Hi guys!! We're back, so here goes... :D

We spent a good few days in Wellington with Gill, Simon and crew, enjoying our last visit with them whilst we're on this trip. On the Friday night we saw the film "Street Dance" with Sophie and Gill in 3D which was cool, and it was nice to have a night with the girls. (Sex and The City wasn't an option for us sadly, it wasn't quite appropriate for 11 year old Soph!)

As Saturday was our last full day with the Bright's, we woke up bright and early to go and watch Boston play a rugby game in his little U8's rugby team, the Wests Crocodiles, which they won 40-30! GO CROCS! (It wasn't quite the All Blacks but it was our first NZ rugby game...!). Gill and Simon then took us on a scenic drive around the coast of Wellington, viewing Kapiti Island, a small piece of land that the Maori's claim to be sacred as they used to bury their dead on it...luckily no-one but wildlife inhabit it, otherwise you may be struck down by the curse they placed on it! As it was such a nice day (at last!), we took a long stroll along the beach with Woody, their v. old spaniel, with Kapiti Island silhouetted in the distance under the setting sun.

After a refreshing raspberry and lemonade in the nearby waterfront cafe, we headed off to our great uncle Eddie's and his wife Liz's house, where Gill and Simon made a delicious Thai red curry. Meanwhile, we caught up with the tales of our adventure since we last Eddie and Liz when they picked us up from the airport right at the beginning (we can't believe that was only a few weeks ago!). Eddie, as the coach of the national cycling team, fished out one of his exercise gadgets whereby pulses are sent into your calf muscles to tone and work them, making them tense and un-tense rapidly. The kids, of course, loved having a go with this, however didn't quite make it up to the high level that Eddie could cope with! (His legs were literally having a fit...!). The Bright's have all been so hospitable and fun, we're going to miss them!!

After a fond farewell, we left Wellywood on a new Kiwi bus early on the Sunday morning for the 6 hour journey on to our next stop, Taupo. We were reunited with Jake, one of our old friends from our first Kiwi bus on the South Island (it's so great when this happens!) and caught up with our escapades since we left him in Queenstown. We made a short stop in a town called Bulls, a place with a good sense of humour; each place was named with a bull: Relieve-a-bull (public loos!), Treasure-a-bull (an antiques shop!) and Eat-a-bull (a restaurant!).

Our next stop was to see the famous Huka Falls, a hugely powerful and impressive waterfall that fills 2 Olympic-sized swimming pools every second! Apparently it also takes 3 weeks for a body to bob up if thrown in, discovered supposedly by an actress who threw her lover's body in, expecting it to never be seen again...! However, people still attempt to kayak over it...hmm.

Once we reached the volcanic town of Taupo, the rain was falling. Hard. A walk down to the local supermarket proved to be more of a swim! However, as it was his only day in Taupo, I agreed to go with Jake to the thermal hot pools down the road, a natural outdoor spa produced from the prolific volcanic activity surrounding this part of the island. After a short taxi ride (it was still pouring!), we got into our swimwear and waded in. It was the strangest sensation, one step to the left was a freezing river and one to the right was 40 degree bliss! It was pretty surreal sat basking in a rock pool whilst the heavens opened above us! There were a few little waterfalls also to provided a bit of bubbles for our natural jacuzzi :) After a good few hours relaxing in here (we didn't want to leave!) we called our taxi back to take our soaking selves back to our hostel. It was definitely an experience!

After watching NZ produced King Kong in the TV lounge, we took an early night - we were booked in for a 15,000ft skydive the next morning! However, it wasn't to be; the rain was still unleashing it's force, and being a very weather-dependent activity, our skydive's were moved forward each hour until they finally had to call it off for the day. Instead, whilst booking ourselves onto Tuesday's dive, we spent our very wet free day cosy and warm i front of the first 2 Lord of the Rings films (well we had to see it at some point whilst we were here!).

With Tuesday looking hopeful, we crazy divers piled into a mini bus to be taken to the small airport. After watching a short clip of a skydive to get a feel for what we were to be experiencing, and signing our life away (argh!), half of our group were taken away to be kitted up and prepared for their jump whilst the rest of us watched Step Brothers, a bizarre comedy film, whilst we waited apprehensively for our turn....

But once again, it was not to be. Although they were squeezed into the tiny plane and just about to take off, the dive was cancelled as the cloud and wind had once again thwarted our attempt. Although we were booked in again that afternoon as priority divers, the weather only worsened and we were informed that it was to be scheduled for the next morning again. Luckily we have a bit of time to spare here in the North island so we were able to postpone it, however we decided that Wednesday was pretty much our last chance, as we also wanted to do the Tongariro Crossing, a full day alpine trek across the volcanic terrain of Taupo.

And on Wednesday we succeeded! Today we both jumped out of a plane at 15000ft with one minute of freefall! (And Mum, we survived!). The weather was GORGEOUS and at 10am we were taken to the airport for the last time, kitted up and prepared for takeoff! We each had our own guy to be strapped to our backs for our tandem dive, and a photographer flying around with us in the sky to capture this experience for us! Inside the plane, the 5 of us we were stuffed like sardines in a tin, lined up one behind the other with our guides and cameramen, whilst the little neon pink aircraft (it really was tiny!) took us up to altitude. We also each had an oxygen mask to use when the air thinned near the top (it was pretty bloomin' high!). Emily and I had written "Sweet As!" and "Awesome!", good ol' Kiwi slogans, on our hands to show the camera in the plane before our gloves were donned ready for the freezing temperatures outside. Once the altitude was reached, the plane door was immediately opened and the first girl was sucked out...Then it was my turn...! Whilst strapped to my guide, he edged us out to the doorway, my legs dangling over the edge, pulled my head back, and jumped. It was such an amazing sensation, tumbling around in midair over Taupo's vast lake at 200kph! The breath was sucked out of me and I could see each end of the country, from West to East. With the wind buffeting me from below, I felt more like I was flying than falling, and I busted some moves; breaststroke, superman, flying (Emily even dug out a few dance moves!).

A minute later, that felt more like 10 seconds, I was jolted upside down as my guide released our parachute, which was quickly followed by a second less violent jolt, as our parachute opened and we slowed down. Everything suddenly became a lot quieter and I was able to hear my own voice screaming and yelling "OH MY GOD!"s and whooping like a crazy man. After asking me how I felt and scoring a couple of high-fives, my guide THEN informed me that the blue parachute drifting to the ground far below us was actually our first one - it had become blocked in it's bag and we were now floating around on our reserve...!! Scary stuff!! The views were awesome though, and looking around I could see the other little colourful dots that had followed behind me.

Once our feet were back on land, buzzing with adrenaline and thanking our guides for preventing any fleshy splats on the ground, we were all in agreement that this was the best experience EVER! Once we'd chosen our free Freefall t-shirts, watched and bought our DVD, we were taken back to our hostel to recover.

Tomorrow we have a nice early start (6am...!) to do the Tongariro Crossing, our full day hike. As we're in the winter season now, we will be accompanied by guides to take us along the snow-covered tracks to the summit before trekking back. It is labelled as challenging but will be good fun - after all this sitting around watching films, we need a good walk!!

We'll be leaving here on Friday to get to Rotorua, our next stop, before heading to Aukland, NZ's biggest city. Love you all lots, photos will follow shortly!!

xxxx