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12.01.08
We were all on the coach by 7.30am feeling awful but looking forward to heading to Mercury Bay. The bus journey consisted mainly of sleeping so before we knew it we were at Cathedral Cove. We had a 45min walk down to the beach but we were greeted by some amazing scenery. The beach was great and the cliff faces and caves were amazing. Such a beautiful place to spend a few ours chilling out. Alan and I swam to one cave where i have to admit we spent a few minutes floating outside the cave entrance wondering if it was safe to go in as it was pitch black and we didnt know what to expect. Im glad we bit the bullet because we found a small sandy beach inside the cave but we didnt stay long since we didnt know about the tides and we didnt fancy drowning. We got to Whitanga by 6pm and one of the blokes in my room was from Southsea, Portsmouth. Alan and I decided to have a quiet one so we went to the cinema to watch Hitman and were in bed by 11pm. I did get woken up by a
young English lad swearing in his sleep but the thing was was that he was sat up facing me while doing it. It took me a few seconds in my sleepy state to realise what the hell was going on. Very strange!
13.01.08
We were on the bus at 8.30am (see this travelling is hard work with all these early rises!) to go to Totorua and we stoppd off at this bush-clad gorge and swing bridges walk trail. This trail gave people a few options. One was the easy 15min walk and the other was a longer walk which was suppose to take about 45mins. Alan and I feeling adventures decided to go for the longer one while everyone else headed straight for the shorter trail. Alan and I along the way found this log in the middle of the river and we both agreed that we should try to get across to it to take some photos. We got a bit carried away and we lost track of time but not only that but my watch had stopped which i didnt find out about till a bit later on. We got told that we might need a
torch for a few of the tunnels but cutting a long story short we took a wrong turning somewhere and ended up in the stupidly long pitch black tunnel. It was ok though as i had my 10cm torch that turned out to have dead batteries...great! We were hoping that when we resurfaced to sun light at the other end that the bus would be there waiting but that was far from the truth. We were slightly lost. We both agreed that we were definately late already for the bus so we started to run back in the direction we thought the bus would be. We eventually saw it in the distance parked up and i ran my poor little legs to death leaving Alan behind with his bad leg to stop the bus from leaving. Everyone on the bus took great pleasure on taking the piss out of us for getting lost but it was fun. We arrived at Rotorua by 3pm and stayed at a place called Hot Rock. Alan and I ended up having a 4 person dorm to ourselves with our own en-suit...very romantic!ha There was an awesome lake close by so i decided to go
for a run to soak up the surroundings. I dont know why it is but when your running everyone you pass says hello to you and thats the same with back home. The lake was beatiful but there was a constant eggy smell which made deep breathing while running not as enjoyably as it normaly is! Not that breating is enjoyable but you know what i mean. I came back to fid the others relaxing by the pool so i joined them in doing so till later on in the afternoon when we had to get ready for the Maori Hangi Tour we had all paid for. Basically this was a tour /show of how the Maori people live. You do have to do some educational stuff every now and then. We got welcomed by a bunch of warriors doing their tribal dance and then got shown through a local village. We had a music and dance show after that and then it was the major event...buffet dinner and that was great. It was a really good night and i would recommend it to anyone. We were back at 10pm having a few beers at the bar and taking plenty
of photos with everyone sticking out their tongues. I bet everyone doea that after that evening!
14.01.08
I was peacefully sleeping when i heard Alans voice talking away to someone. I woke up to find some strange lad standing on one of our spare beds going for a wee! He was obviously very drunk and we spent the early hours of the morning changing room. Alan was pissed off but i couldnt help but laugh. We had a spare day in Rotorua so we were able to sleep in which was awesome. We done some laundry and then went for a walk round the lake and then through town. When we got back to our room we found three girls from Israel who had just moved in. We spent most of the night just sat in our room laughing and talking with them listening to music.
