DJ's last entry - better late...?

---

Note from Ian - no need to read this one - I've only just got round to adding it for completion's sake (if that's a word/phrase

30/12/08:
Ok, for once, or maybe the second time, I'm actually writing this blog on the day I'm on! Now, once again I'm writing once again to say that we are doing a yesterday as well! Ok, here we go. (Yesterday)This first bit is only tiny compared to what I'm about to write, which covers the whole day. First, we played a cricket match, which was cool, and by the time the match ended, the ball was in 3 pieces. Now the BIG one. At 8:30 pm we went to an enclosure called The Sanctuary. It is a place where there are no predators. Mostly it is made up of birds. The whole point of it is to restore a bit of New Zealand to what it used to be ages ago, when there were no mammals and lots of wingless birds. It is a habitat where the birds can freely come in or fly out. One of the best things about it is that it has roughly 100 kiwi living there. I know that doesn't sound much, or what I'm about to say but thats like one out of 20 or 30 of the whole population in the world! They only live in New Zealand. Now. First, we walked up to a big gate which represented the boudary fence. The fence was cleverly made so that no jumping predators, burrowing animals, or small rodants could get through. Then we walked along a path until we came to some animal explanations. They were posts which had the sound of a male Small Spotted Kiwi and a female Small Spotted Kiwi. We then listened for bird noises, and there were quite a lot. There was the Morepork, which was originally called the Ruru by the Maori, but then europeans came along and thought it sounded hungry, so they called it the Morepork. Then there was a New Zealand Kingfisher, which was heard on the other side of the river. After that, we saw some.......I can't remember what they're called, but they're the 4th rarest duck in the world! They were pretty small...but after that, we saw some kaka, cousins of the kea. They used these special food-holders. Then we went across a dam, and heard some morepork. It was getting dark, and glow worms were lighting the path. We heard a rustling......and saw a Kiwi! It was a small one, about the size of a kitten. I saw it about 3 times, but Mum, Dad and Mark only saw parts of it. It was cute, with a long orange beak. It was an awesome little thing. After that though, we didn't see much. That, I'm afraid, probably sums up the day...but seeing the Kiwi was brilliant. Sorry, the only thing I can say that I did today was driving to Lake Tekapo, and then we went into a swimming pool. Short. Bye!

My Travel Diary 5

2/1/09:
Well, I am doing today and yesterday, but I am also briefly saying about New Year's Eve. Ok, briefly I shall tell you about 31st. We went to this cool holiday park with a spa place with funny-looking water and a cool waterslide. Yesterday: We went onto a Luge which was really big and had 2 chairlifts. It was fun and the grip on the handle was hard. Ok, I am doing only brief ones because I can't really describe it. Anyway, today we arrived in Auckland. Actually, I am currently writing from our hotel room. We have a good view of the Sky Tower...It's right outside our window...we went up it to the top floor and it was quite high. It's the 14th highest building in the world, standing at 328m high! Quite high. That is all from me today...I am now officialy saying...Bye.

Cook Islands:
I am doing a whole one on Cook Islands! So, when it is published, it won't be finished because I haven't left yet. So, I have done Kayaking, which I have traveled to 3 islands. I'm actually quite good at it. We also play a card game called Pontoon. It's pretty fun, and I never actually get a Pontoon. If you want to know how to play it, look on the internet or something. We have also been playing Cricket and French Cricket. In the case of Restaurants, I admit I have mostly had Pizza...Not very exotic. Also, volleyball, football, what-have-you sports that me and Mark are playing. When we got to the Airport, guess what? They have a garden as a departure lounge, and only 1 gate! Our flight was a bit late, so we had to leave at 2o' clock in the morning. Then, to L.A!

Los Angeles:
We didn't do much to be honest...we had dinner at the restaurants there, in the morning we went to Santa Monica beach I think and went ona few rides on the pier and played Volleyball. Then we went on the bus to the airport and went home...that was pretty quick for the end of the holiday! Da nah! Did you like it?

---