Hello everyone!

It is a very sad day... we are sat in the hostel that we started the New Zealand trip on but we are 2 members down... this time when we got off the bus there were no Rory and Grey waiting for us with cups of tea :( oh we miss them already. Anyway life must go on and although its tough we cannot complain too much. We have just spent the last 2 nights at The Bay of Islands - the most Northern part of New Zealand which was BEAUTIFUL, as was the weather - our tans are coming on well (apart from Emily who we are now calling Casper the friendly ghost!!!!!).

The first and final trip we decided to pay for was probably the best money we have spent during our time here (apart from Sky Diving).... we boarded the 'Kings Cruise' early afternoon and took a trip through the mighty blue water to see approximately 130 islands in the bay. On route we were joined by a pod of dolphins swimming alongside us in a protective group surrounding a mother and her 1 day old baby! You could still see the lines on its back where it had been creased in its mother's womb for the last 12 months! It was quite a good swimmer to say how young it was, and treated us to some jumps (see pics). The other dolphins were a lot bigger than we all expected - they looked slightly shark like (which Sarah particularly enjoyed!). The highlight of the cruise was a hole in a rock - it looks better than it sounds and it was calm enough for us to cruise through emerging on the other side in the Pacific Ocean! Other wildlife on the tour included hairy seals which apparently shouldn't have been there but the water was too hot for them apparently! At one point our guide explained that if we carried on in that direction we would end up in Fiji so we plotted to hijack the boat. We were unsucessful. The only person not to get burnt on the trip was Emily however she was applying Factor 30 constantly!

Later on in the afternoon back at the hostel, who walks past our room but Rachel Tully - Claire Kilgour's friend from Darlo and Louise! It was a massive coincidence that we were staying in the same hostel let alone on the same Magic Bus back to Aukland the next day!! Unfortunately we didn't have a night out with them as they have far too much money for their own good and went out for a civilised meal and bottle of wine and were shocked at the fact that we cook for ourselves and drink vodka before a night out! Anyway.... had a good night - met some friendly Canadians and Scottish Jamie who we've met before, sung along to kareoke with invisible microphones but disappontingly once again the resort did not have a take away for post lash munchies... New Zealanders are far too healthy!!

The countdown is now on... 12 hours until we fly to Sydney so we will be in touch then!