15.01.08
The bus this morning was at 6.30am and it was taking us to Waitomo Caves where we could do some caving. A few of us got dropped off at a the Te Puia Geothermal Reserve for a few hours. That was really good seeing all the steam bursting out
from the ground and watching the mud bubbling as if it was in a giant pot on the stove. Was again it was very educational. We also done a group Maori war dance and i must say...we all looked really stupid doing it. We wouldnt of scared a pigeon! When we got to Waitomo Caves it was only Alan a I who opted for the 5 hour caving trip. All the others decided to go for the 2 hour trip. We got suited up in our thick wet suites (which made me realise it was going to be bloody cold!) and safety gear and before we knew it we were standing over a metal platform hovering above a pitch black hole. We did get a few absailing lessons before arriving so feeling like a pro we took it in turns of absailing down into the hole and absailing down to the cave floor with only the light from our helmets lighting the way. That was an awesome start! We walked through the caves and got to a point where it came to a dead end. That was the point where we jumped 4-5m with tyres around our bums into the
freezing cold water. That was also great fun though. We all just gently drifted through the dark caves with our lights turned off allowing the glowworms to work their magic. They looked like stars in the night sky. It was a great experience and it even made me forget that i couldnt feel my hands they were that cold! We got the chance to climb up a waterfall as well which was refreshing to say the least. Alan and I were back by 7pm after an amazing day. We even saw some eels in the cave and i never thought i would love being in tight spaces so much as that has always been one of my fears. The idea of doing pot holing gives me the creeps but at some points today we were sliding along ours bellies with our backs still touching the jagged rocks on top it was that tight and i enjoyed every second of it. Come night time we played drinking games in the bar and i ended up wearing a wig for the majority of the night. We also got to know the other people from the bus alot more and Alan and I
both really got on well with these four Swedish girls called, Stina, Joesfin, Sara, Mia. Alan and I retired back to our private challet...we must have looked gay but the only reason why we got this challet was because they had run out of dorm beds and they gave it to us for the same price. We were late checking in due to the caving.
16.01.08
Luckily the bus was a lat one and didnt leave till 10am. We had a short walk around some caves and then headed to Taupo watching Alans sky diving dvd along the way. We also stopped off at a stop as one girl on our bus done a bunge jump so everyone had the pleasure of watching her do so. That bunge was 47m and looked really high then i realised the one i had planned on doing was three times that hight. The fear of the bunge jump really hit home then! When we arrived in Taupo we all went for a Mexican diner. The restaurant had nut shells all over the floor and it wasnt long till the two tables of people from our bus made use of the free
nuts on the tables and started a war with each other. It felt like mainly me against the Swedish lads but it was awesome fun. We ended up at the base bar and i ended up leaving early at 1am getting alot of stick doing so but i had planned to do the one day treck there in the morning and we were getting picked up at 5.30am.
17.01.08
I made it on the bus feeling knackered only accompanied by two other girls from the Kiwi Experience. A German and a girl from Ireland. Was really looking forward to the walk though as its in the top five one day walks in the world. The Tongario Crossing. It took a couple of hours to get there but once we started the walk it became obvious that the walk wasnt going to be a stroll in the park. It starts off all up hill and lasts for atleast an hour at quite a steep gradiant. Only about 20mins into it i found myself carrying the Irish girls bag as well as mine as she was struggling. The scenery was amazing though and i know i have saifçd this so
many times already about NZ but this truely was. It didnt feel like you were on planet earth. It felt more like Mars with all the volcanic surroundings. By the time we got to the top it was to late for me to take on the challenge of climbing up "Mount Doom" from Lord Of The Rings but to be fair i would of done it by myself and i didnt have the right equiptment and no phone just in case anything went wrong. I didnt see anyone else do it either. Walking along the top of the mountains was breath taking. Every now and then you would come accross a lake that would make a bright blue sky seem dull! When it came to coming down the mountain things turned very interesting. I was half way down when i heard a scream and when i looked up i could see that the irish girl sat down crying with the German girl standing above her. I had to throw the bags down and run back up the mountian. Since we were on volcanic ground each time you put your foot down you slide about 10 inches going down hill and
the Irish girl done so but slipped and thought she was going to slide of the side of the cliff face. I have never seen anyone panic so much in my life. She wanted me to call the helicopter she was that scared. Basically it took the German girl and I an hour and a half to walk her down with her standing on my foot with each step so she wouldnt slide. There was plenty of tears and screams along the way but we got down in the end. One lovley lady grabbed my bags and waited for us at the bottom with them. Fair to say that the last part on done on my own but i had to rush to make sure the bus wouldnt leave without us. I ran the rest of the way taking in the scenery as i went and it was awesome. I ended up getting to the end an hour early but i really enjoyed the 8 hour walk. The girls arrived an hour and a half after me but i did feel sorry for the irish girl though as she felt so embarrased and wouldnt stop saying sorry to me. We
were back at the hotel by 6pm and thats when i found out from everyone else that a Scotish girl that worked in a bar we were at last night got brutally killed on her way back home. That did send shivers up everyones spine. We all ended up at base having a few drinks but i was so tired i was back in bed by midnight. It had been a long day with very high ups and downs.
