New Zealand

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Hello there everyone back home! I am now back in more familiar (ie COLD) climates, however the amazingness of New Zealand is most definately worth it!!! It is such a beautiful country and there si sooo sooo much to do and see here!! We landed in Auckland on the 1st July and almost immediately hired a campa to drive up North to the Bay of Islands in. It was sooooo much fun....although really rather weird driving again, especially an automatic which I have never driven before!!hehe Still we had a good 3 days. We got to Paihia which is a really nice little town only to discover that the camping stove we had been supplied with did not work!! We proceeded to a hostel who let us use their facilities for free which was uber nice of them :D The hostel turned out to belong to some peopel that dad had as contacts for us in NZ too whichw as a really strange and funny co-incidence....especially seeing as we didn't even realise until I talked to mum on the phone and she told me about them!!hahaha It was really good to have some nice facilities...hot showers and a well equiped kitchen!! hehe.....they were really nice too and so it made our stay in our campa a little more luxurious than we had first imagined it may be! :P Whilst we were up there we did a tour of the Bay of Islands in a jet boat which was really fun....the next day we did a day trip up to Cape Reinga which was a whole heap of fun!! We saw where the two oceans meet and also went sandboarding which was great!! We also met a few people that are now on our Kiwi Experience bus too which was really great! We didn't spend too much time in Auckland as we really wanted to get on the bus and start our incredible journey through NZ....especially seeing as i've only got until the 30th to do it all!! Being on the bus is great, as our driver takes us to everywhere that's worth seeing. It really saves a lot of time trapsing around trying to figure out what to see on our own!!hehe It's good having some local knowledge too and it's really good fun. We've done quite a few nice little walks and even went to the cove where some of the scenes for the latest Narnia movie were filmed!!! That was rather exciting!! :D We drove past Hobbiton (Lord of the Rings) and have been black water rafting (basically caving in water!!) which was extremely cold bu twell worth it. Actually to be honest after you get moving its only really your hands and toes that are cold! :D That was definately one of my favourite experiences so far....although I know there are a lot more to come!! We are now in Taupo and I can see Mount Doom!!!! Unfortunately due to the fact that it is winter here there is an avalanche warning on the Tongariro Crossing so I can't do the walk where you get the spectacular views of Mount Doom etc 😞 grrrrrr another BIG bummer is that we were in the last group to do a skydive yesterday....all geared up, dressed in our beautiful skydiving outfits and ready to go when they informed us that it was going to be too dark for us to do it and that we would have to come back tomorrow (well today now). Well guess what guys.....yesterday was beautiful and clear...today it is all cloudy and rainy so we still can't go!!! 😞((((((((((((( arrrghhhhhh it's sooooo frustrating as you can't blame anyone other than the weather!!! We're on standby at the moment, but I really can't see it happening and the forecast for tomorrow is even worse.....also we leave tomorrow so if we can do it at all we have to do it first thing in the mroning and so have very little time to play with 😞 Oh and guess what......the weather is supposed to clear up on Sunday........the day AFTER we leave....typical!!! there will be more chances to do one, but the only other 15,000ft one is in Waitomo and the weather won't get better and we go further South!!! Anyways rant over......other than this small hitch I LOVE New Zealand....it truely is a beautiful country and I would recommend for absolutely EVERYONE to come here!!!! Hopefully the skydive will happen.....I will most definately keep you updated on this matter!

For now I shall say cheerio, I hope you are all well and having a nice SUMMER back in England!!

Love you all loads and loads
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