AUCKLAND TO TAUPO

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First leg out of Auckland was to go eastish to Mercury Bay, then on to Rotorua, which is the cultural centre of New Zealand. Here we dominated the white water sledging and experienced a night at a Maori village, where Ben was elected as Chief and has been living there ever since. The criteria for selection of Chief involved being short, so Casp and John had no chance. Travelled down to Taupo via Waitomo, where we went Black-Water sledging.

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Photos

All Blacks v Ireland (1st Test)
Lucky enough to get tickets for the 1st Test in Hamilton. Awesome to see the Haka live and all for only 15 quid.

Skydiving in Taupo
Ben and Caspar threw themselves out of a perfectly good aeroplane, but much to John's disappointment, the parachutes opened. JT wasn't able to do it as he has been comfort eating since leaving BE and was 3kg over the 95kg weight limit.

Skydiving in Taupo 2
Maverick and Goose take to the sky.

White Water Sledging- Rotorua
Caspar's first real wash of the tour fills him with excitement!!!

White Water Sledging- Rotorua
Ben manages to swallow half of the river!!

White Water Sledging- Rotorua
Don't look down!!!!

White Water Sledging- Rotorua
Sledge it!!!

White Water Sledging- Rotorua
John panics after realising that his stabilisers had fallen off!!!