18.01.08
We were on the bus at 8.30am and our next destination was River Valley where we could do grade 5 white water rafting. I had always wanted to do this so badly so excitement wasnt the word! But before getting there we had a 2 hour walk to do and it was in the same area as the Tongario Crossing so it was mainly for the people who didnt do the one day walk (just about everyone!). We passed an awesome waterfall which myself and a few others took the opportunity to cool down and get wet. It was a quite long bus journey after that and we didnt get to the lodge till 6pm. But in NZ
you dont mind as looking out of the window is a pleasure in itself. At the lodge there were two room consisting of 16 beds and the beds were just matressses layed down nest to each other. 8 on the bottom and 8 above. Very cosey!ha Some how Alan, the two Swedish lads and myself ended up with 12 grils. Its a tough life!ha Wer had a roast dinner ast 7pm and after that were some serious hard core drinking games that got everyone slightly tipsy! Let me just say that it was a very fun and strange night.
19.01.08
I had the pleasure of waking up next to one of the Swedish girls Josefin who actually got put in for Miss Sweden and let me just say, a natural beauty! Nothing happend between us just some friendy spooning which is very common with backpackers. Spooning is one of the few words in the world that everyone knows no matter what country they are from. Its hilarious but true! By 7.30am we were getting suited up for some hardcore rafting and we were all buzzing with excitement! The white water rafting wasnt a let down as it really
does give you some thrills and the water was quite shallow so we were diving from one side of the raft to the other trying to spread the wait so we wouldnt get stuck. Good fun! Alan and i were sat opposite each other but spent most of the time on each others lap!ha Not long after arriving back it was time to leave and by the time we had a warm shower we were the last ones. Walking up the long dirt track the van that took the luggage had dropped about 5 bags so i ended up carrying about 3 heavy bags up the hill in the blazing sun back up to the bus. By the time i got to the top i needed another shower!ha Our next stop was Wellington. The last stop before going to the south island but it was there where i was going to have to say goodbye to my good friend Alan. We spent the night playing a table football tournament in teams representing our countries. That brought some good laughs. That was followed by dancing away in the Establishment and being that there was so many of us there it was
a great night.
20.01.08
We had a free day today to do what we want in Wellington so the first thing on the agenda was a sleep in! We were up by midday and Alan and I walked slowly (both suffering with a hangover) to the free Te Papa museum. It was a really impressive museum but the both of us wanted to be out in the fresh air so we only stayed for an hour. The weather was like a hot English summers day and we stumbled accross an Irish band playing for a crowd on the grass near the sea front. We sat down and enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere for a few hours. Everyone there just seemed so happy and every now and then someone stepped into the middle circle and tried to perform some irish dancing, including little kids which was hilarious. We went for a long walk through the city and finally got back around 5pm. We found our Swedish girls and a few others from the bus sat outside on the patio of our hostel. We joined them and had a group spooning for Alan who had to leave at 7pm. I walked
Alan to a taxi and had to say goodbye to another awesome friend i had made. 14 of us went out for dinner that night but without Joesfin as she wasnt well. After that i went to the internet cafe to speak to family back home. There i met a Canadian girl and my plan of an early night ended not being one as we ended up talking for hours. Didnt get to bed till 2am! Not good as i needed sleep!ha
The next day we were heading to the South Island and everyone says that its better than the north. If thats the case then I knew that the great times were going to keep rolling in. But i knew that the bunge jump was just round the corner and i cant express how scared i was of that!ha Bring it on though baby! You only live once!ha
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