Our first night was spent recovering from the ferry journey and finding a campsite near Wellington. The next day we headed up north, and after driving for half an hour up a dead end road (closed for bridge repairs), we headed back the way we came to eventually join the highway. We stopped over in Turangi for the night before heading for Lake Taupo. It had lovely views across the lake of Mt Ruapehu, or 'Mt Doom' from Lord Of The Rings. We spent the afternoon visiting the powerful Huka Falls, Arantiatia Dam and a sweet little honey hive shop where we did some honey tasting.

Rotorua was our next stop, where we had planned to do a few activities. First on the list was to take in some of the Maori culture at Te Puia. We saw some Kiwi birds as well as Geysers shooting high into the air. We took a walk around the natural boiling mud pools while mostly covering our noses to hide from the sulphuric stench!! (This was the case around most of Rotorua). We then arrived back for the Maori culture show at the meeting point, where I was singled out by our guide to be the designated chief of the visitors for the day. Great, thats me prancing around on stage later I was thinking!! But first of all I was challenged by a maori warrior and presented with a fern leaf, which signified a peace offering that I was to accept while keeping eye contact and a straight face, which was a challenge in itself. The group were then invited into the building for further greetings. Mainly me on stage shaking hands and rubbing noses with the rest of the maori warriors. Once the formalities had been completed, we were treated to an insight into their culture including the impressive haka and songs from the maori women. It was a great experience made better by the incredibly friendly maori people. That afternoon we went to the museum and had a walk around the Government gardens.

We were booked to do a skydive the following day, but this was cancelled due to strong winds, so instead we went to Zorb to do some zorbing (Giant inflatable balls which you get in and are then rolled down a steep hill). Aimee was keen on the human washing machine idea so we went together for the zydro (same thing with hot water inside). It was great fun although Aimee screamed most of the way down and was soon dried and dressed afterwards. I was keen on some more though, so went down the zig zag track, which I soon regretted after getting beaten up and drowned at the same time! We spent the evening watching movies back at camp, and worrying about the forthcoming skydive.

We arrived at the airport once again, to be told it was now 'too cloudy' to jump. We were asked to try again in the afternoon. Just as we were thinking we should move on rather than wait any longer, we received a phone call to head back asap as the weather had cleared. We were dressed and harnessed up in no time and all set to go. We had decided on doing the highest jump at 15,000ft to give us a longer free fall time of about 65 seconds. The climb to altitude in the plane was cold and nervy, even more so when I looked back and see Aimee had an oxygen mask on. But this was normal above 12,000ft because of the air being so thin. Not that I got offered any! The views were amazing with most of the cloud out of the way, you could see the whole of Rotorua and its 14 lakes, as well as the east coast of New Zealand.

Being the last one in the little plane, I was going to be the the first one out. Matt who was strapped to my back pulled the harness even tighter before shuffling me to the door. I was told he would do all the hard work and I just needed to relax, (oh and fall out a plane!) As we sat at the door I couldn't help but put my head forward to look out and down, so Matt had to pull it back into position a few times before we dropped. When we did it was exhilarating! It wasn't easy trying to breath when falling so fast, trying to take it all in, as well as pose for the camera man. The free fall seemed to be over in 10 seconds, and when the shute opened I had time to get my breath back and release all the pressure from my ears, before have a great time gliding around. This was about 5 minutes but felt like 1. After a fairly good landing I was all set to go again, although Aimee didn't seem so keen. She was a bit flustered and emotional for a while afterwards. The rest of the day was a blur after all the excitement and getting to sleep on such a high was almost impossible.

With the skydive done we travelled north to Hobbiton!