So I completed my loop of the South Island after spending a few hectic nights in Queenstown, the adventure capital of New Zealand and home of the 'Fergburger' which I can safely say is the best burger I've ever eaten in my life.

I then took my flight to the North Island and stayed in Auckland for 2 nights before heading South to Hot Water Beach, which should probably be renamed Boiling Water Beach. After walking from our hostel to the beach in the freezing cold at 10pm, we decided to dig a hole and make ourselves a hot water pool to bathe in. It was really hard work but well worth it when it was finished, although a few feet were burnt by the water in the process.

Then I headed down to Waitomo where I had one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life, doing black water rafting down a river inside deep inside a cave. That included climbing waterfalls, abseiling, ziplining, tubing, hot chocolate flapjacks, flashlights, wetsuits and extremely cold water.

After an eventful Christmas eve there, I made my way down to Rotorua where we spent Christmas. The town itself is pretty nice, although because of the Suplhur, it reeks of eggs. The hostel prepared a barbeque buffet for us and plenty of drinks were consumed to ensure everyone was merry on Christmas. The next day I decided that seeing as black water rafting was so fun, I'd give white water rafting on the Kaituna river a try. It was amazing value for money, and it includes a 7 metre waterfall drop, the largest commerical waterfall drop you can do. It was great fun for everyone, except maybe for my buddy Tim. When we rafted the waterfall, we hit the water nose first with such force that the raft flipped. Everyone fell into the water and let go of the raft, apart from Tim, who had a death grip on the safety rope. Unfortunately this backfired for him as the raft was flipped around so violently, he popped is shoulder out and went a distinct shade of green and his rafting trip was over. However, we did manage to score free photos, a great story and a free beer as compensation so it was well worth it!

After that I arrived in Taupo where I'm settling for about a week. I want to do the Tongariro mountain hike and a skydive while I'm here but they are weather dependant and it's been a bit rainy recently so fingers crossed that clears up. I'll be spending New Years in Taupo, then head back up to Auckland on the 2nd or 3rd for my flight to Fiji on the 5th.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas back home and I wish you all a happy New Year!