Thursday 3rd March We both woke up in our cosy lodge room smiling at the events from the night before. We had white water rafting booked bright and early so got up and were served a full English breakfast before we had to go and get into our wet suits. It was a cold morning and we were all put into mini buses that would take us to the top of the river. Nick and I joined up with three girls from the UK who were on the kiwi experience that we'd shared the bus with...

Wednesday 2nd March We woke up after days of rain to a bright clear blue sky with the sun shining. I knew what this meant, this meant that today I had to jump out of a plane. We had sausage sandwiches for breakfast, called my sister quickly and again somehow managed to be running late by the time we'd got the washing from the dryer and still hadn't put water in the van or taken the rubbish out so it was a bit hectic getting out of the campsite. I then called the...

Tuesday 1st March In the morning Nick took the opportunity to go off fishing again (no fish caught) and then we checked out and drove down the road to a place called Te Puia for a half day tour. Te Puia was on an area near Rotorua with volcanic rock so is referred to as a geothermal valley. It has Maori arts and crafts, a kiwi enclosure and many geysers one of which is called 'Pohutu' which is famous for its explosive personality. First up we were taken to pic...

Monday 29th February Nick got up early and went off out to do some fishing whilst I had a lie in. I woke up to the sound of hard heavy rain and him banging on the door...I opened the door to see him completely drenched looking more like he'd been swimming in the river rather than fishing at the edge of it. The weather changes rapidly in New Zealand...! We missed having breakfast again running late, including Nick standing on the table and breaking it then fixing...

Sunday 28th February I'd forgot to mention I'd been made responsible to book and organise the first week of our trip - the North island while Nick was to sort out the two weeks in the south. So reading on you will see how heavily scheduled the first week was to be fitting everything in......! An early rise and we were ready to go on our 3 hour Black Labyrinth tour around Waitomo caves. I was still feeling a bit run down and also a bit concerned of what to expec...