I have now added all of my photos and videos from New Zealand, so go to the video section and check out the 7 new short clips i have added including 2 my bungy jumps, and dolphins and hilarious video of my friend falling off the edge of Nevis bungy ledge instead of jumping!

Auckland- Mercury Bay

Mercury Bay was our first southern heading journey of New Zealand. When the currently five, group of close friends arrived at the hostel along with the other 40 or so Bus passengers, we began an activity which snowball effect' into an everynight occurance, the same activity for which I have now been made to apologise profusely and beg for forgiveness in health, to my poor, struggling, hurting liver! It was of course the only real way to socialise and get to know these strangers properly whilst having a good time in the evenings, well, that's what I keep telling myself anyway! There is in fact some truth to that statement, as many an event happened that night to spark future conversations and events too, involving our whole bus not just the loosely forming groups. Nothing big or specific, just small things that helped us to all bond. Such as, Billie Jean was played on the dance floor and... well, need I go on you know what happened there! Thats what I mean about getting to really know each other, everything comes out. U dont change your personality when u drink, it is merely made more clear, like someone with a bright yellow highlighter pen, making the smaller intricate details of your life jump out of the page more obviously. The dancing was just an example you can relate to, the same was true of everyone that night. Ian showed his abilities to pull women, (which came out more and more as the trip went on), Adam showed how hyper, excited, funny, and outragous he got, (again a major theme of the trip in its earliest form) and so on.

One other main point I should probably mention is how 5 became 8, or to be more specific, Power 8! Being on a southward bound bus now, the passengers were all new, which meant new friends. On our night out we all socialised with everyone on the bus we had not yet met or spoken to, 3 people in particular stood out. First of all a couple who have been together for around a year now, Craig and Vicky from yet again London. The 3rd person was a lad from Leeds, called James Pickles. The first time his name was introduced it was the last we ever heard of James, Pickles was far too cooler name to be dragged down by James in front of it. So here we were, Adam, Simon, Mandy, Shelley, Rich, Craig, Vicky and Pickles! Over the next month we pretty much stayed and did everything together, as Power 8, ok I know its sad but thats what made it so much fun!

The great thing about our bus though was how we all got on, despite their being a group or two, when we were together, there was no divide at all in groups. Everyone would happily and gladly spend a night out with anyone else on the bus, which we did.

Ok so now I have set the scene of the kind of friendly, party bus that we were, I dont need to retell any of the nights out again because I would be here for weeks! I will only mention specific points that may stand out from that night if necessary.

The only thing in Mercury Bay other than Socialising that we did, was to go on a beach and play a bit of rugby with the lads.

Rotorua- (Rotten Rua!)

Rotten Rua is the nickname given to it (quite justly), because of the sulphur that seeps naturally out from the ground. It is where the earths crust is at its thinnist in the whole world. There are mud pools, Geysers that errupt often (about every hour) from rain water falling down to the crust and forming an underground pond, heating up so much that it is turned to steam and thrust violently back up the crust into the air, with the highest Geyser reaching about 40ft in the air. Also hot springs and hot rocks are all around the area. They are all preserved by National parks (as are most things in New Zealand worth preserving).

That is great about New Zealand, the only reason it has so much scenery and countryside and other natural beauty about it, is because they care! New Zealand has done their best to preserve everything to keep its natural beauty, they care and cherish it far more than they care about new cities or houses, England has a lot to answer for and alot to learn from this magnificent alternate version of what it could easily be, should anyone have cared in the first place!

Rotorua was also where we had our first Maori experience. Maori is the race of New Zealand that first travelled to this country before the English and claimed it their own. Eventually after alot of negotiating and war, the native Maori and English now share this country side by side with barely any conflict at all, (which there was in old days). We had a trip at night to visit a real Maori village, with life set in the traditional way, with no European influences at all, as they now sometimes are.

A chief from our bus was needed to represent us, so that they may be welcomed into the village along with the rest of the bus. This duty was extremely important and must have been taken with the upmost seriousness. This was because their welcoming was not exactly what you might have automatically expected! It was a performance of dance and terror, coming at the outstanding chiefs with bulging eyes and fierce growls of intimidation (not too dissimilar from the famous Haka). One of the chiefs were then picked at random to represent all chiefs (5 in total) to pick up a branch and accept with peace their welcoming. For some reason I dont quite understand, my performance the other night (M.J. Dancing) seemed to have raised my popularity somewhat with the bus and I was pretty much unamimously voted to be chief of the bus, I didnt have much choice in the matter!

As chief I also had to learn their method of greeting one another. Which I was taught in front of the whole bus by our Maori driver. It involved holding each others shoulder, and coming nose to nose with eyes closed and breathing in at the same time through our noses two times. What this all meant was the sincere friendship between the two people. I was told that breathing in the same air was a sign of closeness between their people as it was such an intimate acknowledgement of one another.

As funny as that may have looked to people at first, it was really enlightening and a great experience to have learned about the Maori culture. Luckily though I was not the selected chief to walk forward in front of about 400 people and accept the branch. The actual welcoming itself was so dramatic an intimidating to the point where it was uncomfortable, and sometimes apparently one of the chiefs will laugh out of feeling uncomfortable along with the amusing faces and noises that they made. I had yet more pressure, due to the fact that these people also got smacked in the face if they did laugh or even smile, out of anger for their lack of respect and because the Maori are in "the Zone" when performing. I managed to keep a straight face the whole time despite having many urges at certain points.

After looking around the village they performed for us, showing off their cultural tattoes, weapons, and of course, what we were all waiting for... The Haka! The Haka is a war dance now made world famous by the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team, which they perform before every single game as a method of intimidation showing that they mean business! It is for the same reason that it was invented, only it was used in war and battle. To see it performed for real in front of me by genuine Maori natives, was an experience I will never forget. Incredible are the only words to describe the power and feeling that goes into making this dance of war so unique.

I was awarded a second, hand carved wooden Maori necklace of a face, for representing the bus as their chief (The one earlier was a carved wale bone for answering a question about Maori correctly).

I have now gone on far too long as I have apparently remembered alot more detail than I expected, so I will leave it there.

Next stop on the Party Bus- Waitomo, may the crazyness of adrenaline sports Begin!