Well hello!!!

Firstly I have to say at least this time I've got the hang of this clever web site...as last time I thought you were in the USA and you were in Fiji....should have been a blonde.

Well there are so many reasons to be jealous right now, for one you guys met the mighty shark of all sharks John, loved the photos by the way!!! And two, you are now in my favourite place in the world...the gorgeous New Zealand! Loving the photos and all the stories on the message board guys its bringing so many memories back...feels like I'm travelling again...Wicked!

Hope you are both having a fab time in Franz Joseph climbing the glaciers, its mad isn't it and guessing you'll hit Queenstown soon....you are gonna love it there, so many fun, extreme and adrenline pumping adventures to go on ....The Nevis especially!!! Soooooooooooooooooo exciting!!

Well, all here is good, been having some nice lazy weekends and bbqs (No way as good as yours) and of course the world cup!!! Off to London this weekend for a big one so hopefully have some tales to tell from then.

Take care of each other and have a few drinks for me in "The World" and "Red Rock" for me.

Soph x x x x

Hey you two! sorry i've not been in touch yet, just having too much of a damn fine rollicking time here in Newark! looks like you're having a wicked one (i wouldn't expect anything less), not that i'm too jealous......Anyway, looking at all the photos and reading your stories, i have come to a conscious descision to get myself a second job in the evenings, so i can save up all my dollar, and join the jet set brigade. keep having fun, and if you do one thing for me whilst your out there, please teach the kiwi's the art of the trombone!! speak soon, loadsa love, egg x x x

Hello everyone, Going to give you a brief run down of what weve been upto so far in new zealand. its onlly been 2 weeks and weve done so much. Were also having a bit of trouble with our photos at the mo, as some of these computers are pretty slow out in the middle of no-where. Currently at Franz Joseph tomorrow we walk the glacier!

We first departed Auckland (after at heavy drinking night at the globe a backbackers bar) and met our fellow kiwi crew, some interesting characters aboard the coach!!! Our first stop was Cathedral Cove, a lovely walk down to the beach and played a spot of cone sports. Then on to Whitianga Mercury Bay where we had a great first night witnessed some crazy dance moves of our fellow coach members. (Sarahs bday!)

From Mercury Bay we moved to Rotorua (very smelly place) here we saw the geothermal and cultural centre of New Zealand. We went to an amazin Maori night, where we all had a feast that was cooked in the traditional hangi and they put on a Maori concert. it was brilliant night they did the haka all the costumes and dancing so authentic(the boys stuffed themselves with so much food there was no space for any drinking afterwards, everyone when to bed with full bellies that night. in the hostel there was a smelly hot tub all heated by the natural thermal spa, hot pools. toby took a dip n canme back pretty smelly!

We went on the first of our many walks of the trip (lots of beautiful scenery lord of the rings fans eat your heart out!) at Rotura we diid some luging whicn verina fel out pretty funny!) and also watched some wet zorbing, this is when people roll down the hill in a huge ball. full of water.

From Rotorua we then moved on to Waitomo here we visited Te Pula (a large thermal mud park reserve and Maori arts and craft centre) here it pissed it down we weve covered in stinky sulphur!) on the way to Waitomo we visited various waterfalls and even a rather random rabbit farm where we witnessed the extremely funny sight of rabbit shearing (angora rabbits) we love the free activities available!

In waitomo we had a rather rowdy cheese and wine night which was meant to be a quiet civilised night before the black water rafting the following day. It ended up with some of the more mature members of the bus swinging from the roof literally and dancing on the tables sending cheese everywhere! lots of drunkenness!!!

i think some people regreted drinking so much as the blackwater rafting was not really a great mix with a hangover!!! It was amazing, you had to travel through the caves and jump into waterfalls with a rubber tube attached to your bum!!! check out the lovely outfits and gum boats. I found it quite scary at points squeazing under the caves in the dark, the water was freezing, we were lead by the glow worms on the ceilings of the cave the only source of light at one point. at the end there was some well deserved hot soup and bagels waiting for us all

Waitoma we headed to Taupo (lake Taupo and the Tongario National Park)

Here we did our SKYDIVES!!!!!!!!! jumped out of the plane at 12,0000 feet it was absolutly wicked its was an amazing experience (sorry mum but we just had to do it) I would recommend it to anyone such an adreline rush we loved it got a ground video so you can watch that when get back (its in the post at the mo mum!!!) get jack to show you it on the computer!!)

from this had a celebration session at a pub call the holy cow at which we won the pub quiz!!! thyen had a bit of a boogie everyone got drunk AGAIN!!! Clint showed off his lovely caterpilla moves and toby is teaching our danish friends far to many english phases and mannerisims!!!

