Alright you bunch of scallywags? 

I'm gonna be straight with you... I've taken full advantage of the free coffee here... Couldn't find a spoon at first... So I just tipped the coffee into the mug as a rough measurement. Think I may have put a little too much in. It'd be rude to pour it back in the tin... So I'm taking one for the team, and dealing with it like a man. The consistency of this coffee... Is like syrup. I don't think I'll be sleeping this evening. 

So, yet again folks... I've been slacking with this here blog. I've actually missed some major parts from the Cook Islands... So make sure you check out the updates! Mainly pictures... Pictures of the lovely men... From the Koka Lagoon Boat. I fancy them. Very much. Lads! Don't panic! Think there's a couple of bikini piccies of the Coconut ladies... See I'm considerate like that. 
Forgot to mention the pets we had in the bedroom... 

We hit Auckland in the land of the orcs... Paha... What a nerd. It's big! And fancy! We arrived in the evening, checked into the Nomads joint. Seemed pretty cool... They had a lounge, kitchen, hot tub and a Bar. Didn't get much kip on the first night. Our room was right above one of the clubs, so it was pretty booming... And my sodding Cook Island bug bites were playing up. Legs were on fire! Moses told me he could hear me itching my legs at silly o'clock in the morning... Eww. Nice. 

We got up nice and early... Decided to check out the town. Right next to the hostel was a kebab shop, and a string of bars... all of which were open. AT 8.30 IN THE DAMN MORNING?!?! There were a group of guys slurping a pitcher for breakfast?! I don't understand. But I quite like it... Little kiwi nutters!! 
There were loads of places to choose food, jewellery shops, gyms, strip clubs souvenir shops, coffee shops... and most importantly CLOTHES SHOPS :D ... That was me sorted. 
One thing was for sure... They bloody love their sushi! No kidding... Everywhere you looked there was a Japanese shack. I didn't mind that either :D 

We stayed in Auckland for about 5days. Was a cool place. The uni looked alright too... So maybe one day, if I fancy studying again like a smart person, I could go there... Or I could bum out and travel some more?!... Yep. 

We were staying in a room full of messy guys. Couple of Welshmen, an Irishman and an Aussie. It was nice of them to set out an obstacle course for us... We dodged cups, bottles, boxers, bags... You name it! They were an alright bunch... Just your typical lads. Woke up early to find the pissed chappy below me, using a cheeseburger as a pillow. 
The Aussie, Billy, told us to check out the Coast to Coast walk. So we did... Was a long trek... Which I asked to take charge of to practice my map reading skills... I only went and got us there in one piece didn't I? Clever girl... 5 gold stars for Hev.

We checked out a couple of Museums and also did a bit of exploring in our own time which was cool. It meant Moses had chance to cleanse his ears from my constant bulls***. Haha... And I got chance to do some girlie shopping and work out in a REAL gym! With equipment! And a studio! They said "As long as its free, you can plug in your music and use it for as long as you like." ... I got all 'Mr Motivator' on the situation. Sweat bands on, lycra pants... Loud music... Yeah I went a bit nuts... To the point I was shaking afterwards. I'm such a cool kid. Glazed in sweat. 

One of the places we visited together was an Art Gallery Museum. Some of the work in there was complete s***e... Think the artist just bulls***ted their way through their 'art passion' by using fancy words, and riddles next to their so called 'masterpieces'... AKA - a sneeze of paint on a piece of wood... or a collage made from rich, raw media... AKA - A couple of tarts, torn out of a Vogue magazine with a wig glued in the wrong place. 
However, beneath the layers of untalented crap... There were in fact, some beautifully stunning pieces of work. I took great delight in snapping some of these up on my camera. I particularly liked the Muhammad Ali painting, the Crown, and some of the ancient Egyptian pieces. 

We also visited the Auckland Museum. This had loads of information about the marine life in NZ. Was really fascinating learning about it. They told you how the Maori Tribes hunted for their fish... Or sharks!! Should I say?... They also had facts about the crazy fish that live in the dark... Ugly f***ers they are. And yes, our friend ' The Blob Fish' made the category... They had lots of jars filled with ugly, squishy fish. I'm just glad I had my lunch before hand... Put me off sushi for life. 

Turns out I can perform a pretty convincing Blob Fish face... Not my proudest moment, I must admit. 

There were a couple of Japanese restaurants we visited... We went to this food court that looked like an abandoned train station, filled with Asian Restaurants. Got a couple of decent meals there. I had seafood noodles, Mo had 2 meals (chewy Brazilian steak and a curry) because mine took so long... Think they were busy catching my squids. Pretty sure Moses found it difficult sitting opposite me, whilst I was sucking up my noodles and tentacles... I thought it was tasty anyway. :) 

We went to the cinema one night to see Gravity... Bloody excellent film if you haven't seen it! Definitely held my breath for 90% of the film... Along with our awesome film, we grabbed ourselves a GIGANTIC BUCKET OF POPCORN. :D 
 
I like popcorn. 

Sooo... after checking out a couple of bars and eat out spots, we managed to sort out an efficient way of travelling around the country. We nabbed a couple of Flexipasses from Coach New Zealand, which can basically take you anywhere in NZ... and you pay hourly. We've treated ourselves to 15hours so far. 

7.30am we finally arrive at the coach terminal... Bags heavy, under our eyes and backs. 3hour coach journey to, The Waitomo Glowworm Caves. 
I'm telling you lot... This was something truly magical. The tour guide took us about 35m underground... We saw stalactites, stalagmites and sea life fossils that were embedded into the cave walls. She then took us down, deeper. We all hopped into this boat, and she took us to see the glowworms. It was so dark in this cave... Until we turned a corner to find thousands, millions of twinkling, glowing lights! I swear, I've never seen anything so beautiful... (apart from that hot coconut dude in Rarotonga). My mouth was open the whole time, until I remembered, all those stunning,little sparkles were wriggling worms. Close your mouth Heather. 

You weren't allowed to take any pictures because this would disturb the worms. They glow to attract their prey, the mosquitos! The stupid mozzies reckon "Ahh, light! This must be a way out of the cave!"... Wrong my friend! You're about to turn into lunch! The glowworms catch their stupid prey by loosening a sticky, meal line... similar to a spider's web I guess... But more gooey looking... The mosquitos become stuck to the sticky line... Bon appetite you cheeky glowworms. 

Waitomo is super chilled. We grabbed some dinner and a night there. Our coach to Rotorua left this morning. Once we arrived, we decided to have a gander... It smells eggy here. This is because the people have an unlimited amount of boiled eggs and... I'm only kidding. The smell is to do with the sulphur levels in the atmosphere. They have geysers here... free of charge to visit! So guess what? Tomorrow... we're gonna get eggy and see some geysers. 

I've been lead to believe that this is also 'Maori Land'... nom nom nom... More bare chests!!! Hehe...