Floods, mauri, and all you can eat roast dinners

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So after the blissful weather it chucked it down.
We got on the bus after a morning of cups of tea in the base camp and headed back to auckland in the dark to see the lights of the city, the sky tower being the main center of focus.
The next morning at stupid o'clock in the morning we headed for mercury bay and found ourselves in the middle of a valley quing up to cross the river. It wasnt normally a river however due to the amount of rain the river banks had broken and the road was submersed under almost a meter of water. We were ok in our big green bus.. the bmw driverr had more of a struggle.. specially when he had to get down on his hands and knees to check the engine.. in ihis suit,

We got to mercury bay and couldnt go into the hot springs as the tide was in ( we can do this all over the country however so it was ok) and we had a big bonding session over pasta, singapore uno that i purchased, and games of killer pool.

The next day ( again at an hour no normal person wants to get up at) we headed for rotura. The sun cleared up and the views of mountains was seen once again. We had a pit stop in hobbington. No joke. We stopped at the hobbit village shown in lord of the rings.. and soo to be used once again for the film the hobbit! We didnt do the actual tour as it was just a pit stop. but still. there is soon to be a picture of me with the sign and gollum satue.

We then unloaded our stuff at the very nice base camp hostel with a hot pool ( rotura is full of natural hot springs .. and therefore smells like a night in after a curry) And then we went luging down a big hill. Luging is where you get in a go karte thing and you control it by pulling on the bar to go and then pulling it firther to stop the thing. Hilarious. particualy when i made maddie go down the advanced course with me and she crashed.. didnt hurt herself... hence the hilarity. It was an awesome view of the lake and the island of where a mauri love story took place. You had to cable cars and ski lifts up to the top.. very cold.. but soo much fun.
In the evening some of us went to a mauri cultrual evening. I didnt know anything about this culture but i was shown the welcoming cermony where they bulge thier eyes and stick their tounges out, have tatoos over their faces ( the women only under their mouths) and the ever famous haka. Not going to lie. i was scared. i also took part in a traditional game using large wooden sticks and mauri words for left and right. i didnt win.. but it was fun!I was all based in a typical village with wooden huts and campfires and we were shown dances and songs. This is also where the all you can eat ( and boy did i eat) roast dinner buffer was 😊 What more is there to say. very good eveing.. particulary with gravy stuffing and custard... not all at the same time. Just individual slices of heaven. I also learnt that saddly the tribes cant really have tattoos all over their faces anymore as they have to get jobs etc so it is only the older generations that have this. The tribes have been through a lot to survive and they are a treasured species.

Today we headed off to a sheep farm and had the oppertunity to see the sheep dog hearding the sheep. Simple, free. And drove thourgh a town where they had a big corrigated iron sheep and sheepdog. The driver is down with the what keeps our attention.
And today lies a big challenge, Black water rafting.... Absailing, rock climbing, waterfall climbing, tubing, zip wiring in the dark... all underground... Is going to be goood. cold. scary. but good... eeep!?!?!
And tomorrow, weather permitting, sky diving over some snowtopped mountains!

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