Hi all,

The view from the photo is the famous Sky Tower in Auckland which Laura actually jumped off the day before yesterday. Yes, she did have a safety harness on but nevertheless, to freefall 192 meters is pretty scarey so needless to say I happily stood at the bottom with Lorraine and Fran and took some photos!

We spent a lovely day with Fran and Lorraine in Auckland and it was good to talk to other people for the day. We dropped them back at Auckland airport late that evening and because of the horrendous weather that we seem to be having lately, we were both a bit jealous about them flying home.....in fact, had we not just picked up our luxury camper van I think we may have considered joining them. The van is great with all mod cons (will get some photos of it soon and put them on) but you really need fairly decent weather in this country to do most of the things we want to do and thus far, we just haven't had it. I know it sounds a bit trivial but having gone for over a week and not seen the sun, we are both starting to feel a bit agrieved.

Anyway, we don't expect much sympathy! We travelled up to the very top of the North Island today and are staying right on 90 mile beach but as there was a glimmer of sun this afternoon, we're gonna head to the Bay of Islands tomorrow to see if we can get some diving in over the next couple of days.

So far, New Zealand has looked strangely like The Lake District and the van has been up and down a few mountains in its first few days with us but it is very pretty. I don't think we've seen a straight road yet but we did see another campervan get stuck on the beach this afternoon which was quite funny.....we didn't offer to help as we were strictly told NOT to drive ours on the beach so we just sat laughing at them instead. Unfortunately, some nice Kiwi guy came and pulled them out in his 4x4.

Laura could barely sleep last night and nearly wet herself upon hearing that Tottenham are through to the Carling Cup Final. (She also said what a great homecoming present it would be if someone were to get her a ticket for the final!) Meanwhile, I've had to endure "Spurs are on their way to Wembley" for the last 48 hours. I don't think she really cares if they win or not, just beating the Gunners was worth it. Oh and King K back at St James' is the best news I've had for a while too!!

Okey dokey, we're off now. Please do a sun dance for us whenever you read this! In return, we'll put some more photos on, and possibly even the video of Laura's Sky Jump.

Take care,

Lots of Love

Jo and Laura xxx