Hello again,

I have now spent one week in New Zealand travelling down the North Island from Auckland to Wellington. It feels like it's been several weeks because i've seen and done alot already.

The Stray Bus and its driver, Rob, picked me up from the Base Hostel in Auckland early on the first morning and we headed straight to Mount Eden where we could look across the city landscape and take some photos. We then drove for a while and stopped off at a beach where you can dig holes on a particular spot and the water that comes through is very hot. People tend to sit around in it for a bit, which we did. I must say that the climate here is a very different one to what I experienced in Oz - its just like England at the moment! Chilly, cloudy and wet sometimes. So whilst we were trying to get the hot pools sorted, waiting around in bikinis wasn't too great! After the hot pools we went to the campsite accommodation for our first night. I got chatting with 2 girls that day who became my good buddies for my first week in NZ - Sarah & Clare. Sarahs from Minesotta, USA and Clare from "up north' in England! We stayed up yapping away for ages and managed to spot a hedgehog which started getting stalked by a cat.

The next day we headed to Raglan, a hippy like, surfers town that is quite chilled out. We stayed in a pretty cool eco hostel that was completely surrounded by the bush, very green and lush. Some of the group from the bus did the learn to surf lesson but because i'd done this in Oz, I decided to have a flax weaving class in the town. It was something different and cultural so it was a good choice. My flax weaving wasn't as tidy as the other girls but I like to think my finished articles (a flower and a bracelet) have a more unique, weathered look to them! That night myself, Sarah & Clare found the shed that housed the ping pong tables, along with stereo and I displayed some pretty fierce ping pong skills whilst singing along to the Flight Of The Conchords album.

The next day started with the Waitomo Caves - we all had a choice from 4 different caving options. The one I chose was a 100 ft abseil into a cave that was discovered earlier in the 20th century and then walking through the caves to see glow worms, then climbing out by way of ladders. I decided on this one because i'd never done an abseil before and it wasn't water based which I prefered. It turned out that I was the only one scheduled in at that time! So it was just me and a guide! It was excellent - the guide, Chris, was lovely and it was really cool asking questions and having them answered one on one instead of being in a group. The abseil was awesome, the cave is so beautiful. It's very deep and theres some really interesting rock formations, stalactites and stalagmites and plant life, including a lichen (or moss) that is unique to the cave. When abseiling, I decended into a mist and the sunlight coming from above, falling down into the depths was stunning. When we walked through the caves over rocks it became dark so we only had head torches to go by and we had a sit down. Chris told me to turn off my head torch - and i'd forgotten about the glow worms, so it was a nice surprise when they were all just above my head, glowing brightly, it was so pretty. We just sat there for ages in silence looking up! Directly after this I experienced 'the ladder'. It was the longest ladder i've seen and it was in the pitch black. I had to go up by myself after Chris had reached the top. I clipped myself onto the safety rope and started ascending but something about it all made me terrified! I just went slowly, one step at a time and breathed slowly. Its hard to put across what it was like because it just sounds like climbing a ladder - but it was so much more than that! When I got to the top I was told that most people find it much more challenging than the abseil. But it was nice being told that you're abviously fit enough to do it and Chris didn't bother warning me about how far it was in terms of using bodily strength - apparently overweight/unfit people end up having to be winched up! Chris exclaimed that I wasn't even puffing so that made me feel good! Overall I loved the experience :-)

That night we stayed at a cultural overnight stop at Maketu. It was a Mauri cultural centre run by Uncle Boy - when we arrived he got on the bus and we all had to shout 'Kia Ora Uncle Boy!' really really loudly. Rob thought we were too quiet when we practiced it on the way there but Uncle Boy thought we were perfectly loud enough. We had dinner, which was lovely, just like having a meal at home! Then we went through this process where we had a chief appointed in the group, which had to be the eldest male. Then we were told, in a very serious manner, how we were to behave when we entered the hall next door, where we would meet the people who would be giving us a Mauri show. Basically it involved us walking in and the chief standing in front of us. Then the chief of the other group did a scary Haka like chant as a challenge to our chief. He had to pick up a leaf (or something!) as an offering of peaceful relations. Apparently if it is refused then we would literally all be turfed out of the place and would have to drive away! This actually happened once! luckily our chief accepted so all was OK. Then we had the show! It was mainly a group of teenage boys, a couple of young girls, two elder women and a little 8 year old boy. They did a few songs and then the girls did Poi (not like the poi I know of, alot more easy and gentle!). Then the best bit - the boys did the Haka. It was intense and very cool! There was one lad, who was so passionate about it all, he really stood out - we found out from Uncle Boy afterwards that there are times when he has to be talked to to calm down. He told me and a couple of others that because our chief was wearing a hat, despite us being told we shouldn't wear them in the hall, the lad (who did the challenge chant and dance) didn't go as 'full on' as he usually would (we thought he was pretty full on!) because he would've been disgusted at the hat being worn. Luckily the hat was on backwards, else he would've knocked it off our chiefs head using his weapon. We were a little annoyed with the guy who was our chief for wearing the hat - but if you are bald and insecure about it, these things can happen! Thats pretty much why he always wears it. Anyway, we were lucky enough to watch the men in our group perform the Haka for us girls! It was funny - I managed to film it :-) But I must admit that there was a complete mixture of European nationalities and everyone was a bit meek and floppy doing it - except for the 2 English guys - woop woop! They really went for it and I'm going to confess I felt quite proud!!! One of them, Marc, said that when you're performing the Haka with your top off in front of a big group of women for probably the only time in your life, you might as well go for it all you can - good attitude! The women got taught the poi moves and performed for the men, it really wasn't that difficult, we just swang these little balls on short string whilst swinging our hips a bit! They had the challenge! We all slept on mattresses in the hall and got a talk from Uncle Boy about Mauri culture.

