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Published: February 1st 2008
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Hey everyone, me again, thought i'd better update you all with the start of my Kiwi adventure!! Am having trouble finding a decent internet cafe to upload my photos at the moment so bear with me :-) Had another excruciatingly long flight to Auckland, although managed to sleep for about 9 hours of it (down to the lack of sleep and alcohol consumption the night before im betting lol) Arrived to grey skies and rain, yes omigod it rained for two straight days while we stayed there which put a bit of a downer on New Zealand for us i have to admit!! And our hostel was really quiet apparantly everyone had left that day after the 'Big Day Out' the day before!!! Nevermind though, we met a few people and just chilled in the bar! Learnt how to play pool properly which was a cause for celebration!! Ended up deciding to head south a little earlier than expected on our very own little Magic bus with Gilly the guide who was really funny, even though i think it was just me and Fi who thought so!!
Our first port of call was Waitoma and we got to go on
a caving tour to see the glow worms which were AMAZING!!! Unfortunately we were'nt allowed to take photos but we basically were floating through a pitch black cave on a raft and the glow worms lit up the roof of it like hundreds of little stars, really beautiful!! Also stopped at a rabbit shearing farm, yes i did say rabbit lol!!! Its how they get Angora wool and they looked so strange, like big balls of fluff but almost as big as sheep!! And then they shaved it and it looked like something out of a horror film!!! Not black sheep......its attack of the white rabbit lol!!
Ended up getting to Rotorua in the evening and boy did it stink?!!!! There are loads of hot pools and geysers that let out sulphur because the town is a geothermically active region!! (Lots of volcanoes!!) Funny thing is i ended up quite liking the smell by the time we left, lol!! Only me!!! Spent the evening at a Maori cultural evening at the Village of Tamaki which was incredible!! They picked us up on coaches and each coach had a designated chief for the evening, Irish Niall was ours-he was hilarious!!
When we first got there all the chiefs had to stand before the 'warriors' while they performed their 'dance' Was really intimidating-kinda like the 'all blacks' dance, cue lots of bulging eyes and tongue poking! I dont know how the guys managed to keep a straight face (you're not allowed to smile or laugh even when they're right in your face!!) But after that was over we were allowed to wander around the village and talk to the people which was cool!! They performed native Maori dances and songs for us which was wicked and then we all sat down for a Hangi (Maori feast) which was the best meal ive had in ages!!! Very similar to our roast lol! (Not as good as yours though Mum) Except they cook things in an oven under the earth! Met loads of people at the meal-there seems to be an awful lot of Irish around!!
Sorry guys this is getting kind of long, ive just seen so many things in the last few days-am absolutely shattered!! We've only got time for one or two nights in most towns so its always on the go!! But before i go i just wanted
to tell you about the White water rafting we did on the wednesday morning!! Was absolutely brilliant, one of the best things ive ever done!! Went with a few people we'd met the night before which was cool-Keilan, from ireland!! All the rafting guys were really cool!! Nige with his blonde dreadlocks!!! (made me laugh Dad!!) You'll see him on the photos as he and Cam were our guides! They took us down the Kaituna river which has the highest commercial rafting waterfall int the world at about 7m high!!! And we went over it lol and didnt flip!! Was AMAZING!!! We were all given a lucky silver fern at the beginning while the guides said a prayer! Made me a little bit nervous haha! As you'll see from the photos i fell out at the end (silly me i wasnt holding on) Nige had just said try not to fall out here coz the next fall is a grade 6 and you cant go down it so what did i do? Yup i fell in lol!! Was quiote scary actually, the current rolls you over and over underneath the raft, but eventually i came back up!! Got a massive
bruise on my leg tho as a momento!!
The sun FINALLY came out that day, wahoooo!!! So spent the afternoon and evening at a lush little bar with Keilan and a really irritaing Canadian guy who chatted about himself for about 6 hours, no joke!!!! I havent got a good impression of Canadians so far, so Dad-you may wanna rethink your plans, lol!! Anyways im logging off now, hope everyones well, love to you all xxx
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Comedy Gold...
Hey Em!! Wow...am sitting here in freezing cold Korea getting well and truly jealous about your adventures...it sounds like you're having a great time! So comedy about you falling outta the raft...love that it was captured on cam tho teehee! Stay safe tho, and inside transportation if at all possible!! Lots of Love xxxx