Ok firstly this photo has nothing to do with where we went today, but I have to select one and I havent uploaded my photos yet. So we set off nice and early again today, 7.15am. We were greeted by a very enthusiastic bus driver called Auto (like the bus driver in the Simpsons and yes he is the original..apparently). We were heading up the the top of the island today - Cape Reinga. Throughout the day Auto told us about the Maori history and all of the places we were passing through. He was brilliant, just a genuine guy who clearly loved his country - it was great! Our first stop was a forest where we could view some of the oldest and tallest trees in the world. they really were very big. I dont think my photos capture the height of them very well. We then drove all the way to the very tip of the country and the views are amazing. The weather is great up here, it never gets very cold, unlike the south which is currently under a lot of snow (heading there next...yipee!) We had lunch on the beach while we listened to the rugby on the radio. we had no choice in this as the All Blacks were playing. Thankfully they won as we would have had a very unhappy Auto for the rest of the day! We then moved onto the sand dunes for a little sand boarding. I was going to give it a go even though my back wasnt in great shape and it was one activity that I really wanted to do. Auto gave us a quick run down on how to control the boards etc and what not to do, e.g. let go of it and you are likely to lose all the skin on your face, or put your hand out to stop it as you'll break your wrist etc. At this point I was a little more concerned about my back but I thought that I would get up to the top of the 45m sand dune and see how I felt. I was the final person to go and as I knelt down in the sand and grabbed onto the board I must admit it didnt feel the safest thing in the world but I was there now I couldnt be bothered it walk back down...so off I went. Well firstly I think having quite small hands doesnt help with the whole grip situation. Towards the end of the hill my hands were barely holding on to it and I ended up having to up my hand out to stop or I would have ended up in the river. Of course this was one of the things that we were told not to do but thankfully no wrist was broken. The speed you build up is really quite fast and your only way of braking is to dig your feet into the sand. Once again, unfortunately my feet were a little small so the whole brake thing wasnt really working for me! I decided that I would just do the one run...and Tash and Heather had come to the same conclusion. we were all just quite impressed that we hadnt died on that run so we thought we wouldnt chance another shot at it! Basically its a great sport if you have big hands and feet! I would definately recommend a go at it though. ps. we were meant to actually do a 80m run but it was a little 'bumpy' apparently. Now that would have been a scary run - 45m seemed miles up!