stream to get to the sand dune and I struggled with the huge body-board up to the top but the powerful winds and mouthfuls of sand put me off plunging myself down a steep hill into a stream of water! Watching James, however, was a fantastic experience but I was more than certainly put off when we sat at the bottom of the dune clearly injured. All was well by the end of the day with good old fish'n'chips!

We chilled out over the next couple of days but on the basis that we should really explore Paihia and not set a new world record for watching Family Guy, we hired a couple of bikes hoping to visit a waterfall. Feeling rather paranoid that I had forgotten how to ride a bike I was remarkably impressed that I rode for 2km up many-a-steep hill before being defeated. I am seriously unfit. The zippy ride back was amazing with the gorgeous views so made the pain worth it!

Our bad luck started when it came to leaving Paihia. We were all on board the bus about to depart when our driver discovered a flat tyre! All was not lost, however, as I finally got to watch Pulp Fiction while we waited! Arrived back into Auckland around 8ish and so treated ourselves to our first meal out in AGES!!

It was an early start the next morning with a quick stop at Mount Eden, which boasted beautiful views of the city, and quite a long drive to a small place called Mercury Bay. Second spell of bad luck as our one hour stop for lunch turned into four hours of torture (torture in the sense that we were stuck in a shopping mall...and bearing in mind money is a bit of a sore subject...but nothing to do = recipe for disaster!) due to failing brakes on the coach. We had to wait for a coach to be driven from Auckland to the mechanics so we could swap over buses! We spent the night at Turtle Cove, the sweetest little hostel run by the sweetest couple. It actually felt like home, especially when Kiwi Experience compensated us with a free bar all night!!

As the saying goes, 'things come in threes' and so we weren't entirely surprised when the coach (let me rephrase, the NEW coach) wouldn't start! It wasn't too much of an inconvenience as many of us needed our sleep but poor Ma, our driver, was out in the pouring rain trying to manually pull the starter-motor. Finally on the road three hours later, our group was pretty adamant we weren't going to miss out on any of the activities of the day so we drove to Cathedral Cove despite the rain. Luckily the sun came out just in time for the short walk down, where I saw my first sheep(!!), and the beautiful shore. It didn't hold up but come rain and hail we braved it for our second walk of the day exploring gorges in the Karangahake Scenic Reserve. There was even lightening as we crossed one of two swing bridges and walk through railway tunnels!

Rotorua was the first town we arrived in which had many adventure activities on offer. On our first evening, we departed by the bus load for a Maori village to learn about their history and also see the Hakka for the first time. It was a bit too commercial for my liking but the roast dinner more than made up for it!! The next day we headed up in a gondola for luging with some mates we had made on the Kiwi Bus. Luging, for those who don't know, is basically sitting in a sledge-like contraption which has wheels and a handle-bar for steering. Starting on the first level, we all meandered down nicely. Intermediate was a lot faster with some hair-pin corners and drops. Advanced had much bigger hills and slanting tracks. I stand firm that I am a good driver but everyone just had a good laugh at me when I finished about 30 seconds after everyone! On the walk back we took a look at the geothermal activity which Rotorua has to offer in the form of boiling mud baths. To warm up in the evening we all hopped into the spa in our hostel and cracked open the Passion Pop! Who said backpacking wasn't glamorous?

Heading out of town for Waitomo, we stopped at a Maori Culture Centre for a tour. We had a chance to see how the Maori made their clothing, wood carvings and most enjoyably James got to learn the Hakka and I got to learn the Poi Ball dance (the Poi dance was originally used by the Maori women for keeping their hands flexible for weaving). Waitomo is home to the most amazing caves. We took a short walk to see what was on offer and those more enthusiastic were able to cave-walk, abseil into abysses and go black water rafting. However, a group of us girly girls (and James and Josh) cosied up in our chalet and watched the SATC movie again to shelter from the cold!

Our quirky bus driver Lauren asked us very early the next morning if we wanted to see something 'freaky'. Obviously a bunch of eager travelers did, so we ended up watching the cutest fluffy bunny rabbit being tied by its arms and legs, stretched out and then sheared! Kind of traumatic but when in Rome...!

Before I knew it we were driving under clear blue skies and faced with the prospect of actually having to do the sky dive. As you all know I managed to jump the 15,000ft with a freefall of around 60 seconds at a speed of 200km/h. I was so glad I went first as James said seeing me go over the edge of the plane and drop at such speed was really daunting! The DVD is hilarious; I was finding it so hard to breath that after a few seconds of trying to swim in the air I was just focusing on staying alive! Once I had landed I started to feel a bit peculiar... think it was a mixture of adrenaline and pressure on the ears but it was still an absolutely amazing experience!

We drove towards the snow-capped mountains after a couple of days in Taupo stopping to do a couple of walks and avoid a few snowballs from Josh. River Valley was our final destination for the day which was a very secluded hostel in the middle of nowhere! The bedrooms was, in fact, one big bunk bed with one big mattress and around 20 peoples! Needless to say we made the most of the quiet, peaceful surroundings by drinking goon and playing many drinking games!

Wellington; capital city and venue for the All Blacks v. South Africa. We all got in the spirit by painting our entire faces black and white and found our seats in the front row! Watching the Haka was amazing and to see it their homeland... wow! We managed to shelter from the pouring rain and nab some seats in the $100 section! I was so cold that I didn't even realise Percy Montgomery was playing so couldn't look out for him! I was suffering with a headache so had to make it an early night but the rest of the crew had a wicked night partying with the rugby players themselves in VIP!! James was chuffed to pieces to meet Brian Habana, get a photo and signature on his ticket!

That's the north island all done... I'm actually nearly coming to end of New Zealand now but I've got 5 days in Queenstown to muster the energy to tell you all about my adventures in the south island but still loving every second!

Skydiving!!!

This is just a quick message to say:

I survived jumping out of an airplane at 15,000 feet!

Skydiving is absolutely amazing!