The ferry arrived at silly o´clock in the morning so we drove just outside of Wellington and snook into the campsite we stayed at on the way down. We thought we might be trying our luck by hitting the same one again so we got up early and left pretty sharpish so we didn't get caught. We headed north and stopped in Taihape where we decided to try calling in at Ron and Alli´s again, this time we were in luck! Ron was away and the kids were at school but Alli was in and invited us to stay for tea. She offered for us to spend the night but we turned her down as we were due to leave later that evening to visit our friend Beau who had arranged for us to sheep rouse the following day. But just as we were getting in the camper a message came through saying that all the sheep had been finished and there wouldn't be work for us, booo!! We´d been looking forward to this and had took great pleasure in using this as our defense for not working for the last 8 months so we were gutted, but it did mean we were able to have a nice comfy bed (in a house) for the night =)

We were disappointed that we weren't going to sheep rouse and had all intentions at stopping off at some random farms on route up north to see if we could have ago just to say we had tried it but we were distracted…. by Gravity Canyon! Aimee had heard us talk about it and after visiting it the previous day had dreamt about it that night. We drove there and after Dani talking her into it, she decided to do a Bungee! She was only just allowed to do it because of her weight and then after doing it was told that the rope was 15m off and she could do it again for free, bonus! Sam had no intention of doing a Bungee but for some reason decided that she´d regret it if she didn't and decided to do the 80m bridge jump.

Unfortunetely, it wasn't as simple as Dani and Aimee´s, mainly due to the fact she´s petrified of heights! The first attempt was very unsuccessful and after 30minutes of hanging over the edge freaking out she backed out. She was pretty upset and annoyed at herself because she was so close, but after speaking to the staff who said they believed she could do it she went out for round two. This time they flew through the safety checks and Sam just did it. She knew that with New Zealand being the home of the bungee, its something that should be done, but completely disagrees with people who say its fun! Whereas most people scream, shout or make some sort of noise, she was completely silent until she was bouncing back up, the feeling of pure terror is something that she will not be doing again!

Taupo was the next stop on the agenda and where we had a good night out, meeting lots of weird people. There were a group of English lads who got up on stage and performed a dance routine to Riverside (yes you can imagine our faces). We also met a guy called Tiny who was the complete opposite, he was gigantic! The pictures show it all, poor Aimee looked like a midget. We hit the hot springs the following day before setting off to Gisborne, which is the first place in the world to see the sunrise. This drive ended up being a complete waist of time because at 6am it was cloudy, wet and misty.. great, no sunrise for us! So after the long drive there, little sleep, and a nonexistent sunrise, we set off towards Rotorua. We stopped off at Whakatane to look at the White Island Volcano, before passing through Matamata (aka Hobbiton) to see the home of Lord of the Rings.
Rotorua was ermmm.. smelly! We found a place to stay where we avoided the smell of rotten eggs but it was pretty unpleasant in some areas. We had round two of the luge (the course was a lot more extreme) and took Aimee for her first Zorb experience (filming in the Zorb was hilarious). We also went to Rotorua Maori Concert & Hangi Feast Tamaki. We were picked up on a bus and taken to a village where we were entertained by people showing us how Mauri´s lived, then had a traditional Hangi meal which is where food is cooked in the ground for hours, it was gorgeous! We were welcomed by a dance/challenge that involved people pulling crazy faces etc, but we got warned not to laugh, smile or imitate as this is seen as a sign of disrespect, very hard when the guys can see you recording and are purposely trying to make you react! We also got to see the Haka which was awesome, and us three took part in a traditional Mauri game that involved us trying to catch poles from each other. On the way back our bus driver (who was crazy) began singing extremely loud but was soon asked to be quiet by a family who had a small baby. She did not like this, making comments that she has never had a quiet bus ride home and joked about them taking the baby off the bus, it was priceless!

Waitomo was the next destination after leaving Rotorua, ready for the Tumatuma tubing. We were kitted out with hideous a wetsuit, gum boots (aka wellie´s), hard hat and tight smelly jacket. After walking difficulty (we looked like Teletubbies) for 15 minutes we reached the beginning of the tunnel and began the climb down. This was the beginning of two and a half hours underground in the dark, climbing through small holes, swimming and tubing through the caves whilst admiring the glow worms above. Our guide Chris seemed like a bit of a tool to start but soon lightened up. He took pleasure in jumping out from round corners and dunking us under the freezing cold water, but it was all fun. We all had different feelings about the caving; Aimee didn't enjoy it at all because she had a completely different idea of what we would be doing, Dani enjoyed it but wouldn't do it again, and Sam thought it was wicked!

And this is where our New Zealand adventure ends! We drove up to Auckland and dropped the camper off the following day and then booked into Nomads for our last night. Next stop is Fiji, but there´s a cyclone due to hit… hmmm!