Sorry for the delay in another entry guys, but since I joined that Kiwi Experience bus it's been super busy and mad, so haven't had much of a chance!

So, I jumped on the bus last Sunday at Auckland, and our first stop was Mercury Bay. We went to Hot Springs beach, which is where you can dig a hole in the sand and boiling water comes up from below. Was too hot though - couldn't even stand in the sand around it! We also went on a little walk to a lovely beach called Cathedral Cove, which was pretty impressive.

The next day, we headed to Rotorua, which is where the geothermal geysers are. I didn't see them, as I decided to take part in going on a luge. It's like a go kart but more basic! Simply a board with handlebars. Push forward to go faster, pull back to slow down. Was great fun though, and I'm planning to go on the course in Queenstown when I get there!

On Tuesday we headed to Waitomo, which is where the caves with gloworms are. They were absolutely beautiful, and pretty amazing to look at. There were thousands all over the roof of the cave, and we took a little boat in to look at them. Sadly I don't have any pictures of them because you're not allowed to take pictures, so I just have that one in my memory!

The next stop was Taupo, which we stayed in for two nights. I didn't do a lot there, as on the first day we went to the bungy place where 5 people from the bus did a jump, and we were waiting around for 2 hours for that! The next day I spent waiting around to sky dive. The weather was a bit cloudy, and they kept pushing the jump back by an hour, then another hour, and another, until it got to 4pm and they said it was cancelled, by which time I had wasted the day! I was meant to do it at 7am the next morning, but I didn't have an alarm clock and the guys that were meant to come and wake me up got the wrong room number, so I missed it! It's ok though, I can try one down at Franz Josef when I get there or in Queenstown. A little more expensive, but just as worth it I would have thought.

We moved on after that to River Valley, which is a little place in the sticks with no phone signal and no real link to the outside world. Absolutely beautiful but I couldn't stay there too long - I need to be able to talk to people! On the way we stopped at the National Park where the mountain used as Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings was. We did quite a hefty walk there, which took up a couple of hours, but some lovely views and an amazing waterfall. We didn't arrive in River Valley until fairly late in the day, so it was just a quiet evening playing cards before doing some white water rafting in the next morning. That was amazing fun. We were a boat of 5 girls with a male guide, and we decided to call ourselves Team Muscles! The guide said he really enjoyed it though and we were way better and more fun than the crew he had the day before, so he didn't mind having 5 girls! We then got on the bus and came to Wellington, which is where I am now.

We didn't get here until 6.30pm last night, so it was a case of checking in and dropping our bags off before heading to a game of rugby. Yes everyone, I went to watch Rugby! But it just so happened there was a game between the Wellington Hurricanes and the Western Force team from Perth playing here, so as tickets weren't too expensive we all thought we'd go along, seeing as we are in New Zealand and it's a pretty big sport over here! It actually wasn't too bad, and I found it quite an easy game to pick up, so I had fun. Plus everyone else went too so it was a good social event!

Today, the few of us that stayed here an extra night went to the museum, which was pretty amazing. It's free entry, and it is absolutely massive with loads to see and do. We didn't even finish seeing everything as it got to lunchtime and we naturally got hungry, and we somehow managed to never go back! Just went to the supermarket to stock up on a few things, and spent the afternoon chilling out and relaxing.

This evening we're just heading to the cinema for a nice quiet night, before having to get the bus for the ferry to the South Island at 7am tomorrow! Then it's off to Nelson, where I'm seeing Gilly Gallacher for a few days, which will be nice to sleep in a house rather than a hostel!

Must dash as credit is running low. I think I've caught you all up on everything, sorry again for the delay, and I'll put pictures up soon I promise! You must all be bored of the ones that are up so far by now!

Hope all is good back in the UK, and that you're having rubbish weather still because it's great here!

xxx