Taupo to River Valley
this was a wicked huge log cabin, where we shared a 30 bed dorm, with everyone, here was our drivers birthday so enjoyed a lovely roast dinner (all you could eat!) then everyone sat around the log fire having drinking games in which we played somedrinking games an found out some rather interesting 'i have never' secrets!! bit too much information from Uncle Alan

At river valley we did some White water rafting, it was a grade 5 river which means its the fasted commercial river that can be safely rafted Rangitiketi river rang just below the lodge. this was a crazy trip we get stuck in the middle of a grade 5 rapid for over 10 mins whilst we lay in icy water trying to dislodge the raft from between too large rocks, it was so excilerating, (and bloody freezing) after this we jumped of the cliff 25 ft into the rapids this i found possibly the scariest thing so far!!

River Valley to Wellington, we had a free day in wellington so we just relaxed an toured around the city, going up the cable car and to the botanical gardens, did some shopping and brought some thermal long johns ready for the South island. In the afternoon, visited the Te Papa Museum. It had a special lord of the rings exhibition with all the costumes and props and short films explaining the making and special effects of the film. Alot of the filming sets such as hobbiton were filmed in NZ. It was a fantastic exhibition, i left wanting to be a costume designer by the end of it so amazing, such detail. I loved it. That evening we sampled some of the Wellington nightlife. some people tryed to stay awake for the opening ceremony of the World Cup! starting at 4am.

Everyone woke up late and the coach nearly missed the ferry to Picton in Nelson. linking the south and north island. everyone looked rather green on the crossing. In Nelson we stayed at a great hostel, where the owners had totally catered for backpackers, we had a Irish v New Zealand rugby match followed by the England v Paraquay football game. 1.30am we all sat in our england shirts sippin irish coffees at half time. Sorry to say the game was pretty dull but aleast we won 1-0. COME ON ENGLAND!!

Nelson to Westport - westport was pretty crappy, the weather was so s*** that we all stayed in the hostel and watched lord of the rings, all quoting our newly learnt facts from the exhibition the day before. we found out the next day that it had been the worst weather for 10 years, all the roads were flooded, we were lucky to have got across the bridge as the bus following couldnt get through. We still managed to do some walks and visited the Pancake Rocks and seal colony.

After this we got ready for our night at 'Poo Pub' Punakaika where we had our theme night, hosted by the oldest landlord in NZ, he was 81 years old with plenty of life left in him!!

Check out the photos of our superhero party, everyone got dressed up it was wicked, lots of cheap drinks and plenty of schnaniggans went on you people know who you are!!!

Today we visited the Bushmans centre, where they had live Possums and even possum pies for breakfast. so that brings us up to date. Sorry we said we'd try and keep it brief!!! nevermind, just gonna go prepare our pack lunch for our glacier hike tomorrow morning, cant wait! should see some amazing sights.

hi guys. Hope all is going well, I checked your pictures they are awesome and plentifull, you have taken so many, haha. Had a weird dream about you two last night, you came back to the UK fo a few days and brought me a crazy disco tourch and you got lennon a massive spider, well random and pretty funny. New Zealand looks beautiful, your pics are similar to Nick and Rach's. As you might know I am off to Birmingham in a few weeks with Nozza & Len to live and work, should be good, lots to do there. Oh yer and THE WORLD CUP STARTS TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go on England.
Hope you enjoy the rest of your travels and speak soon. Rob x

Hey V,
Yeah the situation in Nepal is better now & things are pretty much back to normal. Obviously though there's still 5 months before I go & things could change a lot in that time so I just need to keep checking the news & with the foreign office & see what the situation is. But I am excited about going!
Aaaaah I didn't realise you were going away for so long...that's wicked! But sad as after Nepal I'm not coming back for quite a while...hopefully going to Thailand & Cambodia, see a friend in Australia then go & see Alycia in NZ (she's moving back at the end of this month) & work there for a year, then do some more travelling on the way home. All in all it's going to take about 2 years I reckon. So I won't be here when you get back, which means I won't see you for AGES!
Anyway enough of that, how's the Kiwi Experience going?

