Backpacking

Another early morning leaving Maroochydore for a 6hour journey north to Hervey bay. We arrived in the afternoon and got ourselves sorted for our trip to Fraser Island the following day. We didn't take big bags so had to sort everything out and take minimum with us, not too difficult, bikinis short and a couple of vests! We went out for a few drinks in the evening, but didn't go to bed too late as we were due up before 6am again!!
We got up at 6am checked out and put our bags in a big locker. We then had to watch a video about Fraser Island, how to drive and camp safely. It was quite amusing, 40 people sitting in a room trying not to fall asleep at 7am listening to how to deal with a Dingo (wild dog) and where and where not to camp and drive etc. When we'd watched that with had half hour safety talk and then got put in our groups. We were very lucky as were in a group of 8 rather than 10, so more room in our van! We got in our van, I drove first and we went down to pick up all our camping gear. We got tents, stoves, cool boxes, roll mats, utensils and everything we needed for the few days. It took a while to load everything into the truck, but soon we were on our way to do the food run. Just imagine 4 lots of 8-10 people who have known each other for 5 minutes going around the supermarket buying 3 days worth of food together! It was absolutely hilarious, like being on big brother or something. At this point I already knew that one guy in the group was going to do my head in! Anyway, I think our shopping was pretty successful as everyone was happy with what we bought and we managed to not spent too much either. It was also quite funny listening to the other groups coming out moaning about eachother already! Anyway, we did well and managed to fit everything into the van, we drove down to the ferry and I had to back the van onto the ferry and we were on our way to the very sandy Fraser Island. We arrived there about midday and drove the length of the island up to Indian head, we took a walk up to the look out, fantastic views, but then it started to rain. On the walk we saw some huge spiders...and I mean huge. This big black spider had the biggest body I'd ever seen, it was incredible. Wanted to go close to take a photo, but I was too scared. I was completely amazed, it honestly was so huge. From Indian head I had my first scary sand ride to Champagne pools. The sand was pretty deep, got a bit stuck and had to just go for it up thei hill. The van was all over the place, but we made it! It was raining so I decided along with lots of other girls not to go in the pools as we didn't want to freeze! From Champagne pools we made our way half way down the island and set up camp for the night. There was all four trucks which set off together, so it was quite fun setting up and getting bbq's going. Only downer was that it rained on and off all evening and everyone had pools of water in their tents, so don't think people had the best nights sleep. Everyone was up before 8am and starting to pack things away, but we could go anywhere until the tide had gone out enough to move. We went down to a camp to have breakfast and wash our dishes from the night before. From there we went to see the Melino Ship wreck, Eli creek which as like a clear fresh water river and then to Lake Wabby. We didnt realise how long the walk to the lake was going to take us, but 45mins later we arrived at a beautiful warm lake with massive dunes. On the way we saw lots of big spiders again, they were horrible, but apparently not poisonous so I wasn't too scared!! It was like being in the desert at the top as all you could see was sand. We swam in the lake and then had to walk back from there, we all got back into our trucks and went to look for somewhere to set up camp for the night. A decision between 40 people really isn't easy I tell you!! After going to a couple of places it was getting dark and we ended up at the place where I said we should camp in the first place!! We got set up and I prepared and cooked Spaghetti Bolognaise for our group, the rain stayed away. We all sat around had some fun, lots of people singing different songs from different countries, it was quite entertaining! I didn't sleep well at all allowing me to get up at sunrise and take some shots! I sat on the beach for the morning and then we left camp and drove to Lake Mckensie. It was so beautiful, gorgeous white sand and clear blue waters. We had to cut our stop short as it started to rain. The picture below is of me and Jo, a girl from my van. At the lake it was so funny, some people were getting some food out of their van. The guy turned around and a dingo came over and grabbed a packet of biscuits from them and ran off. We were watching it and it was so funny when the guy realised what had happened! So, we were back on the ferry and arrived back in civilization about 5pm. Fraser Island was fantastic, but it was so nice to get back and have a shower after 3 days...minging! Last night was an early night as I was so shattered and I woke up this morning not being able to hardly move. I didn't think banging my back getting out of the van a couple of times could be so painful the following day. So, at the moment I'm feeling a little fragile with a bruised back and I'm sure the over night bus journey tonight is going to do me no good whatsoever!!

