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Mauri evening
Haka 'warrior' dance Yes, thats right, I did a bungee jump today - 47 meters off Lake Taupo and it was awesome!! After I'd paid for it and got to the platform and watched some else jump off I did start to regret my decision as the butterflies flew around my stomach but luckily I didn't chicken out! The worst bit was actually jumping off with only a rope attached to me - it was very scary to say the least. They count you down... one, two, three and then you just dive off - I thought she'd get to three and I'd freeze but I managed to dive down first time and then screamed my way all the way down! It was the best feeling though, just falling and knowing you've got something to pull you back. Bounced down a few times and then up again and then there's a boat at the bottom with a women holding a pipe thing that you need to grab onto and it took me three attempts to get it which freaked me out a bit but I got there in the end! As soon as I finished though I wanted to go back and do it
again! It was great!
Having the best week though, doing the Kiwi Experience which is a bus that takes you round the island and its the same people on the bus so we've spent the last three or four days with the same group who are all lovely - there's even a guy from Streatham - its a small world!
On the first day we drove to Mercury Bay and stopped off at a few places on the way and even stopped to do a little hike to the beach. Stayed in a really nice hostel that night that was very homely with a little kitchen and a cosy living room. After watching Coronation Street (can you believe they show that here! although it is about 6 months behind) we sat and played games for ages which was cool. Started up a few games for the next few days where if you say the word "mine" in answer to a question you have to do 10 starjumps or press ups and another game to a similar effect so the last few days have been rather amusing with people doing star jumps and press ups on the bus and
Mauri tour
A traditional Mauri house back in the day in public!
The next day we got up at about 6.30 and wished we'd gone to bed earlier the previous night and headed to Rotarua which is known for its geo thermal activities such as geysers and naturally heated pools. We did this thing called Lugeing which is kind of like go kart racing/bumper cars - you get in your little car and ride down this track. It was fun but my first car was broken and kept stopping which wasn't good. That night we did a traditional Mauri Experience night where you visit a traditional model villiage and watch traditional warrier dances etc and then you have a buffet meal which they cooked the traditional way - underground. It was a really great night and we learnt alot about the original Maura culture and ate the best meal which was a buffet and included desert so of course I had about 3 helpings of that! We had the craziest driver though that took us back to the hostel who made us all sing songs from our countries and then sang "we'll be singing round the mountains when she comes" while driving around the roundabout about 5 times -
Geysers
All the steam coming off the geysers it wasn't good after eating so much! Went to the bar for a few drinks after then went to bed.
The next day we went to see the geo thermic activities at Roturua and it was amazing - we saw the geysers - water from underground that shoots up into the air - about 20 meters or so I think and all the steam rising from the ground were the activities are going on - it was really quite surreal.
We then went to the Waitomo Caves were we did some underground activities in the caves. Patrice wanted to do the one with absailing and fox flying in it as she was feeling more adventurous but I stuck to the cheaper option with everyone else. We had to get into our wetsuits and grab a rubber ring and then head into the caves with the guides. The activity basically involved walking around over all the rocks and through the caves and floating through on our rubber rings and jumping into waterfalls. It was really fun but when you jump into the water you're supposed to keep hold of your rubber ring and land in it but I really
Mud baths
Too hot to bath in - if you went in you woulod die couldn't get the hang of it and it kept landing on top of my head! There were loads of glow worms in the caves (which are actually maggets but when the new zealanders marketed them and glow maggets they didn't get quite so many tourists as they did when they changed it to glow worms!) They glow instead of pooing apparently and when you look up in the dark caves they look like stars. We had lights on our helmets but at one stage they made us navigate ourselves in the dark! Lucy, one of the girls, was holding onto my foot though so luckily i didn't have to do much! We even managed to get one of the guys with the "mine" game and they had to do press ups in the caves.
Then we drove to Taupo which is where you can get a lot of cheaper extreme activities e.g. my bungee cost $99 which is about 38 pounds - we thought it would be a sin not to do it for that bargain price! We were going to do our bungee yesterday but it was raining so we did it today. Had a really good night
The game
Patrice doing starjumps on the bus! don't worry he pulled over first! last night - went out for a few drinks and then to a club called Holy Cow.
We're leaving Taupo tomorrow and going north again while others are either going east or south so we're all splitting up which is sad as we've met some really cool people. Spending another night in Rotarua and going to the spa then back to Auckland. Spent one night in Auckland already before we start the Kiwi Experience and met up with Emma and Jenny, the girls we met at the Whitsundays and went to the casino - it was like a little taster of Las Vegas! I won $8 but then bet it all again but only ended up $2 down which isn't bad!
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