Day 169 and after a noisy nighhts sleep we were up and about by 9 thinking of heading into Taupo town centre, but first we went to investigate about possible skydives for the next day. Freefall skydiving was our stop and in we went and they were keen for us to go up and jump today as the weather was so good. We didnt need to much persuading (as we planned on doing it sometime) so Helen, Burns, Luke and I suited up and got ready for our jump. The height we would jump from would be 15,000 feet over Lake Taupo, which is the biggest Lake in the southern Hemisphere. My tandem instructor was called Malachi and made it sound like a walk in the park, but surprisingly as we boarded the plane in our suits (and bare foot) none of of were nervous at all. There was 1 other jumper in our group, some French man, and as we sat in this tiny plane all huddled together we went up. The views were awesome and within 10 mins we were at 10,000 feet. They gave us oxygen masks to help with the breathing (I thought they were playing a practical joke?). There was a camera man for each jumper, and as we reached jump height, Lukes camera man lifted the hatch and prepared to jump. He literally just fell out the side of the plane, and Lukes instructor fell out to (with Luke attached). In seconds, Burns had jumped, and I was next. Hanging out the edge of the plane (barefoot) seemed very surreal. 3,2,1 and go, the rush was awesome. It felt like I was floating, as nothing was moving that fast arround me but I could feel the air smashing against my face. The camera man was floating all over the place filming and taking pictures. The view were epic. After 60 seconds of freefall Malachi pulled the shute and we jolted into a slow glide. He even let me steer the shute down taking us into spins and all sorts. On the ground 5 mins later and the whole process had taken 30 minutes! We were then told to wait for our DVD's and photos (and our free T-shirts). By midday we were back in the car with Coops and heading to town. In town we did some much needed Laundry and ate some lunch. After a wander round town we all went into a net cafe for an hour or so before meeting at the camper at 7ish to buy some dinner. We got meat and rolls for a BBQ by the lake. By the time we got there and started it was very dark, and while us lads were outside cooking burgers, sausages and onions, the girls stayed in the warm camper, gossiping and cooking potatoes and yet MORE onions. We seem to eat at least an onion a day, its crazy. Afterwards we parked up in the same spot as last night and chilled out.

Day 170 and the camper was letting us down again, the battery for all the applicances was dead and needed charging in a camp site which had access to a mains outlet. We found a Kiwi holiday park and we tried to blag it a cheaper price but the old lady wasn't having it. We parked up and plugged the van in and relaxed. We made the most of the showers, Luke spent pretty much the whole day lieing on a trampaline sleeping or reading. The girls spent most of the afternoon doing puzzles and reading. Burns and I went to the lounge and watched TV, The Hills on MTV - what a pointless show?? After that he went to sort his photos out on the laptop while I watched Superbad. In the afternoon we headed to Woolies to buy some food (cottage pie), some beers (but no chocolate as we have been buying to much lately!) and then tried to cook it in the kitchen. Halfway through we realised there was no dish to go in the oven so we just had mash, mince and beans. We had decided as we had the camper in the holiday park to go out for a night! It would be our first night out in New Zealand (almost 3 weeks). The girls started getting ready about 2-3 hours before we would go out, even taking their homemade snakebites to the toilets to straighten their hair. We played some cards, had a few beers and headed out for Taupo town about 30 mins away. Luke stayed in as he was pretty sunburnt and didnt feel like a night out. Our first stop was an Irish bar where we bought Pints (none of them in Australia!) and the girls had Snakey B's. It was pretty freezing and after a couple of rounds headed to a bar over the road. After pretending to be backpackers and getting lots of cheap drink vouchers we played some pool and eventually headed home about midnight. The local Kebeab house was shut, so we vistsed Macca's before it closed. Back in the camper, Burns was letting out some horrific farts and then claiming it wasnt him, all the beer and the Maccy D's we think! It was a nice change to go out for a night and have a few drinks and we all looked forward to our next night out, prob in a few weeks time!

Day 171 and Coops and Luke were up at 730 driving to the info centre while Burns Helen and I were still in bed. Coops and Luke went on a kayak trip around Lake Taupo while us other 3 didnt fancy it (Burns is awful at Kayaking and hates it immensely). Instead, us 3 went to play soe Mini-Golf by the waterfront, I won with a score of 43 (1 under par and the best score of the day, though it was only 11am!). Burns got 48 and Helen was +60 but she wasnt to worried about that. After golf we sat in the sun by the lake for a few hours where there were loads of ducks which werent afraid of humans at all, and one at one point attacked Burns by pecking at his shorts as he lay reading! Well funny. We met the other at 1 and got some food and went on the net before we planned to head to Napier. After a petrol fill up we were on our way, but after a hour or so Coops noticed a police car behind which then pulled us over. The officer then said to Luke (who was driving) "Do you know how fast you were going back there?" Luke thought about 100kph which was the limit, but the cop claimed he was doing 110 - 115kph so he issued a speeding fine. Not good! After some slower driving we got to Napier about 530 and parked on the beach for the night. For dinner, I cooked! a curry with Rogan Josh sauce. I actually did pretty well I think, with the rice not going sticky for once. Helen's ability to handle slightly spicey food reared its ugly head again, and with all of us thinking we could do with it, and we made an impromptue drive to the public toilets in town. After the toilet trip we went back to the beach and went to sleep with the camper rocking in the wind and rain.

Day 172 and it was Sunday 22nd March, Mothers Day, but not in England for another 13 hours. We had a lazy start with us eventually getting into town by midday. The shops were pretty lame and we ended up in a coffee shop using lukes laptop to go on the internet. Man Utd lost which made my day and Arsenal had won which made Burns's. We all used the public showers and then had lunch in the camper, Noodles for me. We then decided that we didnt fancy anymore time in Napier so we headed south on the long drive to Wellington. On the way we stopped for Petrol and took a hour detour to see the Worlds Longest Place Name sign. The sign was ridiculous, 86 letters in total.

Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu.

Back on the highway we drove south further to a town called Woodville where stopped in a layby for the night. Dinner was Carbonara, which was excellent. I then had a beer to relax and had a read of my book while we all had an earlyish night. Luke offered to make a cup of tea for everyone, and all was going well until he opened the cupboard about his head and the sugar tub fell down and went everywhere! About a KG of sugar on the floor, hobs, side, it was horrific and we couldnt stop laughing. He spent the next hour cleaning it up and vowed not to make another cup for a while. We planned to be up nice and early in the morning to find a payphone to phone our respective mothers wishing them a Happy Mothers Day.

Day 173 and we woke up at 7am and it was freezing, literally. I noticed the roof hatch above Lukes bed had been open all night. Luke then drove for about 10 mins to a phone box while the other 4 of us were still in bed. We found a phone and then did relay runs phoning home. Luke went first, I was 2nd, Burns 3rd, and we made the girls go last as we knew they would be on the phone the longest. Mum also told me Liverpool won 5-0 which was a nice surprise. After the phone calls we had another hot drink to try and warm us up and then we drove another 3 hours to Wellington in the wind and rain. For lunch we went into a food court which had pretty much every food you could think of which was awesome. burns had a kebab...for lunch! though, as I have mentioned before it seems pretty normal to do that in NZ and Aus. The rest of us had sandwhichs and Chicken burger things. We booked our ferry crossing for the south Island, $474 for 5 adults and a 7.2 metre campervan leaving at 2.30 am! After this we had nothing to do so we used some vouchers to go bowling and get 2 games for the price of 1. I won the first game, Luke (or Luice as the screen called him) won the second. Dinner was then bought, Chicken and Mash, and we headed to Mount Victoria to go to the lookout at the top. The views around the city and harbour were awesome. We parked the camper by the sea in a designated area where it was mega windy (they dont call it Windy Welly for nothing). Before dinner we played cards and P&A (it had been a while) and then had dinner. We disposed of the chicken carcass by throwing it in the sea. Well, Burns tried but only got it onto the rocks as the wind was so strong. The seagulls were loving it.