As I said it was pouring with rain for a day in Sydney, but it managed to brighten up a bit although it was still quite overcast. When in Sydney we went to Olympic Park, went to the Sydney/Telstra Stadium where Jonny Wilkinson won us the world cup. The tour was pretty good, mainly focused on the 2000 Olympics, we got to stand on the Gold podium which was pretty cool. Went in the changing rooms and toured all around the grounds, it was cool. We originally wanted to see the cricket ground (well Ian did), but we went to completely the wrong place! The tour was fun anyway. From there we got the train to and a bus to the Famous Bondi Beach...it wasn't as great as I was expecting, think possibly because the weather was a little dull. But we sat on the beach for a while watching the surfers and had a look around the surf shops (not buying anything!!) Much of our eveing was spent planning our trip to the blue mountains and up the coast. The following day I had a lay in while Ian went to find the cricket ground, he went on a tour which he really enjoyed. In the afternoon we got the ferry to Manly from Sydney harbour and had an afternoon looking around there and sitting on the beach. Manly was lovely, but I'm feeling once you've seen one nice beach you've probably seen them all! It was great to sit and watch the surfers. The ferry on the way back into Sydney gave us some great views of the city, everything in view...it had to be at this point my camera ran out of battery! In the morning I'd had a surprise, randomly bumped into Steven one of the Irish lads that I spent Christmas with in the hostel so that was a nice surprise. Ian and I went out with them in the evening for a few drinks, had a good night...Ian was a bit more of a dirty stop out than me and went off to Bondi.
Thursday we got the train from Sydney to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains, about a 2 hour train journey west of Sydney. We got there about lunch time. We camped in a hostel garden...was quite strange, but good as we could use all the facilities. We got a tour bus around the Jamison Valley and went for a walk. We walked into the valley and to Scenic world where we got the steepest railway in the world down into the valley and then the gondola back up. We got some great views although the blue mountains haze is across the photos which is annoying. We didn't have long to explore as we were a bit late arriving as we missed the train by about 2 minutes! The following day we got up and went up to the Valley, I wanted to go to the rainforest room as it sounded cool. We walked for an hour down the furber steps (hundreds of them) down into the valley, only to find that the rainforest room was like a meeting room! (Gutted!) So, Ian walked back up (crazy) and I got the steep railway back up to the top of the valley. We got to see some water falls and more amazing views of the valley though.When at the top we went on a cliff tops and valleys tour on an open top bus which was cool. Got to see some fabulous views, and also some great lightening! There was a storm in the valley which later came over to Katoomba where we were staying. Our tent didn't leak, but now I'm sad because it's not looking new anymore!! We did some more walking and the next day my calves were killing me! Got to see the 3 sisters from Echo point and the Katoomba falls. It was raining in the evening, so got pretty chilly...the people in the hostel put the fire on. We braved the cold and went for a walk and then back to our tent...didn't have the best nights sleep. We spent the whole of Saturday travelling, train, bus, bus, mini bus arriving at 10pm in Port Macquarie in the East coast.

Well, I'm sat here in Sydney and since we arrived back here it has been raining...not just raining, absolutely tipping it down! So, time for me to update my journey.
