Hey, me and sarah have had a nice couple of days, theyve been pretty chilled out which is a change. We went from wellington to Taupo on the kiwi bus with Duncan, and in Taupo we stayed at Urban retreat, a nomads not base, and it was a really nice, homey hostel. We did the walk out of town to the hot springs that you can swim in, set in a gorgeous parkland along the river. The hot stream flowed into the river and you had amazing views of the cliffs on the opposite side of the river and the park. I lost my bikini and my phone at a hostel we stayed at in Christchurch, so I swam in my underwear lol. Werent too many people about, a few asian tourists taking the usual photos! The water was perfect, like having a hot bath :-)

We walked bk to taupo and did a bit of shopping, made dinner in our hostel and chilled there for a bit, then went and sat in Mc cafe- love the mcdonalds over here lol. Me and sarah actually stay in them after weve finished our food lol, theyre so posh- we watched rock music videos for about an hour on the plasma screen then went bk to the hostel.

Next day was the 16th of april, only 5 days til we leave OMG. We went from taupo to rotorua, stopping on the way to see some massive bubbling mud pools, got some good photos. Started to get used to the sulphur smell before arriving in rotorua. We got there at 11, so we got a bus from town to Mt.Ngongotaha where we got the gondola to the top, and I did the Sky Swing! Couldnt convince sarah to do this with me so I went with two random girls- youre harnessed into a seat, two people next to you, nothing under your feet or in front of you, and youre wenched 50m up above ground level, above a cliff of the mountain, with awesome views of the whole city and the lake etc, and then released- you fall at around 120km/h! It was a really big rush, both girls refused to pull the cord that released us at the top, so I did it! It was quite cool, sarah got awesome photos of it! I froze for a couple of seconds as it felt like we were just falling- felt like when I did the bungi jump, though that lasted longer. It was a good rush, only cost 20 dollars- about 7 pounds lol. Wicked.

We then went and started to have what was probably our funnest day of travelling- we went luging!! Its so bloody fun, I cant believe there isnt one in england!! There were loads of different tracks to choose from, and you could get incredibly fast down the hills bits, occassionally going airborne as me and sarah found out! You got the chairlift bk up each time. Five times we went, and we almost borught another load of tickets. I took a video of our last one- tied my camera round my neck lol, it looked so cool! Afterwards we went to the cafe then took the gondola back down, and went bk via bus again. I got one more souvenir in town- teko teko wooden carving, Ive wanted one for ages and ages. Also got a proper touristy t-shirt saying 'I love NZ' lol. Had to get it! Only 3 pound lol.

We walked round the government gardens of rotorua, awesome old buildings, maori carvings and statues, and of course hot springs. We have a late bus tomorrow from rotorua to auckland, about half 10, so were going to walk around the other park here tomorrow morning to see more hot springs. We made our own dinner again tonight, and were just about to ring sta to try and see if we can change our flight home- the english embassy is still against travellers going to bangkok, so were going to try and change our flight so we stop somewhere else instead, might have to go straight home...