Skydiving and Scrabble

So, been to lots of places so far but they all pale in comparison the crazy activities which i have undertaken in the last couple of days! Moved to the north island where there were suddenly a hell of a lot more people when we were in the capital city Wellington, but still very small. Started our way up the island, first going to Lake Taupo where we planned to do a skydive because its cheapest there. However the rain absolutely bucketed it down so it was cancelled - have never had rain like it, it lasted for hours soaking us through on a 500m run from the cinema!! Anyway we moved on as Taupo was very small, although i must mention a hilarious trip to McDonalds when we couldnt be bothered to cook but didnt want to go out, so we went through the drive-thru. Big mistake, as none of us knew how to use the machine. Ellie was determined that there was a button and so got me to drive the car right up to the machine, and then almost got out of the car - but through the window, half her body was out...meanwhile the lady in McDs was just watching us aghast at our idiocy (we were sitting in hysterics for about a minute before actually attempting to order)...we found that all u needed to do was speak into the machine and ur order came up automatically! A very amusing night.....

Moved on to Rotorua which is where there are lots of geothermal pools, and the whole town reeks of sulphur, which is absolutely disgusting. The girls went to the geothermal spa where there were lots of pools at different temperatures (42 degrees was waaaay to hot!) right on the Lake, which was beautiful. The boys went to the last free spa in Rotorua as they didnt want to pay - apparently it was free for a reason, being merely a tepid stream you could paddle in! Still chucking it down though, which was a bit annoying! Next day was the day of white water rafting , still pouring in the morning, but didnt matter as knew we were going to get we anyway! One of the guides absolutely freaked us out by telling us that they probably wouldnt be able to catch us if we fell out of the boat, so we should just try to hold onto the side of the river, as the current would just drag us downstream, and that we might well hit our head on the billions of rocks which litter the river - AHHHHHH! We had to get all dressed up in wetsuits, helmets and lifejackets before having the quickest safety demonstration ever ('So, you row forward like this, hold on if i yell hold on, and i might yell get down' - i was like, erm are we getting shot at at any point???!! and that was it!) Absolutely amazing, going down these huge rapids, she took us into one and the whole boat almost went over, henry unfortunatley fell out (you arent strapped in at all, just perched on the side of the boat and they tell you to jam your feet in!), but everyone was fine and we dragged him back in before he could get towed away! The most amazing scenery as it poured and poured with rain, also had thunder and lightning - quite scary when you are holding steel paddles!!! Anyway we all survived - an awesome afternoon.

Then we had the big drive all the way up to the Bay of Islands where we had to go past Auckland, and we left relatively late so decided to stay the night just beyond Auckland and keep driving the next morning. Had the hostel all to ourselves where it was very creepy being so quiet! Next morning arrived in Paihia in Bay of Islands. Booked skydive (AHHHHH - the weather was good so knew it was going to go ahead!), and then took some kayaks to the beach and attempting to get 2 people into the 3 one man kayaks - very hard!! Ellie, Henry and I decided to go first on the Skydive so we had to get up for an 8am start. The most beautiful day with clear blue skys, drove there - a little alarmed that it literally was a shack in a field and a plane! Really nice guy and girl running it, got us all into our gear and then i was off up in the plane. No time to be nervous, and the 20min plane ride was amazing over the Bay of Islands with the sunrising, getting to 12o00ft. The pilot says 3mins and you haved to get the goggles and everything attached and properly roped to the guy with the parachute (doing it tandem is much safer) and then 1min, he shuffles us forward, the door is opened and i had to hook my legs round the wheel of the tiny plane so we can get ready to jump. SOOOOOO AMAZING. Plummeting towards the earth was so cool, surprisingly unscary, and i have some brilliant pictures! Quite painful when the parachute opens which feels like it yanks you upwards but is just slowing you down loads, and then float to ground, the views were just unreal, almost indescribable! I would love to do it again (hope mum isnt reading this!), best experience ever!!!

Now in Auckland for a couple of days and Ellie has left us. Fly to Oz on the 24th.

New Zealand cont....

And again!!! I keep forgetting to update despite my regular proximity to a computer, and as a consequence forget half what iv done....anyway, im loving new zealand more and more, definitely going to come back here. After Dunedin we travelled the extremely long distance to Te Anau, where we just stayed for one night to avoid having to travel the Milford Sound road when all the travellers do. So got up early and set off to Milford, to discover that our car has NO acceleration up hill, bless his little engine, but with five adults and five large bags none of us could blame him! The road was AMAZING, all through the mountains (so lots of uphill), and the mist made it really spooky as we passed all these waterfalls and sheer cliffs...we stayed in the Milford Sound lodge which was pretty cool, basically Milford Sound is a stretch of moutain surrounded water connected to the Tasman Sea but is completely protected from it's currents, it apparently cheats the marine life into thinking its much deeper than it is, and so dolphins etc live there, anyway there isnt a village or a shop or anything, just a visitors centre and this lodge. Absolutely stunning views, and we went on a cruise at 9am along the Sound and out into the Tasman which was beautiful as the mountains were gradually revealed. Saw dolphins, seals etc and then stopped off at an underwater aquarium which was just a glass bowl 15m below the surface, so ur pretty much in the sea, amazing to see all the fish in their natural habitat. Henry, Ben and Fran went on a 5 hr walk which they regretted as it ended up being less of a walk and more of a trek through untravelled rainforest...Ellie and I stayed in the dry!!! (oh yes forgot to mention it was pouring with rain!) Anyway next stop was Queenstown which is major backpacker area, spent 3 nights here in the most amazing hostel with free internet (+computer in the room! - yes one of the places I probably should have updated my blog, lets ignore that....), went jetboating along the Shotover Canyon, which was crazy as we were skimmed perilously close to jagged cliffs and through 10cm deep water. Also went luging, which is basically a gokart down a mountain, hilarious fun racing each other down it....oddly probably more dangerous than the jetboating! Went to the 'Minus 5 Bar' which was in fact -7.5 and entirely made of ice, even the cups which the drinks came in were ice (which Ben proceded to eat, and Fran to crack), and the barman I found out was from Raydon, weird!!! Left Queenstown the next morning for the Franz Josef Glacier, which again was another stunning drive to another remote location. Meant to go on a helicopter onto the glacier and then do a 2 hr hike, but soooo annoyingly the weather was awful and it was cancelled, oh well just gives me more reason to come back! After 2 nights there, we drove onto Nelson which is where I am currently. This was a seriously long drive, and we went to Punakaiki which was right on the coast and where the rocks looked like pancakes, but the more amazing thing was the chimneys where water rushed in from the sea and then got shot out in a spray over everyone, all very impressive. Arrived at Nelson, again a really nice hostel - and then MY BIRTHDAY! Had an awesome day, went riding with Ellie along the Abel Tasman coast, our choice of horses was a 5yr old mare, or an 8 yr gelding which had only been gelded for 2 years!!!! They actually ended up being quite nice, and good for galloping along the beach!!! Have just returned from a 3day walk in the Abel Tasman National Park which is apparently the best walk in New Zealand...I can vouch for that. It was just stunning, along the coast these amazing beaches surrounded by mountains and walking through rainforest where the scenery constantly changed. Had to stay in these huts designed for the walk which basically was just a bed, luckily Rosie (the next new travelling companion) had got a gas cooker so we were able to cook pasta and noodles. Really sweet though, as it was really sociable as the same group of people stayed at the huts both nights as we progressed through the walk; so we kept seeing them on the way round. Very very tired now (as over 12 hr walk), and ache a lot!!! Definitely worth it though.