We left Adelaide on the Monday morning, Sue very kindly took us to the airport and waved us off. We got our flight to Alice Springs, while in the air I soon enough realised why central Australia is called the 'Red Centre'', it really is very red. We arrived in the desert a couple of hours later, it was even hotter than Adelaide and that was pretty warm! The whole time we were on our central trip the temperature didn't go below 40degrees during the day time. We had a little look around Alice Springs, not a great deal to see and also not really a very nice place. There were lots of aborriginals hanging around the streets and doing a lot of shouting at night, felt like I had to have my whits about me. The second day in Alice Ian and I went to the desert park, it was so hot, I drank so much water and didn't go to the toilet once all day! We saw lots of insects...especially flies which are very annoying. We wondered around, listened to a talk on how the aborriginals live in the bush, saw kangaroos, emus and different birds. My favourite bit was the nocturnal house, there was loads of lizzards, enchidna's, snakes, spiders...luckily they were all in glass cages. From the park we went back to the hostel and then Ang and Pete arrived. It was really great to see them, we spent the evening catching up and sharing our travel stories.
The following day we collected our wagon and started our journey. We headed for the Glen Helen Resort, on the way there we stopped at Simpsons Gap It was a pretty cool Gap! I kept thinking crocodiles were going to come out of the water behind where the picture was taken!
We left there and made our way to Ellery Creek, were going to go swimming...Ian and Pete got in but Ang and bottled it! The last stop before our final destination for the day was Orminston Gorge, we did want to go for a walk there but it was just far too hot to even get out of our lovely airconditioned car let alone walk a couple of km's! We got to Glen Helen resort and set up the tents, Ang and I spent a bit of time teasing the boys by sitting in the car pretending we weren't going to help put up the tents...we soon got out of the car and our tents were ready in no time! We had a swim in the pool, played scrabble and then went for our dinner. We went to the restaurant at the camp site, the food was wonderful, we tried kangaroo, emu, camel sausage and crocodile, all were very nice! The random thing about the restaurant though was the man serving us, he was a complete nut case!...really random and he'd set up us four poms...had a little joke going with the rest of the people in the restaurant. It was a random night! On our way up to our tents we saw the most amazing stars in the sky, it was so clear, the sky was almost full. It was then time to attempt going to brush my teeth, Ian came with me, to open the door you had to dodge the 3 lizzards on the door handle, once inside the place was crawling with ants, moths flying everywhere and spiders all around. It was horrible! Apart from that camping the first night was fun!
From Glen helen resort we had to go all the was back to Alice Springs and with our car we couldn't get through the unsealed roads to Kings Canyon. So after stocking up on petrol, water and food in Alice we drove to Kings Creek Station. Set up our tents, had a swim and then cooked burgers on the BBQ. For the rest of the eveing we played cards and murdered moths, flies and crickets! They kept flying into the candles...sometimes with a little help. This campsite I nicknamed the Moth place! Frome Kings Creek Station we left to go to Kings Canyon, we wanted to do a longer walk up to the top of the canyon but again the weather was too hot 42 in the shade. So we went for a short walk and got a few photos, I felt awful when we got back, I was just so hot. We drove another few hundred kms from there to Ayers Rock resort, the nicest of the 3 campsites. Here to be our home for 2 nights. The facilities were far better than the other places and the toilets were pretty much insect free. That wasn't to say the dining area wasn't though! We put up our tents, went in the pool and then drove to the national park for the sunset. The sunset wasn't great, but Ayers Rock is quite impressive. when we got back we had a BBQ, and this is when we realised that the dining area comes alive at night...the place was moving with cockroaches. We chose to stand up to eat our dinner! There was a mouse and a few rabbits around aswell as the usual moths, crickets and flies.
We got an early night as we were up at 5am to go and see the sunrise at Ayers Rock, can't say I was too impressed with the sunrise either. There was hundreds of crazy people standing around the huge rock waiting for the sun! We drove to the Olgas which are a set of rocks about 30 kms from Ayers Rock, we were there by 7:30am ready to start our walk. We walked about 10kms, arrived back at the car at 10am. The walk was great I really enjoyed it, got some superb views, the rocks were just unbelievable. It seemed the flies took a liking to my hat! We spent the rest of the day doing some washing and I did a lot of moaning as it was just too hot to do anything. We just sat there sweating for hours. It clouded over a little later so Ian and I went to the pool and chilled there for a while. Later we drove back to the Olgas to see the sunset, we didn't get a great sunset by the Olgas but as we drove away the colours in the sky were beautiful so we stopped to take a few photos on the way out of the national park. We stopped for petrol on the way back and managed to get some free sausage rolls and pies from the petrol station, it was great as we had nothing for dinner! Sausage roll and corn for dinner and then off to bed!
