so we finally left Australia, but not till we had an obligatory surfing lesson at Bondi beach that i failed miserably at but had loads of fun nevertheless!

Since being in New Zealand it has been non stop on the activities front... we have moved from one town to the next every other day stopping only to see the main sights and do something stupid like throwing ourselves down a hill in a rubber ball or jumping out of a plane at 15000 feet! i wont bore you with everything we did and saw while we were here in New Zealand because my pictures speak a thousand words! it is most probably the most beautiful country on the planet.

We travelled on the Magic bus throughout new zealand which i would recommend to anyone as the drivers are lovely and the people we have met on them have become friends in the last two weeks. They book all your tours and accomodation so all you have to worry about is what you're going to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner! We've also been taking it in turns to make dinner for each other which has been nice as we all sit round the table and eat together!

The thing about new zealand that i love is simple bus trips from one town to the next would blow my mind as you would be surrounded by mountains upon mountains and the views would be amazing. oh yes... and there are LOTS of sheep. its spring time here so everywhere u went there would be little lambs by the road wiggling their tails....so so cute!

so the biggest thing ive done since being here and in fact probably my whole life was sky diving! we arrived in Taupo and were taken straight to the sky dive site and suited up. We went up in the plane and as soon as one of the guys jumped the door was shut and we were left baffled! it was then they explained that we couldnt jump as it was too cloudy, we'd have to come back the next day. So we left sulking and the next day arrived to be suited up again and then be told it was too windy and to wait.... finally we went up the in plane but neither jen or i thought we'd actually get to jump until the door opened and we were shuffling down the plane to get out! sitting on the edge of the plane is quite a weird feeling but before u know it ure rocked out and zooming through the air at 200kph! you dont feel like you are falling that fast but i do remember feeling the cold! its pretty fresh up there in the sky! i spent the next 60 secs of my freefall posing at the camera man and before i knew it the parachute had opened and we were heading for the heavens!!! the parachute down was nice and the view was unbelievable! i would/will definitely be doing it again!

Zorbing- big plastic sphere that u climb into and roll down a hill in- was probably the weirdest and funniest thing we've done. You basically climb in and a bucket of warm water is shoved in with you. you are then pushed down the hill! u literally feel like you're in a washing machine as u tumble down the hill, falling all over the place.... hilarious!

Second on my list of the most amazing things ive done on my trip has to be the glacier hike we did in Franz Josef. You are given all the gear,thick gloves, ice boots, plastic trousers (very nice) and coat, and then you follow the guide up the glacier using the spikes on the bottom of the boots as stabalisers. It was quite hard work and our legs were sore the next day but it was worth it!! I wil probably never have the opportunity to do someting like it again and im so so glad that we did because not only was the view from half way up amazing but the climb itself was so exciting!

We spent one day doing a 14km trek around Abel Tasman national park. It is basically a walk around the mountain that backs onto the sea. I cant do the views any justice so you'l have to see my photo's but although the walk was tiring the views were so pretty... just like paradise should be!

At the beginning of our new zealand trip we stayed in a town called Rotorua on the north island. its a strange place as its the centre of geothermal activity! At 290m above sea level, Rotorua is located on a volcanic plateau, so you will see geysers of boiling water explode from within the ground and hurl spray 100ft into the air and there are tens of boiling mud pools surrounding the town! not to mention the strong smell of sulphur wherever you go... thats the smell of rotten egg to you and me! so we spent our days here looking around the town and visiting the thermal mud pools and geysers... all with pegs on our noses!

We also visited Milford Sound, one of the most visited attractions in New Zealand! Milford Sound runs 15 kilometres inland from the Tasman sea and is surrounded by sheer rock faces that rise 1200 metres or more on either side. As we visited on one of the only days that it hasnt rained i think it made the trip all the more beautiful! (see my pics) and i had a cold so i was glad we didnt have to contend with the rain!

The last few activties we had planned were cancelled due to weather so i was really upset when they said i couldnt go to the star observatory because i was so looking forward to getting to see the planets through the telescope! boo hoo! and then we were told it was too cold for horse riding so we spent the day in watching Grease on the telly with the girlies we've become friends with on the magic bus!

The last major activity we had planned was swimming with the dolphins and this was probably the thing i was most excited about! However, we didnt get to do it! we all got into our wetsuits and out on the boat to try and search for dolphins but while we only found a couple the skipper shouted out that he could see orca whales! (free willy whales) we didnt believe him until we saw a pod of about 6 or 7 whales swimming within 100 feet of the boat! it was unbelievable. it didnt even occur to me that killer whales lived in new zealand waters! so we spent 2 hours just watching the whales! we were so lucky to see them as they are only spotted once or twice a year so we felt very privilidged. however it obviously meant that the dolphins had been scared away and as the skipper wasnt too keen on letting us in the water with 7 killer whales we stayed safely on the boat and headed back to the harbour instead! its a shame but an experience none the less. (pics will be up soon)

Ooh i nearly forgot... Another experience i adored was the trip to the cadbury's chocolate factory...! u can imagine my excitement as the day dawned for me- england's biggest choccy addict- to visit Cadbury's world! However, i do have to stress that i am a little angry at australia and new zealand for ruining the cadbury's flavour. im not sure what they do wrong but no cadburys chocolate bar tastes right, they clearly cant get the ingredients right and im so looking forward to getting home and buying THE BIGGEST cadburys chocolate bar there is! so anyway i managed to refrain from telling the guide how disgusted i was at them for damaging Cadbury's great taste and merrily ate the free choccy bars they gave us...well its better than no chocolate!

We're now back in Auckland and im debating jumping the 320feet off of the Auckland sky tower tomorrow before we leave, but my funds are a little short so im not sure il go through with it.... nothing to do with the fact im a little scared at the thought of hurling myself off a building with only a rope attached to me!!

Things are looking up for me and jen now that we have both got our plans for the next 2 months finalised and and we are both now excited to be leaving for Fiji together in a days time... strangely enough Louisa who we have been travelling with the last 2 weeks leaves for fiji tomorrow so we'll be meeting her out there on saturday! so you never know when i speak to u next il hopefully have added some colour to my snow white skin... i doubt it very much too!

love me.xx