After a short visit to Palmeston North and Wanganui I headed further West to New Plymouth and caught up with Grant who I used to work with in the UK. He was outside working on his decking when I got there (a hint of things to come!). We spent the afternoon catching up before heading out into town in the evening. A friend of Grant's called Ronnie having won salesman of the year had a bar tab as his prize which I was fortunate enough to benefit from! A night of free beer and Caruba rum ensued! Grant even treated me to a "Chicken Roll" from the garage on the way home!!

After doing some work on the decking in the morning Grant and I headed out to his parents farm where they have an airstrip, plane and a multitude of gliders. Not convinced this was the best cure for our hangovers Grant decided the aerobatic glider was the way forward! All strapped it we were soon being towed down the runway and the glider took off before the plane which was slightly weird! We were towed to about 5,000 ft before being released from the plane. The plane came round beside us and managed to get a great photo of Finn the dog sat in the back seat of the plane. Grant then took us for a couple of loops, stalls and wing overs-awesome fun! He then gave me the controls and I preceded to fly us about somewhat under control! He took over the controls for the landing which was smoother than I though it might be! I was glad to be back on the ground after feeling a little rough at which point Grant said he had made himself feel ill too!!

I then spent the next couple of days helping out with the decking, setting up Grant's Blackberry and enjoying living in a home complete with dogs!

I also caught up with Jain (Mum's cousin) and Nick for a coffee. There were pretty busy as in the middle of moving house but was nice to catch up with them and hear their news.

I left New Plymouth and headed to Mt Taranaki as I felt I should walk the mountain that dominants the landscape! After taking advice in the visitors centre I headed up the summit track. This gave magnificent views over the surroundings and right out to sea. It was pretty steep and I was beginning to wonder if my plan for the following day might not be such a good idea! From Mt Taranaki I headed North to the Waitomo Caves. Unfortunately when I got on the Waitomo Caves Road there was a huge backlog of traffic. I sat there for 15 minutes and then gave up as we didn't move anywhere! I then ventured on to National Park Village for the night.