We got up fairly early, I packed the tent up all on my own in a matter of minutes had some breakfast and made our way to the massive 2 gate airport of Ayers Rock. The plane journey was pleasent

We arrived in Sydney early evening, it was cloudy so couldn't see much out of the window on the flight. The weather didn't make Sydney look to good, wasn't sure what to make of it really, it was far bigger than I expected. We got to the hostel, was a bit seedy, but good enough and after looking at other hostels on the way around Sydney I think we were actually quite lucky! The hostel was quite a walk from the centre, as soon as we got there we took a walk through the city and down to Sydney Harbour, Harbour Bridge and Opera house. The views were quite amazing and definitely better as it got dark. After having a wonder it was quite late by the time we got back to the hostel.
We spent the following day sorting ourselves out, working out what to do about transport around OZ. We also went for a look around Darling Harbour and walked up onto Harbour Bridge. In the evening we got the tube down to Kings Cross and met Dave Lindsell, really good to see him. We made the mistake of going out in flipflips, they won't let you in any bars and in Oz they are big on ID and Ian didn't have any so the eveing was a bit of a struggle. We managed to worm our way into one bar so just stayed there. Danielle and Lucy came out, it was really great to see them. I think Dave was a little taken back by the whole crazy girls thing, but i think he enjoyed it! Ian and I got the last train back to our hostel, was quite merry after my drinks! (Thank you very much Dave).
Friday was Australia Day, which was awsome and definitely made me like Sydney much more. The sun was shining and there was so much going on all day. We met Dave down at Circular Quay where there were bands playing,then went for a walk around to the Opera house, stopping to have a rather expensive drink on the way! We then made our way down to Hyde Park to meet Danielle and Lucy, on the way we had lovely ice creams and there were loads of vintage cars on show for Australia day. They were fantastic! We then relaxed in Hyde Park, listened to the bands and got Australia flags to join in the celebrations! Dave then left and Ian and I went for a chinese in China Town, it was so busy, was really cool just to sit there and watch the world go by. We raced back to the hostel and got changed so we could make it down to Darling Harbour to see the fireworks. We got there just in time, battled through the crouds to find Dave and then watched the show and fireworks. It was spectacular, really fantastic! ( Mum, you'd have loved it) We then met up with Danielle and Lucy and said goodbye, until we get back there on 11th Feb.
Ian and I hired a car, we had to get to the other side of the city to pick it up, we struggled with our bags and my my I was sweating when I finally got there! We got the car, a little rusty coloured Yaris and drove to Canberra. We had a few hours there, went around the new parliament buildings and looked at the old and then went and looked around the botanical gardens. Got a bit scared as it said beware of the snakes all around! There were heaps of lizzards, but I quite like lizzards! From Canberra we were going to drive down to Lakes Entrance on the South Coast and stay there for the night, but the plans went a bit wrong! We realise after passing Cooma that we must have taken a wrong turning! Over 60km out the way, so we had to drive all the way back...but we did get to go to the Snowy mountains region! We saw loads of kangaroos, in fact we saw about 50 kangaroos and only 2 cars over 90kms! We drove and it got to about 9pm, realised that no petrol stations stay open in Oz! By this time it was quite dark and when I was driving a kangaroo jumped at the car, I hit it, but there was no dent so all's good!! We realised that we weren't going to make it to Lakes Entrance on the petrol, it was pretty touch and go, but we drove until the petrol almost ran out and then slept in the car in a small town called Orbost. Not the best nights sleep I've had, but I have to say the back seat of the Yaris wasn't that bad! Ian was in the passenger seat, I woke up with sore knees as they'd had to stay very bend all night! But, we were off by 8am this morning when the petrol station opened. Not sure what would have happened if it didn't open on a sunday!! We got on our way and travelled about 2 and a half hours to Wilson's Promontory National Park. We walked to a few beached and went for a walk over tidal river, but got cut off as the water was too high. It was so windy down there and not good weather, it started to rain so we didn't walk too far. I have to say the weather really does make a difference, the national park would have be fantastic had the weather been nice and we weren't getting sand whipped into the back of our legs on the beach. We made our way to Melbourne, got here earlier today. It's busy because of the tennis being on, but so far I'm impressed with what I've seen and I'm going to Ramsey Street tomorrow... I can't wait!!!

