so i only have 30mins to update you with what has been happening over the past 2 weeks so i shall give it to you in bullet points! i leave NZ in the morning and fly to fiji for a week, then cook islands for a week, then USA so not sure when i wil be e-mailing next.

thu 17/11/05
we arrived in Rotorua (smellyville) this is where a lot of the thermal activity happens.
me and sarah went to a polynesian spa for the afternoon. all the spa pools are heated from the ground and they all have loads of minerals from the water.
in the evening we went to a moari cultural show and hangi feast. the show was really good fun to watch and very well done, the food was amasing so much on offer and cooked really well

fri
in the morning i went to a thermal village to see a geyser (shooting water) and lots of mud pools which were wicked. the lakes had so much steam coming off them.
we had lunch by lake rotorua which thanfully was not too smelly!
we drove to waitomo, which is surrounded by hundreds of cave systems, on arrival at the hostel sarah drove into the wall! not too bad though the rental place didn't notice when we took it back.

sat
i went tumu tumu toobing, basically caving in one of the hundreds of caves! had a really good day, clad head to foot in wetsuit we went crawling through very small gaps, swimming in very cold underground water, relaxing on an inner tube looking up at hundreds of glow-worms (that is the special thing about waitomo caves they all have lots and lots of glow-worms) and also walking/balancing through a 1km cave system. one of the best things i have done all trip.
in the afternoon we drove up to the bay of plenty

sun
went to a place called tairua and sunbathed for a couple of hours before heading off to catherdral cove and stringray bay, both very beautiful.
we then went to hot water beach where people kind of make their own hot tub on the beach, we were not convinced until we were about to leave and i felt a really hot section of sand and started to understand how it worked.
then a very windy drive to coromandel and stayed in a lovely hostel.

mon 21/11/05
we drove up part of the coromandel peninsula, but got bored with the scenery so decided to drive down a famous road/track to see the waiau falls which were very pretty and then we walked around a kauri (tree) grove where we saw a very big kauri tree and a siamese kauri tree. very cool, lots of foresty things, lots of ferns!
after we drove to auckland via the scenic route and only got a little lost, eventually we worked it out and dropped caroline off at the hostel, she was due to fly to sydney the next day.
we carried on driving to Orewa to start our next journey seeing the bay of islands.

tue
on our way to next stop of Paihia, a goog few kilometres north, we stopped off at the honey cafe, saw lots of bees making some very nice and very alcoholic honey!
we also stopped at whangarei and visited the fudge shop (of course we bought some, but only because we were doing a lot of driving and felt that we deserved it, better than alcohol!) we also saw the largest sundial in NZ.
we then stopped at kawakawa, which is one of the only towns to have a train line run right through the middle of the high street, it also has some designer toilets which were a bit off the wall!
finally arriving at our destination we went to the waitangi treaty grounds, this is where the maoris and the english signed the treaty of waitangi, which was a very monumental part in NZ history. the place was very interesting and gave accounts from both sides. i think i learnt quite a lot from it!

wed
today was a mammoth day of driving, almost 8hrs worth.
we drove to doubtless bay, very pretty only stopping for picture shot, then we headed up the karikari peninsula and found the most wonderful beach in NZ at a place called rangiputa, i renamed the beach shell beach there were thousands.
we stopped off at a dry lake ohia, to see some kauri stumps which had once been

after quite a long journey to the north island where we actually had to sail south to get to wellington, we decided that we would have a night out!
the all blacks were playing ireland at 3am and that was our goal to stay up and watch that, also to meet up with a mate of carolines who is working out here and was going out for a works do.
after the getting ready process we went to the bar next door and had a meal, mine being fish and chips which was delicious. we had a few dronks there as they had given us two for one vouchers so we had to spend them, and then we headed out!
after walking up and down the main strip to find a decent place to go to and also to look for the bar that we were meeting carolines mate in, we finally picked O'Malleys. that night was 70/80/90's night, they had a band playing and there were quite a few people dressed up! the night started good and got better as the night went on.
to start with a random bloke came up to us and offered to buy us a bottle of sparkling and then another and another! he was a nice bloke who worked in the mines so he had money to throw away, so we didn't feel bad!
then out of the corner of my eye i caught sight of a very nice bloke, who after numerous eyeing up eventually came up to me and offered to buy me a drink. we had a very nice chat, i found out his name was jeremy, he was a partner in a cleaning company (it made me laugh too!) and he had his own house, all by the age of 21!
i stayed chatting to jeremy for some time and then we went off to a sports bar to watch the rugby match, it was a good game although i believe i fell asleep during part of it!

the next morning i woke up with a bit of a headache, but not to bad. but by 4pm i was feeling considerably worse and ended up going to bed very early and waking up at 9.30pm to have something to eat!

monday was much better, i woke up early and set off on a day of sightseeing around wellington. firstly we all went to the museum of NZ which was very interesting and free! lots to see and very interactive. one of the computer interactive stations was set up as a game of putting together a hangi (which is a maori feast) i got it wrong, but eventually put all the food in the right order, great fun!
after the museum i went off on my own as sarah and caroline had done a lot of sightseeing the day before. i took the cable car up to the botanical gardens and wondered through them down to the rose garden, very pretty and peaceful, then i went through a memorial park (a very old graveyard!) down to the parliament buildings and the beehive, then i had a lovely stroll along the quayside and did a spot of sunbathing.
in all a very relaxing day.

tuesday was a early start again (its not like a holiday you know!) walking quite a distance to the bus station we boarded our bus to taupo.
the journey to taupo was long, but after settling into our room we went for a wonder around town and loked at over lake taupo, which was huge. it is the largest lake in NZ and was created from a volcano and is the crater of a very extinct one, thankfully!
we were to and fro from the travel place as we had sarah and caroline had planned to do a hike over two volcanoes (called the tongairro crossing) and at the last minute i decided to do it with them, but after meeting someone who had done the hike i then changed my mind and went back and cancelled!
so that evening i planned what i would do the following day on my own.

wednesday morning sarah and corline were up very early to set off on their hike, and i had a lovely lie in, not getting up till 9am.
my plans for the day were to head to the spa park where they had thermal streams and then walk to the huka falls. the walk was just right for me, i had a feel of the streams which were a lovely temperature and then the walk to the falls was just enough exercise for one day for me. it was a very easy walk but i did not feel like exerting myself to much.
the falls were quite impressive too, they run

we said goodbye to nelson and the car and got back on an intercity bus heading towards the port town of picton. we were dur to sail to the north island on sat and though it better to be at the port the day before so that we were not rushing around.
that afternoon, after a good few days of walking etc our bags we starting to smell! so it became wash and sunbath day as they weather was absolutly gorgeous and in the little garden of the hostel there was a sun trap!

sat morning afer packing our nice smelling clothes we decided to all do some walking around the queen charlotte sound, i took the easy route, could not be arsed with anymore walking for a couple of days so i did the 1hr return walk enough for me!
our ferry was at 2pm, so after a leisurely walk down to the port with all our belongings we checked in and boarded the PAO lookalike ferry complete with lounge, sundeck, cinema!
as the kid i am i wanted to go on the sundeck to watch us leave port, the ferry looked tiny compared to the area of the sound. it took lots of turn before heading out to deeper water and crossing the sea to the north island and wellington.