So we began our journey of the north island in Wellington!? Had to say a sad farewell to Soph and Rach, we had one final drink for the road - although mine was just OJ as I was driving, which was good really considering that we got pulled over by police on a random check on the way out of Wellington!? He asked me to speak my name and address into what i thought was a microphone and then after some questions re the massive orange van, sent us on our way!? I said to Kate as we drove off, thats weird isnt it, they pulled us over and then didnt do the breath test!? She then proceeded to tell me that the breath test was when I spoke into what I thought was a microphone!! Was all very strange!? The following day we headed to Turrangi and did the Tongarairo crossing - an 8 hour walk!! Up the devils staircase - you can only begin to imagine and to the emerald pools.? We had to walk down this massive hill to get to them!! I could not stay on my feet so I just slid down on my bum!!? Next day we headed to Lake Taupo and did our sky dive!!? Was so much fun, although numerous trips to the toilet beforehand!!!? Was such a great experience and the DVD is hilarious!!? Trying to 'smile for the camera', as Volker kept telling me, when my mouth was completely dry from the rush of?air that was going in!!? After throwing ourselves out of a plane we had a lovely lunch by the lake and the whole experience felt very surreal!? That evening we headed to Waitomo caves so that the following day we could do the 'Rap, Raft and Rock' tour.? This involved abseiling, caving, seeing the gloworms, black water rafting (floating in a black rubber ring underground!) and rock climbing!? Was lots of fun but not an adrenaline filled day as expected!? Anyway, next day we headed to Rotorua, for white water rafting, this was hilarious!!? So much fun, the guides were amazing and we did a 7 metre waterfall drop - get signed on to facebook and you will be able to see the pictures!? Anyway, Rotorua was stunning but ponged to high heaven so we left there that evening and headed for the coast.? We then spent the next few days driving up the Corromandel Peninsula and up to Bay of Islands in Northland.? It was absolutely stunning!!? Driving along the coast - I will have to try and get some pics on facebook!?  Final days in Auckland were busy!  Had a massive night out on the Friday.  We went to the hostel bar at base, bungalow 8 and then onto a club in the sky tower, which resulted in neither of us getting out of bed until 6pm the following day - other than for some breakfast around 1pm.  When we finally got out of bed we decided that neither of us wanted to cook so we went out for dinner for Kates birthday (not for about a week buy hey any excuse!).  A place called little Italy, it was amazing - both of us were so hungary and I had a dish other than spag bol which is actually becoming quite common! We then went to a bar with a live singer and then to meet some friends and watch the man u game.  Was a fun evening but neither kate or i could even look at a bottle of wine or a jager bomb for that matter!!  Next day some friends drove us to a little beach about an hour outside Auckland and then we all cooked dinner.  That evening I got some new songs uploaded onto my ipod and I have not been able to put it down since!  anyway, next day we were up quite early as we had to head to airport and I had to say a temporary farewell to Kate, which all became a bit of a rush in the end because it was the last call for my flight and I had to run to the gate etc!   all adding to the fun i suppose, anyway have arrived in Fiji now so will write soon with places visited and general happenings!  They will probably mostly consist of lying on beach! ah well this is the life!!

lots of love xx