Well, here goes...the last week!\
Our first night in Queenstown Ian and I went out for a few drinks...didn't get in too late, but maybe had a few too many vino's! I struggled to sleep as there was 8 of us in the room, it was hot and people were snoring! We had a quiet morning and then went for lunch, had a wonder around the town and looked in the shops...I held back though! In the afternoon we went to watch the national Rugby 7's, all the teams from around New Zealand were playing in the national tournament. Auckland won the final on Sunday which Ian went to watch. To be honest I wasn't feeling well at the weekend. We all went out, Ian, myself and the Christmas crew...kind of my birthday night out, but I ended up going back to the hostel as I didn't feel too good. The rest of the room came rolling in at 3am, Lynsey particularly funny, a few too many! Anyway, it didn't matter as I couldn't sleep anyway and I was awake until about 5am as Queenstown is a noisy place! We decided not to stay back in Discovery lodge when we returned. Sunday was a cloudy, rainy day and again I wasn't feeling too well. Ian and I had a looka round the shops and he bought me a volcom hat and a belt for my birthday. We were going to go up the gondola to take the view of Queenstown, but the weather wasn't very good, so we wouldn't have been able to see anything. I had a lay down for a couple of hours while Ian went out to watch the rugby finals. We went for food and then generally chilled in the room with the others, our last night with them.
I got up early, couldn't wait to turn 25!! Went down to info and track as we'd booked a sky dive, 7am and they told us it was too cloudy and to go back at 9am. So, we went back to the hostel and I opened my presents that Ian had brought over from Mum, Dad and Helen and of course I had my hat and my belt. That lasted all of a couple of mins, said 'goodbye' to Emma and Lynsey and went back to sleep for an hour. Woke up at 9am to beautiful sunshine...this time, too windy to skydive. 'Come back at 4:30pm'. So, we decided with the lovely sunny day to go up the gondola. We went up and the views were totally amazing. and the helicptor was doing flights, we got really close to it. We had a look at the views and then we went on the luge. Kind of like go-carts, but without an engine and on a downhill fast track. You had to go up further on a chair lift to get to the top of the track. Wasn't sure how much I was going to like it, but it was quality..Ian always seemed to beat me to the bottom though! After we'd had our racing we went back down into Queenstown, had a bite to eat and then went to play mini golf. Can't believe I played mini golf and went luging on my 25th birthday, should have been my 10th!! We spent the afternoon sitting in a beer garden having a drink, it was so nice! We went back to info and track for the skydive, still too windy....just not meant to be!! We relaxed by the lake for a little while and then went back to get changed and we went out for a thai meal (my favourite) and then for a few drinks. I was really tired though (I'm getting old) so we weren't out late!
Tuesday morning we were up early and on the road again to Dunedin on 'The Bottom bus' to do the far south of the south island. We stopped in a place called 'Cromwell' where a 15min stop turned into me buying a pair of shorts...bargain though! Then we stopped at a lovely ice cream stop and I had orange choc chip ice cream, very nice! We arrived in Dunedin and then visited the steepest street in the world. Didn't look nice, but the climb to the top had to be done! Have to say, I'd hate to live on that street as it was full of tourists like me! It was pretty fun trekking up to the top. Our driver than gave us a little orientation around the city, seemed really nice actually, would have been nice if we could have stayed a little longer but we're a little restricted on time now. We got dropped at our hostel which was really nice, went for a wonder, to the old train station (the most photographed building in NZ). Had a relaxed night as we had a tv!
