North Island NZ extreme rafting and extreme eating

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Picked up the ferry at Picton on the North of the South Island and sailed through Marlborough Sounds which is another amazingly beautiful area and across the Cook Strait to Wellington the capital of New Zealand on the Southern part of the North Island. Apparently the crossing was quite good which seeing as I had to go ‘up for air’ on several occasions made me realize that I’m probably not a hardened seafarer.
Wellington was pretty cool and then I moved up to Rotorua which is famous for all of its hot springs and the Polynesian pools. Its pretty freaky seeing steam pouring out of the flower beds in the local park.
Then went to Whakarewarewa (try saying that with your mouth full), which is a Maori village where ‘Nan’ our Maori guide explained all about the Maori lifestyle and customs. I’ll post a pic of nan after she explained about a funeral going on in the village and that there would be soft music being played, ‘not me’ she said, ‘I want AC/DC when I go !’ They also showed us the Haka and of course I got pulled up as one of the pseudo warriors to be taught the moves although I have to admit that after doing the Haka you don’t half feel like a fight. While in Rotorua myself and the 2 loons who did the mental quad biking decided to have a go at the grade 5 white water rafting (I think there is a maximum of 6 grades) which included a 7 meter drop over a waterfall. We would have made it to but they reckoned there was too much weight at the front...Me.
I then went to Aukland and onto Piah in the Bay of Islands where I did some sea fishing and sailing which ended with me driving (is that the right terminology ?) a 40ft catamaran for a couple of hours. It was then back to Aukland where I did the sites including Skycity, the tallest tower in the Southern Hemisphere where instead of the ‘controlled’ drop from the tower to the ground below I opted for the more nutritionally rewarding activity of lunch in the revolving restaurant - extreme eating at its best.
OK so that was New Zealand, a beautiful, awesome country which the next time I travel through it (yes, there will be a next time) will be in a campervan so I can wake up to the million dollar views that it has to offer.
Right, next stop, Singapore.

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Photos

Aukland
Aukland skyline with skycity the tallest tower in the southern hemisphere... "I wonder if they have a restaurant ?"

View from Skycity
Wooaah, that's scary... "it makes me hungry"

'Nan' the Maori guide
"I don't want soft music when I go... I want AC/DC... highway to hell" Rock & Roll !