Well, I sort of shot myself in the foot by writing up the last half of my New Zealand tour so extensively, so now my little entry is almost void!! So here we go: the first half of my New Zealand tour. Each paragraph represents a different day. Cass's New Zealand trip started on the 22nd (December), with just three days until Christmas. Due to this, the airports where extremely busy; full of bewildered holiday makers...such as myself! I flew from Sydney to Brisbane (I have now been to Brisbane airport on three separate occasions, something just keeps sucking me back there), then on too Auckland. I arrived at the lovely hour of 12.20am, but it was more like 2am until I was through immigration and customs. By the time I checked into my hostel it was about 3.30am, so it was a pretty long day! I couldn't turn the light on in the hostel, but I had to find my bed/bunk. I set up camp in what I could see was a spare bed, only to be woken up a few hours later by a confused Canadian bloke!!! The next day (23/12/05) I just took Auckland in my stride as I wasn't joining my fellow tour mates until the next day. My first port of call was the Auckland Skytower, which is most likely Auckland's most famous landmark. I walked (just kidding, I took the lift!) to the top to get a glimpse of undoubtedly the greatest view of Auckland around. There is actually a section of the floor, much like the Nevis bungee jump platform, that was glass, so you could actually stare straight down! You can also jump of the Skytower, but I wasn't in adrenaline mode quite yet. For the rest of the day I divided my time meeting the other backpackers in the Hostel and visiting the Auckland Museum, which is definitely worth a few hours. I must also add that one of the greatest aspects to hostels is that a lot of the modern ones have there own bars. These bars are usually very cheap, and I spent a lot of time in the Base Bar in Auckland that night. The entrance to the bar was actually, to my amazement, 10-15 meters from my room. Thus, I could almost order a beer, run back to my room, change from my beer drenched t-shirt, then be back before my beer was poured! Class. Due to the cheap bar the night before (there is a reason that crap is cheap!), most of the morning (24/12/05) was spent trying to find cheap food and water. At noon I met the group I would be traveling all around New Zealand with for the next two weeks. It's quite daunting, but I suppose everyone is on the same boat! The first stop of the tour was a big tree, that's all it was. You will see a photo of it in the album! From the "big tree" we jetted up to Paihia, in the Bay of Islands. This is at the very north of the North Island. Upon arrival I was thrown on a jet boat called The Excitor, which took us a few kilometers around the coast to the infamous "Hole in the Rock". It is of huge significance to the Maui people, as it is supposedly the first part of land reached when the Maui's first inhabited New Zealand. There is also a part of the rock face where from a certain position it looks like the side profile of a Maui woman. After the boat tour it was back to the hotel for Christmas Eve celebrations. This was a fantastic night, as everyone was just set off as we all where getting to know each other. Christmas day was to be spent on a day long cruise on a catamaran. There was plenty of opportunity to swim, snorkel, and even see dolphins close up. What a way to spend Christmas day! It was back around to Auckland on Boxing Day, and the group was to be filled up by an extra 40 people, so it was more introductions etc. Our destination of the day was Waitimo. Waitimo is famous for its huge cave complex's engulfed with glowworms. This is where I went black water rafting. Black water rafting was a new concept for me, so I will try and explain best I can. You basically get kitted out with a full body wetsuit, hardhat and light, and a huge rubber tube. You then go into the caves, and basically follow a path of water from one end of the cave to the other. Sometimes you have to crawl, when the waters deep enough you can float around with your rubber tube. It is quite an adventure, and can get very claustrophobic. There are times that the gap between the water and the ceiling of the cave in about 30cm! This was also a great opportunity to see the glowworms that almost looked like fairly lights scattered across the cave's surface. I really liked the accommodation in Waitimo, as it was more like a lodge. It was great, so I recommend if you are there to stay in the Kiwi Paka. Rotorua was the next selected destination. Rotorua is world renown for its geothermal hot pools, and its stench! Rotorua is often referred to as ROTorua (as is rot), because it smells of rotten egg. This is due to the sulphur of the geothermal pools. We stayed in a Kiwi Paka again, and it was complete with its very own geothermal pool. This became the favored drinking spot of the night, but before the pool party commenced a traditional Maui dinner, followed by a Haka. I joined in on stage with my fellow comrade's for the Haka. I'm a natural I'm told, so watch out! Once back at the accommodation, it was too the pool. I even aquired a beer nome for my chivalrous effort at the bar. I forgot to mention that we stopped of somewhere very special: the Zorb centre! This is basically where you are squeezed into a huge plastic ball (much like a human size hamster exercise ball) and rolled down a hill. Fantastic fun! You get can run, tumble, flip or slide inside as the Zorb hurtles downhill. I'll have you all know that I am now a qualified Zorbonaut! After a deep Zorb / geothermal pool / Haka induced sleep, I awoke to a new day (28/12/05), and one of the highlights of the trip that was the Skyline Luge. This is a three wheeled gravity powered cart that catapults you down the hill. There are three different tracks: intermediate, scenic and advanced. You had to complete the intermediate course before you could qualify for the advanced route, but it was well worth the training. In my time in New Zealand (as I am sure you have read) I was lucky enough to do some amazing things such as skydiving, white and black water rafting, bungee jumps and so on. Even doing all those activities, I rate the Skyline as one of the greatest and thrilling activities I did in New Zealand. It is actually really scary, as you hurtle around sharp bends and obstacles. There is even a jump! Brilliant fun and 100% recommended. From the luge, it was to Lake Taupo. My first activity was the Huka Jet. This is one of those boats you have probably seen on TV that jet around small canyons, and get real close to the cliff face, obstacles and even pull out huge 360 spins. I will take my hat off to the boat drivers write now, as they have a bit of talent! Lake Taupo its self is a little lakeside town dominated mainly by tourism, but is famous for it's' trout fishing on the huge lake. I opted to spend the best part of the evening on a fishing and dinner cruise. Yes there was food and fishing (the trout was eaten as raw sashimi, gorgeous!), but it was more like the best booze cruise I have ever been on! The majority of the 29th was spent on a bus travelling to Wellington, which is in southern part of the North Island, and the gateway to the South Island. We would be spending two nights in Wellington, so it was nice to be able to unpack your bags for a while. Quad biking was the go for the next day (30/12/05). This was great fun, but didn't quite live up to my expectations. This is mainly due to my experiences jetting around parts of Alaska on a quad bike. Took the rest of the day to explore Wellington, and even got a free beer at a bar because they forgot to cook my ribs. Result! The next day is where the other essay picks up from. I hope you have enjoyed reading about the first half my NZ trip, and thanks for reading. Just post any questions on the message board, or email me....I'd love to hear from you!