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Published: February 10th 2008
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Hello again! So, our time in New Zealand is almost over - one more night in our little home! Had an amazing time in New Zealand seeing some beautiful places; blue lakes, mountains, glaciers, cities, coastline. And then the not so beautiful trailer parks, longdrops (we thought we had left u behind in Thailand?!) and how can we forget the sandfly hell, Pleasant Flat!! Its also been an active month for us with skydiving, many scenic walks, glacier trekking, boat trips & over 4000km on the road!! All in all we have loved it!!
Anyway, just to update on the past week - left Wellington and travelled up to Taupo, which has the biggest lake in the southern hemisphere. While we were there we went to a place called Craters of the Moon, which was our first look into the thermal activity which is all around that area in NZ. Basically, it was a big field with loads of steam vents coming out of the ground & big craters formed by the hot steam pushing thru the ground. Was really cool & pretty wierd to see - kinda like bein on another planet! We also went to a hot stream
which just randomly flows into the river - it was boiling hot (couldnt stand in it!) but where it flowed into the river was like siting in a bath! People were just chillin out there all day with radios & beers (and the best thing is, its free - very important as we are now officially broke & living on beans for the next month!!) From there we went to Waitomo to go to the Glowworm Caves - we went on a boat thru a tunnel & there were millions above us - like looking into the night sky - it was ace! From there we drove on to Rotorua (the smelly town - think eggy stink bomb multiplied by 10 - we nicknamed it 'the bog of eternal stench - not because it was trampy by the way, its due to all the sulphur in the air from the hot springs!!) That night we went to a Maori Hangi & Concert where traditional songs & dances were performed & we were told a brief history into the Maori culture - we even joined in (after only one beer aswell - however, we do not drink anymore (too many pennies!)
so that is quite alot for us!). Hangi is the name given to the way they cook the food - in a big pit in the ground on top of hot rocks. It was a really good night - great to see some of the original culture of the country. However, we were the youngest in there as it seemed to be the OAP night!! We were seated next to a couple who were strangely from Stoke - the woman took a liking to Chris - haha, old lady flirting!!!!
The next day, we got up early to go to Waiotapu to watch the Lady Knox Geyser erupt - it was ace - the water shot up 20 metres in the air! Saw loads of bubbling hot pools, steaming vents & the amazing champagne pools - which is a big hot spring which is bright red around the rim (look at the pics - its hard to explain!!) The whole place was cool - something totally different. We also went to Hells Gate, another Thermal Park which had a mud pool we dipped our feet in! So, after our thermal treat we drove up to Auckland - we werent
there for long as we wanted to go further up but we managed to go up the Sky Tower, the tallest building in the southern hemisphere. We got the lift up to the sky deck (220m) & the view over the city was awesome! We then headed up to the Bay of Islands where we went on a boat trip around the islands & up to the hole in the rock - usually the boat goes thru the hole but unfortunately the swells were too big. However, we did see a whale & then went to realx on one of the islands before sailing back to shore! This was also Chris's bday (thanks to everyone for your messages)! To finish our trip we went up to Cape Reinga, the top of NZ - where the Tasman Sea & Pacific Ocean meet which you can actually see from the different currents colliding. It is also a spiritual place for the Maori people as they believe it is where the spirit goes when they pass away into the spiritual land. On the way back we tried sandboarding down the massive sandunes - it was ace although we both flipped off, ending up
with sand in every orifice! To finish, we drove down the Ninety Mile Beach! Left this morning & we are now back in Auckland, getting ready to fly away again! On the way here we drove through the Kaori Forest & saw the tallest living kaori (51.5m) & the widest (16.4m girth) - they were HUGE!! They are only found in NZ (theres only a handful left) & the oldest are thought to be approx 2000 years old!
So, off to Fiji tomorrow to laze about on the beach - will be good to do nothing for a few days as we have been mega busy for the past month! Only 4weeks now til we return - cant wait to see you all! Hoping the rubbish English weather gets a little better tho as we will probably end up with frostbite within a few days!! Until next time, love you all, hugs & kisses xxx
Ps: Good luck to the mighty Man City (playing the scummy Reds!) - come on Benjani, u bute!!
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taya and dan
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hi
hello! happy b day chris!! new zealand looks fab, some of he pics look straight off a kodak advert! i bet you were pleased with the score! especially as ur favourite player scored! dan went up to get changed into his city shirt before we went out and didnt take it off for a couple of days just to rub it in to the man u supporters! looking forward to seeing you, we are going next weekend to get u ur pressies (christmas, b days and engagement!) u both look well how long is chris's hair!! and laura u are blonde! i almost didnt recognise u on the pic. i just wanted to check with u but laura ur mum had sent a message to ask if we minded her picking u up instead, so is she def picking you up? its fine just want to make sure before we just dont turn up! looking forward to seeing you both, take care enjoy fiji dont eat too many beans they give u wind!! xx