Goodbye NZ!

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Our last day in NZ today 😞 Sad to be leaving (even though it's chucking it down with rain!) but very excited for Fiji tomorrow! So, since the last blog entry we've been pretty busy again! Did the Waitomo glow worm caves last week which were amazing - Rich did tubing in the caves on a rubber ring through the tunnels, etc. whilst I opted for the much more hardcore option of a walk and a boat ride :P With the bad weather the next day we decided to have a more relaxed day and went to the cinema in Manakau (where they have a Westfields centre!), and then it was time to drive further up north to Whangarei to visit Rich's other Uncle and Aunt. They have a very swanky place (with a pool, cinema room, BAR, tennis court....!) so we've been making the most of it for the last week!

Just an hour north of their house is the Bay of Islands where we did a dolphin watching boat trip and luckily saw a whole load of dolphins - they were swimming right up next to the boat which was amazing to see; and the 2 baby dolphins were pretty funny to watch as they kept belly-flopping rather than jumping! Never seen them so close up so that was a really good trip 😊 The boat also took us up to the Hole in the Rock, which is literally a massive hole in an outcrop of rock! The boat drove through it which didn't leave a lot of space either side and apparently a helicopter has flown through it before with 3ft either side of the blades....a bit too close for comfort!

We've also been lucky enough to drive around in Graham's X5 which Rich is pretty happy about! It even has seat warmers which has been a blessing the few days we've come off trips freezing! After a day of visiting local bays on Monday we then did an 11hr day trip yesterday; which took us from Paihia right up to the 90 mile beach, Cape Reinga and back again. The 90 mile beach was really good and the coach drove along it as it's completely unspoilt and totally remote. We then stopped to do the main activity of the day.....dune boarding! This is basically lying on a small surf board on the sand dunes and sliding down....a lot faster than I expected!! Walking up the dunes was pretty knackering each time, and your feet acted as your brakes as you were sliding down! We saw a couple of people not brake in time and land straight in the river below, and one poor girl face-plant into it! Really good fun though 😊 Cape Reinga is right at the far north of NZ and is where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean - you can normally see where the waves roll over each from different directions but unfornately it wasn't very clear yesterday so we kind of had to pretend we'd seen where it was! Anyway, after an 11hr trip we slept very well last night and are having a final day here sorting things out. Getting ready for some fiji time wooo!! xxxx

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