11th August 2007

Today we got up and had a lovely shower. Then we took a drive into Napier (the nearest city, which is probably smaller than Macclesfield!) Went to watch Jack in a basketball match last night, great sport for him as he's 6"4!! i dont even reach his shoulders! and he's only 17! Dont think iv seen him since he was about 6! (and that was with a bowl cut and chickenpox!) Bob arrived back around 1pm and he said the concert was crap! He then took us up to 'Tomato Peak' where we took photo's with his massive Man Utd flag!! Then he took us to a very "pawsh" winery where the 3 of us shared an expensive bottle of Chardonnay which was lovely to sit out in the sun with the view having a catch up. Then he took us down to 'Ocean Beach' which is where the family spend a lot of time in the summer. Came back to the house and used their lovely spa/hot tub, which has built in speakers! (This is the life!) Had a picky tea, then headed out for 1 drink in, yet another Irish Pub (just cant escape them!) with Bob and Sarah in Havelock North. Got back to the house around 11pm where we just sat chatting and watched our first game of the season (as it starts again today) unfortunately no Man Utd, but Spurs v Sunderland, but we were knackered so to bed at half time we went!

12th August 2007

Today we got up around 10.30am had some beans on toast which Sarah made for us. Yummy!! Left theirs around 1.30pm Arrived in Taupo, filled up with petrol and had some lunch, then straight to Waitomo Caves where we have just arrived. Pulled up in 'Juno Hall' Backpackers carpark for the night for $10 each. Doing the 'Black Abyss' 5 hour adventure tomorrow which includes abseiling 35metres, walking, cave tubing(black water rafting) glowworms, jumps, flying fox, and climbing. Not sure whether im gonna enjoy this, doesn't really sound like my kind of thing but seeing as i paid $175 (60pounds ish) I hope i do, and its worth it.

13th August 2007

Today we got up and went to meet at the meeting point for 10.45am. We had to put wetsuits on, special wellies, a balaclava and a helmet with a light on. Yet another fetching outfit! Not. Anyway we got going after 11ish in the ´Black Water Rafting Co´vans for about 5mins to a place where we could practise abseiling down a grassy slope. Then we proper abseiled down into the cave 35 metres underground! It was all quite strenuous the day, pulling yourself up against the force of a waterfall whilst rock climbing when the raging water is stronger than you are is not easy. The cave tubing wasn´t as good as i thought it would be. i thought it was gonna be white water rafting in the dark, but it was more like a lazy river! But it gave us chance to relax for a bit and look up at the glowworms! It was unreal. It felt just like being on the black hole at Waterworld! I enjoyed it much more than i originally thought i would although there were some really claustrophobic parts where there wasn´t even room for your head between cave and water, so i got many a mouthful of the freezing cold water! The hot showers after peeling off our wetsuits were lovely we got hot soup and bagels too.

14th August 2007

Today we got up and drove "Jude" back to her home in Onehunga, at the Wicked Campervan Depot for 10am. Got a taxi to the airport and basically waited there until we boarded our flight to Chile at 16.55, i dont think i have ever spent as long in an airport! it´s weird cos we crossed the International Date Line so because of the time difference, we land in Chile earlier than when we take off from Auckland. So when we land instead of being 11 hours infront of GMT, we will be 5 hours behind GMT! So we will live 14th August 2007 twice! Its going to be a loooong day!