Time was up for us in the south island and soon it was the north's turn to shine. The more famous of the two islands had been incredibly impressive and took up the bulk of our time, leaving not long and a big set of shoes to fill, New Zealand was quickly drawing to an end.

To get to the north we had to board a ferry in Picton, which would take us to Wellington the Capital of the country. We were taken into the city centre where we only had time for a short walk around before having to get our heads down, we were leaving early the next morning for Lake Taupo, the location of our skydive.

When we arrived at Taupo there was some doubt whether or not the weather was suitable to dive with as the clouds were dark and low with a storm coming in. It wasn't long before the realisation hit that we were not going to be able to dive today and with a storm brewing, it would only be a waste of time to stick around waiting for the inevitable. There was nothing that we could really do other then hope for a refund and move on to the next big adventure. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and visited the Huka falls where the volume of three Olympic size swimming pools flow through the gorge and over the falls every second.

As time was coming to an end our last and main stay in the north was Rotorua also known as Sulphur City. As the nickname suggests it has a very distinct smell, which is caused by escaping sulphur dioxide created by geothermal activity. On our first night, here we went to a traditional Maori ceremony to learn a little bit more about the history, culture and customs of the Maori people. It was a really good night and was topped off with a massive meal known as a hangi, where the food is cooked in the ground, and a concert where there was a lot of scary men with bulging eyes and protruding tongues wearing nappies dancing around in a rather erratic and threatening fashion!

No rest for the wicked the next morning we were up bright and early for some white water rafting. It seems that everything we come across here is either the world's largest, highest, fastest or quickest and this time it was the highest. The world's highest commercially rafted waterfall, it stood tall at 0.007 km, 275.6 inches or just 7m and was our next milestone! The rafting was a great laugh and we stayed upright for the waterfall too, just in time to throw ourselves off and go down another one whilst trying to hold onto the outside of the boat.

Back to the hostel and we met up with the lads for a spot of "luging" which is where you take a luge (cart) down a steep hill, simple! We had bundles of fun but soon turned these into death traps trying to resist braking to take first place and ultimately landing in a ball of bruises at the bottom! Overall a great laugh and a weeks worth of physical memories to show for it!

Our last day here and time to head to Auckland to catch our flight. We decided to slap on the glad rags and no, it wasn't our pensioner outfits, before heading out for a meal as it was time to say our goodbyes to the lads. As indecisive as ever we took ages finding a place to eat, but the one we chose was spot on. It was possibly one of the biggest steaks we had ever seen and come on a hot plate to cook ourselves, soooo good! Saying goodbye to the lads was hard, we had just spent everyday for last three weeks together and formed a great little boy band bond! We made some great memories and had heaps of banter, spending the time as group just made an amazing place an even better experience and one to treasure for a long time!

So a new chapter begins and time to catch our flight. We headed to the airport for our flight at 8 o'clock, only to find that there was no flight! Our travel agent had not informed us that the flight had been changed to 1 o'clock whilst we were in Oz, leaving us with nothing other then a statistic of 2:5 flights missed! Fortunately, the customer service at Qantas excelled itself and we were arranged to be put on a flight with another airline the next morning, they even gave us free accommodation for the night. Anything free is a bonus out here, so feel free to donate!

Take two and the next morning we were aboard our flight to Fiji. A rather eventful end to an all round memorable experience. New Zealand exceeded all our expectations and is a beautiful country filled with more then you can possibly want. Another country down but another one to come, bring on Fiji!

Adam & Adam