After joining the Kiwi Experience bus in Auckland we began what has so far been an amazing few weeks and put New Zealand on our all time favourites list.

Hot Water Beach

On the way we here we passes through Thames and stopped for a walk down to Cathedral Cove. It was a wee coastal walk down to a beach where the rock was like a big cathedral arch. Although the sun was not shinning, a few of us bared the elements and had a swim in the freezing water. Arriving at Hot Water Beach we weren't quite sure what the plan was but it turned into quite a cool night. Basically at 11pm we headed to the beach with a spade and dug ourselves a little hole. This wee hole then was filled with mega hot water from underneath and if you were brave or daft enough you could sitin it. Darren lay in it, I think it was the rum giving him courage though,I paddled in it andburnt my feet about 10 times, ouch!

Waitomo

We stopped at the Karangahake Scenic Reserve which used to beused for gold mining. It was so cool, after passing over a couple of swing bridges we headed into some of the old tunnels. It was so disorientating at points in complete darkness but we got to see loads of glow worms and then outside of them again the scenery was gorgeous. We had ourselves a wee bbq at the end of the night in a cool wee lodge in the mountains.

Rotorua

After a wee wander down the lake front we headed to the extremely stinky park to see some of the geysars. All along the park was opened bits of land with water or mud bubbling up and it stunk of eggs everywhere. We went on an overnight Maori experience to Tamaki Village to learn more about how NZ was before the European settlers came and what traditions still exist. It was a fantastic night and Darren was our appointed 'Chief' and took part in a ceremony with the warriors. They started with the Haka and then moved towards the Chiefs trying to intimidate them, before Darren had to walk forward and collect and offering and walk backwards without looking away from the warriors. We went into a wee reinactment village before heading into a tiny theatre style building where some songs and dances were performed and the full Haka, all of which was sureal and such a privilage to spectate. Had ourselves a little feast done Maori style. All our food was cooked under ground using the geothermal lands to heat up stones and then in turn cook the food that had been buried, yummy! Once the majority of people left we tried our hand at some weaving using leafs and oyster shells and then time for some QandA's round the campfire before a wee moonlit dip in the spa pool :-)

Taupo

We done a couple of wee walks on the way to Taupo checking out the Huka Falls and later the hot spring parks. Again some geothermal activity made some beautiful hot thermal baths for us to dip into even though it was still chilly outside. Then the final countdown began for our skydive. Darren thought he would be a bit nervous but just became excited and then the miracle happened, I stopped talking all together. I was absolutely bricking it to put it mildy, which iratatingly , Darren thought was hysterical. Once we got into the bright pink plane though, nerves had gone and at 12,000ft we lept out ;-) It was the best freekin thing we've ever done. I played on the old we're married card, so our instructors made it so we could say hi to eachother in the sky once our parachutes we out. The views over Lake Taupo were incredible with the Tongario National Park across the way. We were free falling for under a minute, then got a wee shot of steering the parachute and doing a few spins. To top it off we got a wee limo ride back to meet the rest of the bus. It's one of those activities hard to describe how you felt but afterwards your still pumping with adrenaline and on a total high, WOO HOO!!

Tongario National Park -Alpine Crossingy

Although we will always be biased towards Scotland, New Zealand does give it a run for its money on the scenery front. Trekking both steep and fairly easy ascents, the views rewarded truly were awe inspiring ( you'll see by the ridiculous amount of photos we have) Snow capped mountains to one side, a huge lake off in the distance, tree covered hills in an other and then emerald pools dotted around a red crater. Darren would have manged the hike quicker but since he had to wait on me being a slow coach it took us about 7hrs. After we got past the crossing and started the descent, there were plumes of smoke coming out some parts of the volcano as a wee reminder that we had just crossed an active volcano ;-)

River Valley

On a wee activity feast we tried our hand at a bit of white water rafting down the Rangitikei River. The rapids graded between a 3-5 and although not majorly scary it was a good day out and again with awesome surroundings. The water was ridiculously cold and they made us do a quick swim and a cliff jump into the water to reassure us how cold it was. Our pal Zara got tipped out at one of the rapids and that was pretty scary because we couldn't get her back in and she got bounced off quite a few rocks before we got her in the raft. The lodge was in the middle of nowhere and had a huge log fire in the middle of it making a cozy wee setting for a beverage in the evening ;-)

Wellington

We finished off our time in the North Island with a wee night in the capital city of Wellington. Having only the evening there we headed out on a wee city walk and it's got a great vibe about the place with loads of restaurants and bars and would have been nice to stay a little longer.

love you lo