Sooooo. After leaving you last we were in Wellington. The capital, but not actually that exciting really. So we moved on up to Taupo. this has the biggest lake in New Zealand...it is so big that you could actually fit Singapore inside it!!! (fact for the day). Lovely little place, but our bus broke down on the way in the rain! so we arrived quite late. We all ended up going out that night and had a wicked time. Our plan for the next day was to do the Tongariro crossing...a long hike in the mountains and volcanos. However, due to bad weather it was cancelled (too cloudy!). So instead we met up with our friends and went to some natural hot springs. This was a small little spring that pumped out naturally really hot water (practically boiling) but was right next to andleading into a river which was cold. So when you got in if you picked the right spot you would have hot water running against you one way and cold the other...pretty cool (minus the dodgy rocks and algie). We then had a night in at our amazing hostel ran by a couple called Patrick and Heather. They were like an aunty and uncle and so lovely. The hostel was like a hotel and had an amzing lounge and tv so we just invited evryone over to ours!!!

Our next stop was Waitomo. This is where all the underground caves and rivers are. We did a 5 hour tour called the Abyss. It included abseiling down a 35m hole into the cave (a black hole from the top!), a zip wire in the dark surrounded by glow worms. Jumping off a rock edge into water (again what looked like a black hole) with huge rubber rings (except mine was actually a stupidly small one because i am "little" and it meant i went completely under water and everyone else just floated along!) We all turned our torches off and floated along in pitch balck looking at the glow worms...thousands of them! It was amazing. We then had to trudge through some freezing cold water, crawl through some holes and finish off by climbing out of the cave through some waterfalls...pretty cool. It didn't matter that it rained all day as we were underground and wet anyway. We also stayed the night here. (sadly meaning we had to leave all our friends as they moved on).

We then moved on the a little town called Raglan. This is supposed to be a surfers hot spot...but...it was still raining!! We stayed in a weird little place that had cabins to sleep in. We managed a walk to the black sanded beach when the rain broke off. Then spent the rest of my time playing cards with a guy called Nick, or watching tv in an old converted train cabin.

We then moved up to Rotorua after another one night stop off in taupo. this place stinks. We though it was ok...but as soon as you get out and about you keep getting wafts of the sulpher produced by all the geisers and natural hot springs there yuck! Are trip there got off to a bad start when the kiwi bus "accidently forgot" to pick us up (quoted from the office). We got on another bus and when the driver realised where we were supposed to go he dropped us off at the side of the road with our luggage and drove of with our tickets!!! we were not happy. In the end they got us a taxi and put us on the intercity bus. Unfortunately it meant we weren't on the bus with our mates and missed out on booking activities with them :-(.

So on arrival, the sun ws out and we decided it would be good to do something. So we decided to do some white water rafting...Grade 5 white water rafting....with a 7m waterfall drop!!! This was the thing i was most scared about in our whole trip. I just dreaded the boat tipping and getting stuck underneath. But i decided to conquer my fear and go for it. The guides were wicked and the place was beautiful. After kick starting with a 1 and 2m drop we pulled up to the pool before the big one. There was actually a walk way where you could get out and skip it if you wanted. Instead i was given a silver fern leaf and told to through it over my shoulder. if it landed green side, we would be all good and land well, if it landed silver side, this was "not sweet"....it landed silver side. This, plus the fact i noticed all the weight was on the other side of the raft to me, just gave me a bad feeling.

So off we went, striaght down, hit the water vertically, went under, popped back up ("elevator") then flipped over!! I can't really remeber what happened at this point other than trying to get out from under the boat, which i managed pretty quickly. Toya however, not only got stuck under water for ever but managed to fracture her finger in the process oooppps. the only injury i got was after getting a bit too excited and thinking it would be fun to swim down a rapid and scraping myself on a rock :-(. good times.

after the morning at the doctors and x-ray with toya the next day we decided to do a cultural experience in a Maori village. this was great fun. We watched a staged story, with songs, dance and Haka! We then had a huge feast..a hangi, where they cook all the food in an underground rock oven. We even sang songs on the bus home great fun.

Next was a long bus ride up to Auckland...the big city! And that is exactly what is a big city...pretty much the only one in NZ other than Wellington. I am not going to pretend there is lots to do...cus there isn't. We made a cinema trip and then luckily our friends all arrived the next day. we spent the afternoon with one of them and went up the sky tower. We then all went out for our last night together.

We are now in Paihia in the Bay of Islands. This is the most tropical part of New Zealand, lots fo beaches and islands. We were hoping to top up our tan and chill for our last 4days. However...surprise surprise its RAINING!!!!!! Not just a bit, but permanently as it is the end of another cyclone. So lots of wind as well, just to make it better. So a word of warning....if u ever have an event planned that needs sunshine, maybe avoid inviting me and Toya as it will probably rain. However, if you are in a drought or your crops are struggling...invite us on down, we will bring the rain with us!

I have watched 3 films today so it is going well. Tomorrow, whatever the weather we will do a day trip to the most northern part of NZ, Cape Reinga. This should be fun and hopefully might get to do some sand boarding!

After this it is back to Auckland for our flight! Madness, a week today i will be home. So other than our 2days in Singapore we are pretty much done. So this will probably be my last update. I will be so sad to leave. I love it here, it is beautiful and so much fun. I can't wait to one day come back.

Looking forward to seeing you all soon.

Lizzy xxxxxxxxxxxxxx