Hey all!! We've been in New Zealand for our second day and are not regretting the impromptu trip whatsoever! It's so beautiful and reminds somewhat of home. More so than Australia at least...

We arrived in Auckland yesterday in the evening and had time to find our hostel which was a cozy little cottage-type house that was great for the night. We then ventured into the outskirts of town where we found a Thai restaurant that looked delicious. So we stopped for dinner. I decided I'd try some Curry so I ordered a spicy dish that the waitress questioned me about. She didn't know if I could handle it. I tried anyway. It ended up being really good. Eventually I couldn't eat any more because of the fire in my mouth but it was great food in any case. We hit the sack early so we could get up to catch our bus before 8 am.

The Magic Bus picked us up and took us to the top of Mt. Eden in the middle of Auckland where anyone can look and see 360 degrees -- towards the bays, oceans, and city. So incredible!! We then hopped back on and looped around on roads until we stopped in a tiny town called Waitomo where the only income is in tourism. I decided to partake in a Black Water Rafting expedition which included hiking and swimming through water-filled glow worm caves. It was quite claustrophobic but so awesome to hear about the glow worms as well as the history of the caves and New Zealand from the guides. There were two waterfalls, one in which I had to jump backwards in an floaty tube. Scary. The second one had a slide that was also pretty sketchy. But hey..I made it out alive....and so did everyone else I'm pretty sure. About an hour of that and we were all pooped so we found the main desk where pictures could be purchased on a disk, which I did buy but they were hilarious!

After everyone made it back to the bus we traveled another hour or so to where I am now -- Rotorua which is famous for its Geothermal sites, or hot springs that are WAY too hot. They're so interesting. Some were thick with mud and bubbling loudly and some just had tiny air bubbles traveling to the surface. The whole town smells like sulfur but the sites are worth it!

Caitlin and I just got back from the Fat Dog Cafe which is a fun place that has mismatched chairs and an interesting atmosphere. I got an enormous Bacon Lettuce Avacado Tomato sandwhich that was impossible to eat. It was good though...

That concludes the trip for now...hopefully heading out tonight to find some trouble!

cheers (as they say)