Ohhh dearr...i haven't been on here in ages! Really hard trying to find the time when we're doing so much! so here goes...

Saturday 16th

Our last day/night in Auckland!! Was so pleased to get out of there. You just end up spending stupid money on stupid things. It's just such a boring city..We decided to go the cinema just to waste some time. ended up watching the new sherlock holmes movie which was actually really good. Reminded me of being back in england..when i walked out the cinema i was expecting to be in ipswich, very strange! We managed to much through a subway during the filum but when we got back to the hostel we were still hungry so went out and brought some cheap thai noodles. Ended up being a thai soup which was fine until i managed to get chilli powder in my eye...not good! We really needed lucie to cook us her amazing thai curry :(

Sunday 17th

On the way to mercury bay we stopped off at two AMAZING beaches. the first was called hot water beach. I could have stayed there a week! The surf was awesome and if you went at thr right time in relation to the tides you could make your own hot water pools. It was so busy though, so i was dunking my feet in everyone elses pools :D If you dug your feet in far enough the water actually burned your feet!
We then headed over to cathedral cove, yet again another beautiful beach. Me and ruth had a bit of a dip in the sea but the waves were HUGE! My bikini bottoms must have fallen down about 6 times...luckily the beach wasn't toooo busy!

Monday 18th

Spent the majoiry of the morning on the bus to Rotorua, stopping off in hobbiton for lunch and the much needed photo :P That evening we went to a cultural maori experience and meal. when we arrived we were told that we couldn't laugh, smile or imitate the performers as it was seen as disrespectful to their culture...this is me and ruth we're talking about!! Luckily during the opening ceremony i managed to keep a straight face, not without difficulty!! There were a few moments where i almost broke out but i held it together and focused intensely on taking pictures!! Once invited into the village they showed us how the maori people used to live hundreds of years ago. They then went on to perform dances and songs which was actually really good! Some bits were pretty comical like the Haka! Afterwards we went into the dinner hall for our meal. I ate SOOOO much! I ended up having 3 portions of dessert :D

Tuesday 19th

We decided we would go mountain biking as rotorua is famous for its mountain bike trails. after collecting our bikes we headed for the redwood forest. What a mission!! after getting up ONE hill i literally died! I was sprawled out on the concrete path for about 20minutes before i could muster any energy to get up and go on. however, we did manage to complete a grade 3 course which was imposssibly hard and i did fall/fly off my bike after hitting a tree stump!

Wednesday 20th

Went Hydro-zorbing this morning on our way to Waiitomo!!! SO SO SO Much fun!! Basically we were put into this huge inflatable hamster ball which was then filled with water (WARM thank goodness) and then rolled down this really steep hill. I can't explain how much fun it was...kinda like being on a water rollercoaster where you're not strapped in! I had a few bikini issues to say the least by the time we got to the bottom but it was worth it :D

Thursday 21st

It rained so much today. It's like being in England..but worst! We decided we would go to the Waitomo caves to see the glow worms (: It was a really interesting tour and the glow worms were so pretty! The tour finished with a short boat ride through the caves in the pitch black...it was magical. there were thousands and thousands of glow worms, just amazing. It felt like we we're in space, i can't really explain it!

Friday 22nd

Arrived in Taupo last night. We were all (me, ruth, ruby and orla- two girls from newcastle who are both are age! We met in rotorua :D) were so tired so ended up crashing out infront of a movie with some popcorn and much needed chocolate!! Today we've basically been trying to sort out what we're gunna do for the next 4ish days. Still don't know if we've got accomodation so may have to get the bus tomorrow :/ If not We'll be doing a skydive for sure and maybe a canyon swing :D We did walk up to the free natural hot water spring this afternoon which was nice. It was really strange though as the water would actually be boling hot in some places and freezing cold in others! Well i best make a move...im getting pretty peckish and i think we're going out tonight and i'm still in my bikini!!

Love you all lots and lots! (hopefully my blog next time wont be so ridiculously massive!)
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