Sunday 18th July - Got the bus from the Bay of Islands to Auckland today, didnt really do much tonight just chilled in the room with our crazy German roomie!! he was so funny, his voice was crazy, anyway thats it really for today.

Monday 19th - We got the bus at 7 to Mercury bay, we met our bus driver Dylan who was also very crazy, it was like he was on something, sooooo funny! We arrived at a stop for dinner at a place called Cathedral Cove where we went Kayaking, it was really good, apart from rachel felt sick so kept stopping paddling, so that meant it was all left to Hayley who now has muscles like a man. We stopped off and had hot chocolate in this little secluded bay then set off again. After Kayaking we got the ferry to Whitianga where we were staying for the night. The hostel was freezing as there was no heating. We went down to the bar and played Killer Pool with our bus buddies, rachel won she is the first women ever to win!!!!!! (Hayley was soooo proud to say she was her cousin ;-) ). We then went to bed.

Tuesday 20th - Caught the bus to Roturua, we stopped of on the way at Karangahake Scenic Reserve, we we had to walk over two swing bridges, and went in the caves. We then stopped off at a place called Matamata, or Hobbiton as it is now known as, this is where Lord of the Rings was filmed, apparntley peter jackson just went to this farmer and asked if he could film on his land, no one knows how much he got paid. When we got to Rotorua we checked into the hostel and then went White water rafting, we had to wear bikinis, wetsuits, a fleece, boots, a life jacket and helmet, we made our way in a bus to the start of the river where we lifted the raft into the water. We had two guides one called Adam and the other Jez, Adam had a lisp (so cute). The guys said a prayer to the Maori people then we got in the raft. We started off going down the river over little rapids, then we went down a 1 metre waterfall then a 2 meter one, then it was time for the BEAST (7 metre waterfall) its the largest waterfall in the world that you can raft down. We said another prayer which made us feel slightly nervous then we did it, rachel let go and ended up pretty much on top of Hayley whilst under the water, we went 2 metres under the water then popped back up again. AMAZING!. After our rafting we went back to the hostel to get ready for the Maori evening we were going to. This was a really good night, we had a crazy bus driver who could say hello in 59 languages and he drove round the roundabout 10 times on the way home, was so funny. The evening was really good, we walked round a traditional village, watched them singing dancing, doing the haka, then ate, the food was immense! When we got back to the hostel we went to the bar for a couple of drinks.

Wednesday 21st - Had a lie in today, we went to buy some warm clothes then went to the Gio Thermal Park, this is crazy there was steam coming out of the ground, boiling hot mud pools and these rock steps which you sat on and they were hot, its strange what goes on under the earths surface. Also it stinks in Rotorua as Sulphur comes up from the ground, smells like rotting eggs. We had canned curry tonight for tea and rice which was suprsingly nice, we just chilled out tonight in the room.

Thursday 22nd - We were going to go on a bike ride today around the lake however it was throwing it down, so we decided to go to the cinema instead, we watched Eclipse, however Hayley hasnt seen any of them so Rach had to fill her in. We are both team jacob, (oh my god). After this we walked to the shops got some food then headed back. We decided we would go to the bar for a couple of drinks however this turned into a massive session. Crazy night! We ended up drinking and dancing with two guys who were staying in a campavan, we went back to theres to play some drinking games, however both fell asleep, we woke up this morning at 7.55 our bus was at 8.30, oh god, so we ran back to the hostel,s till dressed in the clothes from the night before, luckily we had packed, so we just got ready quickly and caught the bus, cant believe we woke up when we did, was soooooo funny. We jumped on the bus feeling rather hungover and headed to a sheep show, it was so good, they had lots of different sheep which they showed and the guy shaved one of them, it was really good, then we carried on the bus to Waitomo, its lovely here, not much to do but we are only here for one night, we went for a walk this afternoon and saw some massive caves. Gonna have an early night tonight as we are pretty tired. Going to Taupo tomoz to do our Skydive!!!!!!!!

Bye Bye xxxxxxxxxxxx