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Published: June 30th 2007
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One of the many rainbows
Lots of rainbows no pots of gold Right another day, another country and another tour type thing. This time insted of a full on tour i'm on a hop on - hop off bus with the name Kiwi Experience if anyone wants to look it up.
I arrived in Auckland on Friday afternoon and generally just chilled out at the hostel (It had a bar). On saturday moring i joined the big green fun bus (not the name used by some people) and started my New Zealand tour. After a brief tour round Auckland we went up to Mt Eden for a view over the city. This is a dormant (i think) volcano. After a short bus journey to Mercury Bay (New Zealand is smaller than Aus) we went to Catherine Cove for a walk down to the beach and we played some ball.
New Zealand has a lot of geothermic activity and the earths crust is thinner around here so there are lots of hot spots!!. One of these visited is Hot water beach where you can dig into the sand and build your own little hot tub.
Another place visited is Rotorua which has so much activity from geysers, mud pool and
hot springs that the town smells (Sulfur dioxide... or bad eggs). It was here though i jumped into a giant inflatable ball and rolled down a hill. Yes folks thats right.... we went Zorbing!!!! What made it more fun is that there was 3 of us and a load of warm water. Woo!!
It was fun.
On our way to Rotorua we went through our first Lord of the Rings area. A little Farming town called Matamata (or Hobbiton) in which Peter Jackson turned a farm in the Shire. (Is that where the hobbits live cause i can't remember)
That evening (sunday) we went of to a Moari village where we learnt a bit about their culture and watch a show full of songs, dance and of course the traditional Haka. Rugby fans will know about that one. We had to be welcomed into the village and a representative needed to step forward for the peace offering this means going up against a big warrior who is trying to imtimidate you. The meal we ate was cook the traditional way in which you put rocks on fire till they are red hot and then bury them in a hole
with the wrapped up food for 3 hours. If this fails the guy said they had a microwave!
From Rotorua we went to Waitomo, famous for its caves and glow worms. On our way we stopped off in the randomist of places where we watch a giant german angorra rabbit being shaven. It looked like torture as they stretched the poor creature and then went at with sheep shearers!!! Our accomodation was also upgraded to cabins due to a school trip for no extra cost. Yay us!!!
Now Tuesday 26th June will always be remebered as the day i lost my mind (no it wasn't a repeat of dracula's). Up early in the morning to go to the caves. In a feezing wetsuit with extra layers incase of hypothermia we then absail 30 odd metres down a hole in the ground. Next up was a flying fox. This is a zip wire down in pitch black. Then after coffee and cake we got our rubber rings and jumped into water. Now it was about a 3-4 metre jump and it comes to my turn and the guy goes 1..2..3 jump. I'm still standing there. 2nd attempt i'm still standing there. On about the 5th attempt i make it into the water (which was cold) and amazingally into my rubber ring. It was lights out time again as we floated through the caves and watch the glow worms (which are infact maggots and the glow is from the poo!) It was like looking up at the stars and was really peaceful. Then came the walking through mini rapids, floating unaided and climbing waterfalls which were quite powerful. It was so cool and the last few sentences can't even sum up how awesome it was.
Now for some reason I actually paid to go up in a plane when i didn't have to. (mini fear of flying). Even more fun i actually paid to be thrown out of that plane. Yes people tuesday afternoon... i went skydiving. Now that was mental. I was first out and didn't have time to register anything. The door was open and i was no longer in the plane. Now due to photographic evidence i know i did a backflip and also spun round lots in about a 40 second free fall. Amazingally even though i was falling 12000 feet i wasn't scared. Once the chute open and i glided down the rest theviews were amazing of Lake Taupo (Singapore could fit in it) and the snow covered mountains (one of which was used for mt Doom in 'Lord of the Rings'
Really was the craziest day of my life!!!!!
After recovering and enjoying the views and sun in Taupo it was down south to River Valley and the coolest surroundings ever. We really are in 'Lord of the Rings' territory now.
It's a pit stop in Wellington and the South Island here i come...
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Thom
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That's a whole load of cool stuff you've been up to there. For me though, yeah, ok, that caving thing must have been great and I'm well impressed you went skydiving. But zorbing beats all of 'em hands down! http://www.xkcd.com/c152.html Zorbing rocks. I wanna go zorbing!