The North Island so far

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once on the north island we arrived in Wellington. oh by the way I got the date wrong we travelled across from south to north on the 17th not the 16th! lost track of dates and days a long time ago!
17th sept - anyway arrived in wellington and took a trip on the towns cable car and walked round the botanic gardens before starting our drive north up the west coast. We travelled as far as south of tongariro national park where we stayed the night.
18th sept - drove into the park this morning and went on a hike through the bush to view a waterfall. it was raining again and we got pretty wet but we are used to getting rained on now.
next we headed to touranga which is the north of the national park where we found a thermal spa place and went for a warm up in their swimming pools. one was a natural mineral pool temperature of about 38 degrees, rather warm and then there was a chlorinated heated pool for afterwards. we were there for about 45 minutes when we were bombarded by 2 coach loads of kids so we soon left.
Lake Taupo was next on the agenda today and we arrived in good time to be able to go and do the Taupo bungy. 4 metres higher than the queenstown bungy we did and we decided to jump together, was very funny bouncing around upside down hanging on to each other for dear life! oh and we got soaked we said that we were willing to touch the water but we went in up to our waists head first! soaked! luckily they were offering free t-shirts for everyone who touched the water!
after this we went down the lake front and played mini golf and watched the sunset over the lake before finding a campsite.
19th sept - first we headed off to go on the NZ river jet boat trip. very fast jet boat trip up the river, stop off at oraki korako, a thermal area where we got off the jet boat and went for a walk before returning to the jet. on way back it went much faster and did 360 degree spins! several times.
after the excitement of being thrown around in the boat we went to see the great Huka falls near by which was amazing water flowing down a 100 metre wide and 4 metres deep river which was then being squashed into a 15 metre wide space which caused this great rush of water which was fantastic.
back on the road we headed for waitomo, the place where the caves and the glow worms are.
20th sept - we were booked on to go on an abseiling, black water rafting, caving, rock climbing trip so we were up early again. abseiled 27 metres into a cave where we got a rubber ring to sit in and float through the cave. had to climb through some tiny spaces too before climbing back out the cave, harder than what the guide made it look, we was nackered after climbing back up! After this we drove all the way from waitomo up north past hamilton and auckland and onto Warkworth where we decided to stop as it was getting dark.
21st sept - hmmmm today was the longest day ever!! we drove from 9am to approx 5pm all the way from warkworth to cape reinga!! (the northest point!) we arrived at camp reinga just as the sun was lowering in the sky so was a lovely view over the lighthouse and we got to see where the tasmin sea meets the pacific ocean and they clash in the middle! we then stopped off at the Te Paki giant sand dunes and did a bit of bum surfing down one.
22nd sept- today we visited 90 mile beach and hired quad bikes for a couple of hours and was free to go crazy on the beach. great fun trying to do dohnuts on them without tiping them over!! very funny when chris got thrown off his for being too cocky!! another excellent couple of hours, the sun came out and we had the beach to let off steam on these bikes. now travelling west bound we took a view of doubtless bay before bypassing Keri keri and stopping at Paihia in the Bay of Islands.
23rd sept- well today was undescribable! we swam with dolphins in the open sea!! we took a boat cruise around the bay islands dolphin spotting. we found one pod of dolphins but they had babies with them so we couldnt swim here but shortly after we found a smaller group in a bay and we all got in with them. was in the sea for quite a while and it was freezing but we soon forgot about that once we chasing dolphins around the shore line. back on the boat they soo abandoned us all on an island totally uninhabited where we sat and had lunch in the sunshine and built a sand castle! back on the boat for a slow cruise back and now back on dry land thought id quickly update you all.
tomorrow we are going on a horse trek in the morning and after that who knows. will have to wait and see.
sorry no pictures as I forgot my usb cable for my camera! oops! you will have to wait til we get back for at least 1 and half hours of video tape and so far about 400 photos!!
love to all xxxx

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Comments

[Emma, Mark and Olivia]

Sounds like an amazing experience
Hi guys sounds like you are having a fantastic time, we are all very envious and look forward to seeing all the photos, Olivia is missing her Auntie Claire and Uncle Billy, she has put on another 13 and a half ounces since you last saw her! Looking forward to your next installment. Take Care and enjoy the remainder of your holiday. Love Em, Mark and Olivia x