So i wizzed round the north island on a one night one stop time budget! was all good, managed to fit everything in just about! Caught the bus up to Auckland with Murry who drives with his shirt off, and then stayed at Base Backpackers. walked into my room and bumped into Caz a belgium girl who i knew from the south island!. We got up 1 hour too early for the bus the next morning which was Murrys fault but anyway...got on the bus with Dribbles our non-driver driver. turns out hes lost his licence and cant drive the bus so instead spent most of the time boring us on the microphone. Grreat. Arrived at Hahei pretty late in the day. Small town looked like a holiday place. First stop was the hot water pools which is pretty much a beach with spades, and everybody digs their own holes in the sand and sits in them. Pretty strange but very kool. After sitting in our holes for a bit and meeting a very cute little kid called Henry we tried to go on the walk around the coast but turns out the walkway was shut. After the 3rd `danger no admittance`sign we decided to turn around only to discover later that you can do the walk from the carpark! Thanks Dribbles, anyway gave up trying to be productive and sat on the beach watching the kayakers - pretty gorgeous area really and the beach was kool. Evening, Dribbles redeamed himself slightly by cooking us an awesome BBQ, had a chat and a drink and headed to bed. ALl good!

Next morning was the drive to Raglan. Compared to the south island the drives are pretty boring as there isn´t quite so much to look at but we got the hostel in time to head down to the beach for a surf. Hired a surf board and after some tanning time and a bit of persusion from Caz i decided to go in the water. Waves were MASSIVE plus im no surfer. Managed a big bruise on my leg before the lifeguards kicked us out as it was getting dangerous. Im not meant to surf. In the evening we thought about heading into town but instead decided to cook and chill out in the hostel sauna!

Next morning (no rest for the wkd) we drove to Roteroura via Waitamo. Here you can do caving, and see glow worms and stuff, but im not a big fan of caves so me and Caz decided to do the walk- opened by David Bellamy apparently. Most rubbish walk ever- apparently its good at night, but all we saw were sheep and hills. A bit of forward rolling, and sheep herding later the walk didnt seem quite as bad. Jumped back on the bus and arrived at Rotaroura latish. Missed dinner as we were having a girly chat and instead shovelled down some riveta before heading out to the thermal pools. Oh yeah and Roteroura does smell. Imagine living in a place which smells like egg all the time. Nice! Nathan- no longer fondly called Dribbles, finally got us to these `secret pools` which was pretty kool really- but not really secret as there were a few people already there. We all had to change on the bus and then we aat in the smelly pools for a few hours (with candles) and then back on the bus all dripping wet. Apparently your not supposed to wash to get the benefit of the pools. I spelt i washed.

Got up early next morning to visit the Maori village. Had a tour around and the geysers and then sampled some food cooked by the ovens which are heated from the ground heat. Natural Microwaves. Very kool. The Maori show was pretty awesome and they did the Haka! yay! I have sent some thermal mud home for us all to try when i get back!

Afternoon was back to Taupo for those of us brave enough to do the skydive. Would have loved to but i spoke to the guy and apparently no go cos of my ears. Gutted. Instead I went shopping. we finished the north island with a night out in Taupo! One day before my flight to chile i was back on the bus up to Auckland, cleverly timing the trip so Kate was on the Bus! Yay! One last trip and it was off to Chile!

So NZ is awesome...You can bungy, skydive, jet boat, whitewater raft, blackwater raft, cave, go pot-holing, jump off the skytower, do a canyon swing....or you can do what i did and realise you must be the only person to do nothing extreme in NZ at all! Fishing and sheep shearing rock! xxx