Awesome....

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Arrived in the Coromandel Peninsular with Magic Bus on Friday. Fantastic YHA hostel in Whitianga (pronounced Fitianga) aptly named "'On the Beach"' and my bunk has fantastic sweeping views of Buffalo Beach through massive bay windows. On the way here we did a 40 minute walk to Cathedral Cove which consists of two lovely bays separated by a large rock archway. Also went to Hot Water beach where, at low tide, you can dig your own thermal pool in the sands and soak in hot water. We got there just before low tide, but nevertheless crossed the beach armed with our spades! The tide wasn't low enough to successfully dig our own pool, however even just by sinking your feet deep into the sand you could feel the hot water below, often too hot to leave your feet in without scorching them - weird! Then moved on to the Bone Carving Studio, where you can to create your own jewellery from scratch. You choose a design, trace it onto a flat, rectangular piece of bone and then begin to carve your piece using a variety of different dentist type drills. Actually quite a difficult task and on several occasions I almost lost control of the drill, but thankfully didn't make any major mistakes. You then round off the edges using another type of electrical sander and continue the sanding process by hand using various different sand papers. The final stage is to buff the stone with soft towels and hey presto, almost two and a half hours later you have the finished article. Not quite like the professional, symmetrical one in the showcase cabinet, but all my own work!

The next morning I hire a bike for the day and set off on a 15km trip along the coast. Head up to Shakespeares lookout for great views across to Whitianga in one direction and Lonely Bay/Cooks Beach in the other. Then cycle on to Hahei Beach which is a lovely stretch of fine white sand. The route takes me mainly along the coast and have to keep reminding myself to keep my eyes on the road. The sun is beating down and as I haven't been on a bike for a couple of years I'm grateful for the downhill stretches, forgetting that it means I'm going to have to cycle up them on the way back! It's a nice, sunny day unlike yesterday which was quite overcast so decide to head back to Cathedral Cove. I was obviously so busy looking out of the bus window at the sea yesterday that I didn't register the enormous hill up to the car park that gives you access to the Cathedral Cove path. I manage to cycle about a third of the way up but then have to admit defeat and push the bike up the rest of the way! The cove is even more beautiful in the glorious sunshine and I rest my weary legs and eat lunch perched on a rock catching some rays. Some stages of the cycle back are really hard work, one - due to the really strong wind which has picked up throughout the day and is head on, two - having to go uphill on the return journey and three - the saddle is not the comfiest and so my butt hurts!! Well worth it though, great day.

Leave the bike behind on Sunday and set off on foot for a relaxing couple of hours on the beach at Lonely Bay.

Head back to Auckland on Monday and meet Jenn at the YHA who arrived in the morning from the UK. Spend the day catching up on the last six weeks, eating lunch in the sunshine at the Viaduct Harbour with the obligatory pint of beer. After a tiring weekend of travel Jenn has passed out by about 6pm! We spend Tuesday in Auckland, deciding what to do/making arrangements for our next three weeks of travel together. Before leaving England the plan had been to rent a camper van or car, however it proves to be far more expensive than we had anticipated. I've enjoyed my last couple of Magic Bus trips so we end up buying a North and South travel pass which is half the price of vehicle rental, leaving us loads more money for the mad activities we have in mind!

Set off on the Magic Bus on Wednesday, first stop Waitomo Caves. Jenn opts for exciting stuff straight away and does a three hour abseil, whereas I go for the leisurely tour of the glow worm caves. Amazing caves with the final cave's roof being lit up by thousands of glow worms (either that or they bought a job lot of green fairy lights and stuck them up there!). Arrive in Rotorua early evening, dump our bags at the YHA and then head out to the Tamaki Village for a traditional Maori hangi. We are welcomed by the Maori tribe who put on a welcoming ceremony in the forest and then take us through their village showing us what would have been typical activities in the past. This is followed by a show of songs, dances and the well known huka with Maori males pulling strangely scary faces, sticking their tongues out and making fearsome noises - you definitely wouldn't want to mess with them! The hangi meal is where the food has been buried with rocks and the heat underground from the thermals then slowly cooks the food. The result is a fantastic meal, buffet style which needless to say I make the most of and end up completely stuffed!

Thursday 9th March - the most AWESOME day of my trip so far, can't see how this can be beaten. Go to Wai O Tapu thermal reserve to look at the mud/thermal pools which go hand in hand with some nice eggy sulphur smells! Then go on the Huka Jet which is a super speedy jet boat which skims past rocks, bushes and logs just narrowly avoiding hitting them and then does numerous 360 degree spins. Approach the impressive Huka Falls which has such a force of water it could fill an Olympic size swimming pool every 5 seconds - that's a lot of water! We had actually booked to go skydiving which coinicided with the Huka Jet, but due to dodgy weather it didn't look like the skydive would go ahead and so we were advised to do the jet boating instead. Were therefore gutted to find that some of the others (who hadn't double booked) had been allowed to jump after all and so we were disappointed to think we had missed our chance. Went to the Taupo bungy site and watched a couple of people fling themselves off the ledge. Have to admit that in spite of always stating no way ever would I do it, it did actually look quite cool, but still no plans to try it as yet! Our driver then said that he'd take us to the airstrip to see if we could still do a jump, but the wind had picked up so I had pretty much convinced myself that there was no way it would happen. Was therefore ecstatic when we got there and they agreed that we could go up at 4.30. Got suited up, watched a 5 minute video on what to do and away we went. Six of us in a tiny plane, plus the instructors we would be attached to and a couple of cameramen who would also jump out to film us. It took 15 minutes to get to 12,000 feet, but the views and my instructors constant chatter meant there was no time to be nervous. Suddenly out Jenn goes and then it's my turn. Kneeling on the floor, at the doorway of the plane. One, two, three, smile for the camera and away we go, head over heels tumbling out into the sky! Oh my god, it's amazing, 5,000 feet or so of horizontal freefall, then the chord gets pulled and you're yanked upright by the parachute. As the descent slows it suddenly becomes very quiet and you get to really admire the scenery which is truly amazing. The evening sun is getting lower in the sky, Lake Taupo glistens below you surrounded by volcanoes and mountainous terrain. It's an unbelievable feeling and such a fantastic one and yet I can't come up with the right words to describe it and do it justice. My instructor Adrian, gives me the loops to control the chute and shows me how to makes us swoop to the left and right. He then takes them back and does a couple of acrobatic type manouveres which take your breath away - wicked! The descent lasts about 5 minutes and then the landing spot is in site and Adrian expertly controls us towards it and suddenly the ground is coming towards you much more quickly. The landing is a smooth one and we land on our feet. Jenn lands just after me and both of us meet with humungous grins on our faces. The feeling of elation is so tremendous and I admit to being so happy I could cry, Jenn agrees and we both end up welling up, although they didn't quite spill over! I'm smiling again just thinking about it and typing this! The best adrenalin rush ever, truly, truly amazing. If you ever get the chance to do it, don't think about it, just do it, there's no way you would regret it. Did I mention how fantastic it was???? Get back to the hangar and watch the dvd which was filmed - it's excellent and well worth the extra money. In fact the whole package of jump, dvd and photos only cost the same as just the jump anywhere else in New Zealand so Taupo is definitely the place to do it. We head to the Irish Bar to meet the rest of the Magic Bus guys and celebrate our jump with a beer or two (or was it three or four?!) make it back to the YHA at 2.30am still talking about the jump and still grinning. Skydiving is the best thing I've ever done and really can't see what would top this, but we'll keep trying anyway........AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!

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