Hey guys.. It's Sunday evening and we're currently in Rotorua and have done so much since we left Auckland on Thursday so thought I best update to free some space in that rubbish memory of mine!

Day 1

We left Auckland early Thursday Morning, out first stop was at the top of Mt Eden, where we got a 360degree lookout of the city! We then hit the motorway and began our journey south. We stopped of in a small town called Thames to grab some lunch. We then headed to Hot Water Beach where u can dig in the sand near the thermal outlook and soak in the hot water that rises, but we arrived to late to do this as the tide had already come in too far! However, we were happy as we got a couple of hours sunbathing in, until Claire and Steph decided it would be fun to bury me and build me huge boobs! Kept them quite for half an hour hey! :-) We then made our way to Mercury Bay, a nice little coastal town, checked into our very nice family run hostel, that evening we relaxed in the gardens of the hostel and got to know others on our bus a little!

Day 2

We left Mercury bay at stupid o'çlock yet again..and headed for Rotorua via Karangahake Scenci Reserve where we hd a walk throught some of NZ native Bush and walked through some old goldmining tunnels and over some swing bridges over the river! We arrived Rotorua dumped our bags in our hostel and headed back out to go Zorbing- for those of u that don't know what that is, basically u get into a massive rubber ball with water in it and roll down a very steep hill- was hilarious! Claire chickened out as she's saving herself for jumping out of a plane-haha! Steph and I went it one together...the pics say it all! We then headed back to get ready for our Maori cultural evening we were going to! A coach came to collect us all and on the journey to their village he selected a Cheif (had to be a male rugby player- very sexist i thought!) he was a very comical but smart Maori Kiwi- he taught us one of their words Kiora which meant hello, goodbye, thanks u and a few more things, he then told us what it meant in 58 different languages!!! When we arrived we recieved a traditional Maori welcoming where we were to be very serious, we were guided through their village. We then watched a concert where they showed us their songs, danced, weaponary and of course the Haka! To finish the evening we had a massive banquet which was cooked in their own hot rocks- a roast lamb dinner- amazing!!! After a closing ceremony we jumped back on the bus with our comical driver...singing the whole way back and going round and round round-abouts we were all ready to hit the bar! So yes we all party'd hard till about 3am knowing we only had a 10am checkout!!

Day 3

We were leaving our kiwi bus :-( but off for a bit of luxery- staying with Claire's mum's cousin and wife (Ken & Helen) for the evening in Putaruru not far from Rotorua! Yes home comforts...they had a lovely house in the middle of nowhere but was very relaxing! That afternoon Ken took us out to show us some sites, ask me where i have no clue..see pics! :-)!! I know one thing he tired us out- within minutes of sitting back on the sofa we were all fast asleep! That eveing we had a yummy bbq and some vino with them, they were lovely...almost as lovely as their bed I stayed in and the shower I had!! :-)

Day 4

Steph woke Claire and I to let us know breakfast was served... :-) Ken and Helen took us to see some more sites...see pics! :-) We also went to Hell's Gate Waiora Spa which was Rotorua's most geothermal reserve, we bathed our feet in the pools, didn't go in as unfortunately it was raining! We also walked around all the bubbling mud water and cooking pools- very interesting! They then took us out for lunch before stopping off at the supermarket so we could stock up and dropped us back at our hostel! They spoilt us good and proper, a very enjoyable weekend! :-)

So there we are... I'm shattered and we've only just started!! It's all go over here! I think i'm going to need a weeks holiday by the time we've finished NZ! We are very much regretting that we decided against heading to Figi on our way home!! Meeting so many poeple in this beautiful country and yes still hvaing the time of my life!! Catch up soon... hope everyone's well...and yes looks like it will be skydiving on Wednesday...whoop whoop!! :-) xx