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Published: August 14th 2007
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The Auckland Sky Jump.............
Ben dangling in front of the observation deck! Leaving Rotorua and the beautiful smell of rotten eggs, we made the short journey up to Auckland - "The City of Sails". It was a bit of a shock to the system to be back in the hustle and bustle of city life so with 16 days left before flying to Fiji we decided to rent ourselves a car and head to the Bay of Islands, Cape Reinga and the Coromandel Peninsula. With one day to spare before picking up the car we took advantage of a free Auckland day trip to see some of the sights. Our first stop on the sightseeing tour was the Auckland Sky Tower, the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere. Naturally the Kiwi's, with their love for extreme sports, decided to invent a way of throwing yourself off of the tower from 192m... The Sky Jump! With our money running out jumping wasn't an option, so you can imagine Ben's delight when he won a free jump by answering a random question about Maori culture. He was whisked up to the jumping platform and kitted out in a trendy space suit before jumping, only to be stopped after 10 metres to be dangled in front
of the observation deck. The remainder of the descent was controlled but he still managed to reach speeds of 90kmh before reaching the landing platform... a big red target on the ground. Our free sightseeing tour also included a walk across the Harbour Bridge and a trip up to the top of Mt Eden, one of 52 volcanoes in and around the city. We finished the day off by taking a free trip up to the Sky Tower's observation deck to watch the sunset. It was a bit cloudy but still a great view!
After our whirlwind tour of the city it was time to pick up our car and head north. Our trusty friend Ian drove us to Whangarei and then onto The Bay of Islands where we stopped in the small beach town of Paihia. We spent a couple of days relaxing and even managed to see a bit of sun! We continued our journey north stopping at KeriKeri and at Kaitaia, the gateway to the very northern tip of New Zealand, Cape Reinga. We borrowed some sand boards from our hostel (which actually turned out to be sledges, so weren't very effective) and drove up to the
Te Paki giant sand dunes, alongside 90 mile beach. We didn't spend very long sandboarding... the giant sand dunes were a bit too giant for us and so we continued our drive north! We eventually reached Cape Reinga, where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tasman Sea and were rewarded with some amazing views and some more sunshine! On our return to Kaitaia we stopped at The Ancient Kauri Kingdom to see the 45,000 year old stair case carved from the ancient Kauri tree. The Kauri trees grew at the dawn of time but were buried under peat swamps by an unexplained act of nature before the onset of the last Ice Age. The trees became sealed from the air and were therefore preserved in perfect condition - it is now known to be the oldest workable timber in the world.
A whole day of driving the next day took us back past Auckland, heading east towards the Coromandel Peninsula. We stopped for the night in a small place called Miranda where we spent most of the evening lazing in the natural thermal pool gazing up at the stars. The following morning we were up early for another dip and then
back behind the wheel, following the coastal road to Coromandel Town. Unfortunately it was miserable weather so we couldn't really appreciate the scenery and spent the rest of the day sheltering from the rain! With time running out before Ian was due home we headed east to Whitianga and Hot Water Beach. We spent a few hours in a workshop learning the art of Maori bone carving and hit Hot Water Beach armed with a spade to dig ourselves our own thermal pool! The beach has a natural hot spring so at low tide it's an ideal time to sit and relax watching the waves roll in. This was the last stop on our little adventure and had to head back towards Auckland to return Ian. We are now staying in Parnell, a suburb of Auckland less hectic than the city centre and can't wait until tomorrow when we fly out to the sun and beaches of Fiji!
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Daniel Lee Butler - Its been a while
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Fools
How about you two stop jumping off high places, it makes me feel sick x