Wednesday we were up pretty early, heading to Invercargill. It was a really long day as we made heaps of stops along the way. We went to Nugget point, saw a few seals down on the beach and an old light house. We got a little wet as it started to rain so we all clambered back into the bus. After here we drove to Surat Bay where we walked down to a gorgeous beach and saw great big sea lions laying on the beach. We got pretty close, but not too close as they can charge if the get angry. They were pretty amazing. I also found some random sea stuff and you know how much I like my photos, it looked pretty interesting! Not really sure what it was. After stopped for lunch we headed for Curio Bay where we were supposed to see some dolphins, but they weren't out to play. We went on a walk around the bay, I tried out the black and white on my camera. Quite like the photo, although, think the colour one might be better. We walked around onto another beach where we saw a few penguins, one of them was injured and he couldn't waddle anywhere. But apparently if a human helps them and puts them back into the wild, no other penguins will ever go near it again because of the scent. So the park ranger was leaving him for a while. We left there and headed for Invercargill where we spent the evening doing our washing and playing chess ( I bet you never thought travelling could be so fun!...these things have to be done!)
We left Invercargill and went to Riverton. We went to a shell shop and made our own shell necklaces...even Ian made one, I really enjoyed it and the man called me a 'perfectionist'...that's me! I now have 3 extra shell necklaces, 2 handmade by myself! We also went to the supermarket in Riverton, as we were walking in I could see my name above the door, as I walked a little further Ian's name was there too! 'Riverton supermarket, localled owned by Ian and Faye', had to get a photo of that one!! Very amusing, and strange! From Riverton we went for lunch and then onto the Cliden Suspension Bridge, the oldest in New Zealand and then at Lake Manapouri before arriving in Te Anau for the night. We had dinner and went out for a few drinks, caught the lake at sunset, it was stunning!
We left Te Anau this morning for a bit of a disappointing day at Milford sound. The weather was rubbish, just rained and the cloud was really low and misty so we couldn't see very far or get very good photos. It was such a long drive aswell. We stopped at a few places on the way, mountain range from the second Lord of the Rings and Mirror lake. The things that made my day were the dolphins, we were really lucky to get about 20 dolphins around the boat. They were jumping about, but it was very hard to catch them on camera! We also went to an under water observatory which was pretty cool, I got some great picture of the fish and all the coral under the sea.
After the long drive, we arrived back in Queenstown about 7pm. Staying in a different hostel, hopefully I'll manage to get more sleep this time. 6th time lucky on doing a sky dive tomorrow...but maybe it isn't meant to be! Just going to chill, head to Christchurch on Sunday and then to Australia on Weds 24th.

We got up for our glacier hike, spent about 45 minutes walking through the rainforest to and from the glacier and had about 4 hours trekking through the Franz Josef Glacier. It was awesome! We got given all the special clothing and equipment and the talands that strapped to our boots so that we could hold a grip on the ice. We walked for about 2 hours and then stopped to have our picnic on the ice, we got cold bottoms!! The environment was so cool, and we had to go through some pretty small ice allys. We were so lucky with the weather as it rained the day before and the day after in Franz Josef and being on the west coast of New Zealand it tends to rain a lot. The ice was amazing,it was over 150 metres thick. I just can't believe it doesn't all melt, especially on sunny days like the day we went! The photos don't show the expanse of it, it's 15km from front to back.
By the time we came off the ice I was gradually getting in more pain as we'd been stepping up and down on the ice. I think we picked the best trip for me! I really enjoyed it. When we came off the ice, we had a shower and then had a few drinks over happy 2 hours in the bar!

We left Franz Josef and made our way to Wanaka, quite a long drive and Scotty got a bit lost and forgot to stop at one of the places along the way, meaning we missed our lunch stop...nevermind, it's only his first trip bless him! We did stop at Lake Matheson which was beautiful, the picture of the lake is below and we had a rather expensive cup of tea and we had to make half of it ourself!!

