Hi Everyone,

I am now in the north Island, and currently at Lake Taupo. Since Sunday (when I last updated this website), I have done a lot of travel.

I had a walk around Nelson, after updateing this site. I went to the center of New Zealand (which was cool), the views were great and the weather became really sunny and very hot. I then headed to the Japanese garden. This was a lot smaller than I thought it would be, but still very pleasant. I had to walk for ages to get there and back to my hotel (got blisters as a result), but it was nice to be in a coach for a day.

Yesterday, we left Nelson and headed to Picton to catch the Ferry over to the North Island. The ferry was 3 and half hours, and there wasnt much to do. The weather was also good, so we had good views during our crossing and not much sea sickness. We ended up catching an afternoon ferry (due to problems with booking) which meant we have not had a lot of time in Wellington. I managed to walk around the harbour and today before we left we were drving to Mount Victoria to have a look at the views of the capital (but wasnt really that great). Mount Victoria was also another location where Lord of the Rings was filmed (apparently in the first film).

Last night we had farewell drinks as some of the coach group was going home - so got a little merry, but kind og regretted it this morning when we had to get up at 5:45 so we could load the coach an hour later. (and this is meant to be a holiday!!)

After about 6 hour drive we finally reached my current location - lake Taupo. Its quite pretty here, but more commercial than I thought it would be. The lake is the largest in New Zealand, so many activities surrounding water (but all quite pricey - but probably cheaper than UK).

I decided to have another cheap afternoon and just toured Lake Taupo whilst others have gone bungy jumping and sky diving. I have to admit I am tempted by sky diving but dont feel quite ready for it just yet.

Tomorrow I am off to Rotoura (where I am planning to have a spa treatment) and on Thursday I am spending the day at White Island which is a volancic island (we get gas masks and helmets when we arrive) - but really looking forward to it.

Anyway, I am going to go now as using up credit very quickly.

Lots of love

Helen