Kia Ora!!! Greetings from Kiwi land!!

The flight over to New Zealand wasn't the best (the kid behind me kicked my chair for what felt like literally, the whole 13.5 hours!!) and because of the time difference we completely missed Saturday, ha ha!!

We arrived in Auckland and it was lovely and sunny. Unfortunately, Aerolieas Argentinas had lost Moores bag, so not the best start to our adventures in a new continent, but we have it back again now so all is well!! Richardson's parents friends Phil and Pat live in Auckland and they took us on a tour of the city. The took us to Mount Eden where we got a great view of the sky tower and the whole city. We went for a cuppa and cakes on the other side of the bay too and had a general look around. It's a really nice city!! The next day we sorted out our beloved CAMPERVAN!!! We have named him Donde and he is definately a new member of the loafers!! We love him!!

Once we got Donde sorted (for a very good price after we harrassed Simon, the poor unfortunate guy in "Kiwi Campers" who had to put up with us rowdy bunch, ha ha!!) we headed off for Rotorua, via Lake Taupo and Taupo town, which is very pretty. Rotorua was awesome. In the day on the first day Barn adn I went to the museum (really!!) and then to a Mauri show on the night, that was REALLY good!! (whish my piccys were a bit better - the only disadvantage of it being at night!!) We arrived and there was a kind of opening ceremony, representing when the Mauris first arrived to New Zealand (the land of the long white cloud) and had to ask the gods including mother earth if they could be protectors of the new land. That was followed by a walk around a Mauri "village" (designed to be like a pre-European Mauri village) which was followed by a show in which they performed lots of traditional dancing and music (including the Hacker, which was BRILLIANT) and then we had a traditional Hangi dinner!! Cooked under the ground as the Mauri's used to!! We had to say "Kia Ora" after everything (Mauri for "good health"). It was so funny on the coach back, somehow Barn and I had ended up on the same coach as an Australian under 14 rugby team. The driver drew everyones attentions to us by pointing out that there were two English girls on the bus, and asking us to sing songs (I was tempted, bare in mind this was after several glasses f red wine, to try and start off a sing along of Rule Brittania...but literally everyone else on the bus was Australian, so I thought better of it, and settled for their choice of Waltzing Matilda, ha ha!!).

The next day we went to a geyser /volcanic "thermal wonderland" as it was called. We saw Lady knox geyser erupt and had a walk around to see it all. It was very impressive, the different colours and the smoke and everything, but it does an' arf stink!! ha ha!!

Following that we made our way to Wellington. All we really saw of Wellington was our night out there. There is not a single place in the whole city which plays indie rock and roll (we asked policemen and everything, ha ha!!) but we still had an awesome night, hopping from a cheesy bar, to a dancey-type club, to an even cheesier club (where I'm not ashamed to admit I was LOVING dancing away to "I will survive" ha ha!!) Then we did our usual hour or more in the take away and returned to our beloved Donde!!

The next day we crossed to the South island on the ferry (which took forever). We arrived quite late so stopped overnight somewhere between Pickton and Nelson, and had our favourite meal, our "veg fest" as we call it (as many veggies as the supermarket has, in tomato sauce, with cheese on top. Lovely!!)

Now we're in Nelson, just a little stop on our way to Abel Tasmin national park, where we're going to do a walk tomorrow. We've been to Starbucks!! ("had my first suger free vanilla skinny latte with an extra shot" in nearly 3 months...beautiful!!) and I acheived one of my lifelong dreams....I STOLE THE MUG!!!! ha ha ha

Better be off now!! (internet cafes in New Zealand are no where near as cheap as South America!!! ha ha!!)

Love you and miss you lots and lots!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx