Got to Gisbourne ok but had a small heart attack when the taxi fare to the motel where I was staying was just shy of $20!! Talk about an expensive night's sleep! When I got to the motel reception, they said that was quite extortionate and that it shouldn't be that much. I thought it might have been about $10, but twice that much! Crumbs. The motel was very nice in any case, and the managers were really friendly. However, not much to do here without a car to...

Unfortunately, I didn't get to swim with dolphins today, boooooo. The weather was absolutely fine, it's just that there weren't enough people to go on the tour, so they didn't run it. Dang. I do have a couple of other chances to go swimming with them on the South Island though - in Christchurch and also in Kaikoura. They're both a couple of hours from each other, but you swim with different types of dolphins. So, I might have to choose which one I do. Howev...

So, an hour of my last morning in Rotorua was spent running around trying to buy a phonecard that would actually work in the blooming telephones that are here. Could I find a coin phone so I could use my existing phonecard? No. Did I have a map that showed me where the nearest one was? Yes. Could I be bothered to spend my last morning in a nice place looking for a coin phone? NO! Especially when I thought that I should buy one of the other phonecards in ca...

Managed to get myself out of bed to get to the Information Site for my bus pick up early. Of course, the bus turns up late and about 15 minutes late. Tch. Good thing it wasn't a chilly London morning otherwise I'd have been really cheesed off. Instead, it's only a little bit breezy and I had a nice chat to another lady that sat next to me. Get on the bus and it does about 15 hotel pick-ups, and one that was only round the corner from my hostel. Blooming typ...

Aaaw, my last morning in Taupo, booooo. I had such a great time there, firstly because Silver Fern flashpackers was such a fabulous hostel with two fabulous managers - Heather and Patrick, and secondly because of my skydive!! Taupo is also really quite lovely and I would definitely come back again if I got the chance. There's lots of stuff that I didn't get around to seeing and doing that I really wish I had spent more time there. In fact, I wish I had given ...