The next morning I must confess I woke up in a foul mood - I don't know if it was because for some reason ABBA music was blasting constantly from the kitchens or if there was some chemical going crazy in my brain but thats how it was! We drove on from there towards Taupo. I knew I was doing a sky dive but it didn't sink in until we got there. We booked into the hostel and then some of us got driven to the skydive place straight away - along with some more of the group who wanted to watch. When we got there we got taken into their little cinema and watched an example of the DVD that gets made of the experience. It made me more nervous! Then we started getting ready and I felt more and more nervous as it neared. I had a big tattooed scottish ex-serviceman to be strapped to, which was not dissappointing!!!! ;-) 4 of us along with our jump buddies went up in a tiny pink plane and I just didn't know what to feel. We kept getting filmed and asked things by our instructors and they kept trying to psych us up - which worked! 2 girls had chosen the 12000 ft jump so were before myself and Kelly from the bus. We had to watch them jumping and I literally turned my head and said "oh my god, what am I doing" - it looked so unnatural. Then we got to 15000 ft - Kelly went before me, then myself and Steve edged to the opening, my brain experienced primal fear and adrenaline and then we just dropped. We were told that your brain may shut off for a bit because of the unnaturalness of the situation and that breathing is normal whilst freefalling. My brain didn't shut off at all and I could hardly breathe properly. I didn't want my mouth to be open so I kept it shut and it was just so weird! But cool at at the same time! The the shute went up and we started floating and I just couldn't stop laughing - it was due to exhileration and I just kept shouting things like - this is crazy! Oh My God! I'm in the air! Aaaaaaah! Hahahahahahahahaha! Steve then did some spinning which was fun and induced alot of 'wooooooooooooh' from me! Landing was really smooth and when we landed I started laughing loads again! Overall - the most amazing sensation and I want to feel it again! Its well worth the money. I got to watch my DVD and it was too strange seeing and hearing myself. But we got to choose our soundtrack from a list of songs and I love mine! It works really well :-) That night we had to say goodbye to Clare which was sad!

The next day we drove to Tongariro National Park where some of the group did the famous Tongariro Crossing hike that takes 8 hours and is considered one of the best hikes in the world. I ended up not doing it because by this time, I was starting to feel exhuasted. I think that's what caused my mood earlier the day before. Its due to non-stop travelling and it has to happen at some point! Also, the weather conditions were awful! Really wet and cold! The rest of us ended up going on a 2 hour walk anyway which was good - we saw some waterfalls. Then we checked into the best hostel i've stayed in so far! It was far more luxurious than any hostel i've been in. It was more like an hotel! Inside there was a large communal area with big screen TVs and everything was plush and dark wood, with a roaring fire. They served us amazing food for a discounted price, so I ended up having some wine to accompany the lovely surroundings. Our hostel room had the comfiest beds, although I was on a top bunk and had to manouvre like a lizard due to the lack of space betwixt bed and ceiling!

The next day was basically mostly driving towards Wellington. We arrived in the afternoon and I decided that I would leave the bus and stay here for 2 more nights in order to have a break and experience a new bus for the South Island. We all went out last night and it was an eventful one! Hehe. Its sad to leave some people - especially Sarah - I miss her already! But Wellingtons cool and i'm glad for the break here.

Unfortunately I have misplaced my USB lead for my camera and am unable to upload my photos!! So I will be trying to sort that ASAP! :-S

I'm looking forward to my South Island adventures that will start on Wednesday. I hope everyone is well at home and enjoying the wintry cold and wet - don't be annoyed, its pretty much the same here! :-)

Thats it for now! Mwa!

Emily xx