Love Jonny xx

As requested guys, www.myspace.com/4sharkshuffling

Hope you're enjoying NZ!

John

Hey v, lovely to hear that you are well hon. miss you heaps, pleased that you are having a wonderful time. life is good at the moment definately being challenged and enjoying it! suzi is moving out so i am looking for a new house mate, going to v festival with jack and liz in august, managed to get time off work to spend time with heather and i am going to try today to get a week off to go away to greece for a week with lucy from notts. yeter has met a buddhist guy and seems really excited about him. i will try to keep you posted with news! well say a big hello to toby and take care hon i'm off for a swim now and to enjoy the rare sunshine! keep in touch lots of love Becxx

My good weve only been on the KIwi bus for 5 days but weve done so much already!!!

Firstly like to say hi to those who have just messaged us. helloooooo helen, lovely to hear from you, was thinking of you just earlier, was on the white water rapids and you sprung to mind which was abit random at that precised moment but the minds a funny thing hey!! Keep thinking of us all in the sunny notts/derby, missing you all wish you could be here so get saving the pennies and come meet us at Xmas in thailand its is all i can say. It will be worth it I promise!!!

Craig and Pete good luck with the move guys, hope everything goes well, I will be coming up to visit you when get back so save me a lovely spot of carpet to sleep on!! Sure you'l have settled in by then. Love to you both x x

Uncle Andy - thank you for showing Granny the photos thats great! send her my love aswell. You would love New Zealand the landscape is amazing, such great hikes, mountains and lake Taupo is huge its gorgeous it is lord of the rings country we visited Mount Doom and Mordor yesterday. The ski slopes are slowly filling with snow so by the time we get to South island the skiing season will start.

Sasha and Grace, my sexy ladies, don't know what your worrying about in the photos you look gorgeous!!! Hope you are both settling back at home, cant imagine how weird that must be! how was the dance show, and your night out? lovin the kiwi bus, weve done so much, gonna do a run down in abit you can compare notes!! sasha i tried to use that jabba phone card you gave me but i didnt have your pin number? If you can remember it, if you can that would be wicked? big hugs stay in touch it was great meeting you both (any young men in beachcomber?) x x

Johny - have an amazing time in Nepal (will it be safe enough to go then? We should be returning to England in March so if were back then wont miss your leaving party!!!

Hello hello :)
Sorry I haven't got round to visiting this site before now. Your trip looks amazing so far! Fiji especially seems really beautiful. & you're both looking great & having a wicked time by the sound of it. I'm happy for you. But what with you in NZ & my littlest bro off to Thailand earlier today, I'm getting a bit jealous back here in the UK! Well anyway I'm really glad you're enjoying yourselves.
Same old s*** over here, but at least summer seems to have finally arrived. I guess that means it's winter over in NZ?! Madness. Am looking forward to the festivals, Glade is only a few weeks away hurrah! Am doing Reading again this year, but it won't be the same without Verina or Ali.
When are you guys getting back??? I'm off to Nepal at the beginning of november, you'd better be back before then or I won't see you for 2 years...

Hope you enjoy the Kiwi Experience!

Love Jonny xx

PS
Definitely keep the beard

I vote beard!! Longer and white like a wizard, so you can stroke whilst you ponder on your thoughts as your a wise old man since you've travelled the world ;-)

Hey,

So jelous it hurts, you both look so healthy and happy, keep it up. I love this message board. It's better than the soaps! I might just boycot you two and start general chitchat with everyone else. Hello everyone!

Now, I really have had enough of everyone going off so i'm ordering you two to get home quick and I will make everyone else stop moving. Who said change was a good thing!! (it certainly wasn't me!)

Same old, same old here. We mostly just sit round talking about how much of a good time you'll be having!

Keep enjoying your badselves and keep the stories and pics rolling in.

missing you,

Hel xxxxx