We arrived in Wanaka late afternoon, and just generally chilled. Got a tv in our room, so it was an excuse to stay in and not spend money! We also took to eating super noodles, like all travellers must do! Again in Wanaka we put our names down to do a sky dive, but this time the plane is was having it's service, so it's obviously not meant to be! We decided to spend the second day there looking around the lake...as that's what's there! So we went on a 4 hour walk...gee I am getting fit! The weather was good apart from the 5 minute rain shower. After our walk we had a nice cold drink, went to the supermarket (again!) and then had tea and sat out on the bench in the evening sun. Had another chilled night watching more movies!
We left Wanaka this morning and made our way to Queenstown, stopped at puzzle world on the way, that was pretty cool and at a small place called Arrowtown. We also watched several people lauch themself off a bridge at the original bungy site, I chose not to do it again!! We arrived in Queenstown a couple of hours ago, met up with the girls that I spent Christmas and New Year which is cool, hopefully spend a day or so with them before they move on again. Queenstown already seems pretty cool from what I've seen, can already see my bank account decreasing quite heavily!! Queenstown for my birthday, update to come soon!

Well folks, I returned to Auckland after my trip to the Bay of Islands. Stayed in and watched Firewall on Friday night, good film if you haven't seen it! Saturday I dragged Mike around a market, he loved it...and then we went to a beach party in Mission Bay. Would have been really good with a load of people and cool boxes full of booze like everyone else had, but Mike and I weren't quite prepared! We returned from there and we went out to the Viaduct, the harbour area in Auckland.Met Kiri out, a few of her friends and Mikes as well. One of Mike's mates was on a work do and dressed as Rambo, which was fairly amusing. Had a really good night, Kiri MADE me drink lots...Simon will vouch for me on that one!! Sunday we struggled, but managed to get up and head to Mike's friend Donna's house for a BBQ. It tipped it down, so we left the garage and headed back to Mikes. Just relaxed and watched another film!....not so good though!
From Auckland I headed up to Mercury Bay, a small town called Whitianga, stopping at Thames and Cathedral Cove on the way. We had a nice walk down to Cathedral Cove...but then we had to walk back up again!! We arrived in Whitianga, very little to do there, so we had tea and a drink and then got an early night ready for our 7:30am set off. We set off for Rotorua, stopping in a couple of small places on the way. When we arrived in Rotorua we had a free tour around the Maori village place, and learnt a bit about the Maori culture...before the New Zealanders. We then went to the hostel, the worst so far I reckon...a little bit seedy. I spent the afternoon with a couple of gilrs at the thermal baths, it was cool, pouring with rain sitting in hot pools of sulphur. I had a blonde moment and after being told to take off all silver left on my silver bracelet...it looked like an antique after going in the pools. But, I admitted to the guy that I was stupid and he dipped it for me...don't worry Helen, it's all good now! I then spent the evening at a Maori night where they show off their culture, put on a show and then you have a meal. It was really cool, and I managed to have vegetables and pavelova, which was awesome!! Yesterday I had a little lay in, much needed after a couple of 7am starts. I had a look around Rotorua and went to the Rotorua museum. I've been overloaded with information on the Maori culture and know everything there is to know now. I have even learnt about all the fault lines around here, as I've spent 2 days in a volcanicly active town. On the way out of Rotorua we visited the biggest thermal activity park, it was cool, loads of geysers and mud pools, I saw kiwi birds too...but they were asleep.
I arrived in Waitamo about 2pm and we went to the hostel and then went for a little wonder in the bush. Walked through a few caves. Only a short walk, but it was cool. Since, just been chiling in the hostel, having tea and drinking some beer..now I'm blogging! Tomorrow I'm going black water rafting...actually caving through dark caves in wetsuits and rubber rings, it should be cool....I'll let you know how it goes...
