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Published: November 27th 2006
kia ora!
we finally managed to get on our boat trip in the bay of islands on our 4th try cause of the rubbish weather, but once we were on it it was worth the wait! we saw loads of lovely dolphins and went out to the famous 'hole in the rock' which is basically a hole in the rock at the end of the peninsula that you can sail through, which has been caused by water erosion. from Paihai we travelled further north where we saw lovely beaches and the massively impressive Kauri trees (they are really tall and wide!).
we stopped in Kerikeri for a few days where we finally got round to doing some work - pruning trees in a kiwi orchard!! this however proved to be long and hard days (8-5) and incredibly boring. so we only last 2 days! but we'll get back to the orchards when it becomes fruit picking seasons.
we're now in Rotorua which is south of Auckland. on our way down we stopped at Goat Island Marine Reserve where we swam in the sea (I managed about 30 seconds before it became too cold, whereas Jack put up with
it a lot longer and went snorkelling while i lay on the beach and got burnt!). we then went down to Waitomo Caves where we went black water rafting. this is basically where you are in a cave and go down the river on rubber rings! in the caves there were loads of glow worms which were really pretty in the dark (and really ugly in the light). the rafting was really good, we had to jump off waterfalls backwards though, that was scary!! Jack somehow found this a bit difficult and managed not to hold onto his ring as he jumped and came apart from it, very amusing to watch him trying to get back into it!
Rotorua is a town full of geysers, and is basically built in a volcano, so the area can get pretty smelly (its nicknamed Fartopolis)! so far we have been to the musuem, had a mauri experience (we spent the evening in a mauri village, getting shown the traditional welcome, activites, and eating food cooking in a Hangi (underground oven heated with hot stones).) today we went to a sheep show where we saw loads of different types of sheep, sheep shearing,
sheep dog shows, learnt the history of sheep shearing and wool weaving! (i don't think i'm going to become a sheep farmer...looks like you need to be really big and strong!).
later on today we're going to the Polynesian Spa's, which are 30 hot mineral pools at different temperatures. i'm enjoying the volcanic activity in this area as it means i get to lie in hot pools without needing an excuse as it's all part of the local culture and natural healing process!
the van is still runnig (...just) and has even been slightly fixed. we bought a tape player (could be the 1st one ever made) as it doesn't rewind or fast forward tapes, but it works! we tried to get our leak repaired (the van pee's on the passenger's feet) and we thought it had been fixed...but no, its still gets your feet wet! so to combat the problem we've simply taped up the hole thats on the front of the van! that might work...
from here we're thinking of heading down to lake Taupo and possibly skydiving, and then heading up to see more relatives and maybe staying in Gisborne for a bit.
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anonymous
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i am so jealous! sounds amazing, especially the sheep bit! deffinately what i'm doing come graduation! xx