Well, I got up early and headed for the caves, another great experience. We put on wet suits and white welly boots, all freezing cold...and our hard hats with head torches. We went off to the caves, first they threw us backwards into a river outside to get us used to the water. We then went down into the caves, some tight squeezes lots of water. It was quite scary really. We had with us our black rubber rings so at times we could float, like a lazy river...but it was only a lazy river after jumping backwards down a waterfall in the dark, I was pretty scared...but it was also very exciting. On the top of the caves you could see all the glow worms, it was quite facinating. We laid down, switched our lights off and looked up and they led our way out of the caves. We got dunked by the guides if we put our light on! The guides were super though, really helpful. My hands and feet were freezing, but I got there! It was really cool, another experience that I've done. It's a real shame I have no photos, but it was pretty wet down there! But, you can see me in my wetsuit! Just hanging around Waitamo today and heading onto Taupo tomorrow for the weekend and for Christmas. i spent a couple of days chatting to a couple and they very kindly bought me a Christmas present as they didn't like the thought of me spending Christmas on my own with nothing to open, so that was really kind...thanks Roseann and Paul. Bye for now....Merry Christmas and a Happy new year everyone, going to really miss the pub on Christmas Eve and my Mum's superb Christmas dinner. Lots of love xxxx

So, I arrived in Auckland after a very uncomfortable plane journey, and Mike was there waiting for me...which was great! He'd got up at 4am especially for me! Anyway, went back to his house and then I had a shower while he went back to bed as he had to go to school. I went into the city, had a little look around and bought myself a lonely planet...time to go it alone now! I cooked for Mike and then we went out, I had 2 drinks and then realised that I couldn't actually keep my eyes open, the jet lag kicked in, so I had to leave and go to bed.
Saturday we slept in and then went into town, met Kiri Wilson (from home), had some lunch and I booked my kiwi experience. Saturday Mike was hungover and I was still tired so we stayed in with his flat mates and watched a film...well they did and I fell asleep! Sunday was a day at the beach, followed by ice cream, Mike and his mate surfed while I got caked in black sand!
Monday I went into town, tried hard not to buy any clothes and then got on a ferry to Devonport. I walked around for a few hours, up North Head and Mt Victoria, took some amazing photos of the Auckland sky line. The view of the beach is where I ate my lunch, it was so amazing. I then walked along the beautiful beach.I walked miles and was half dead when I got back to Mikes. We then got in the car and went to Snow Planet snowboarding. I was a bit apprehensive as haven't been since I hurt myself in Italy, but I did really well..so pleased. I didn't fall once, apart from on the way up on the button lift and I have a lovely token bruise from that! All weekend, Mike and I managed to work our way through fast food chains and fish n chips!
Tuesday I was up early to catch my bus to the Bay of Island. It left at 7am and I arrived up here by midday. I went for lunch and then managed to fall asleep for a couple of hours, I then went to the beach. To add to all the rubbish I've eaten from the weekend, I had BBQ at the hostel. The hostel I'm at is called the PipiPatch, it's pretty nice. Today i was up and I went on the exciter jet boat, but to be honest it really wasn't that exciting! We cruised around the islands and it was cold! Wind was blowing. The guy suggested I pay an extra $10 to get dropped off at an island...so that's what I did. The weather wasn't great and I was on this island, did the walk and had some food, read my book and got thoroughly bored! I had to stay for 4 hours as there wasn't many ferries...thankfully they allowed me onto the ferry an hour earlier, I was really glad to be back. I went to the supermarket and had to put some stuff back as I realised I didn't have enough money..can't believe it! Just going to chill tonight, going kayaking tomorrow, chill day on Friday before heading back to Auckland in the evening. Hopefully I'll have a night out at the weekend as I feel pretty sad as I haven't been out for ages....what's all that about!! I went kayaking, we rowed quite a long way around the islands and across to Russell where the first New Zealnad pub was born! I got back and spent the afternoon with really sore arms, they really hurt, I'd obviously worked hard! I spean the afternoon at the beach, the sun decided to come out. I then made my pasta and spent the evening in the bar, there's a girl in my room who it seems will be pretty much travelling along side me as she's just started too and is on the same tour as me, she seems really nice so that's good. Just hanging around now waiting for my bus back to Auckland.