So now came the North island.....

I got the 3 hour boat to Wellington, the capital of New Zealand and was there for 4-5 days in the end. If I'm honest, I just caught up with mates and read a couple of books, so I didn't do the 'must do' things, such as the museum of New Zealand.

I stayed in Wellington for more days than intended due to a guy called Charlie. I met him in Hoi An, Vietnam, where I got the suit made; he also got one made and the picture below is of him wearing said suit >: )

When you make a stupid suit, you have to go for it and I'm a little upset that he found an even better/worse material than I did.

He had met a guy called Elliot in Hoi An also (the day after I left) and they kept in touch. Basically, between them they managed to win and get hold of tickets to the Rugby 'Sevens' tournement, so I stayed an extra day to go. I'd like to thank Elliot for giving me his spare ticket and for putting us all up at his place. Thank you to Charlie for cooking us a great English breakfast before we hit the stadium. The eggs tasted better than they looked >; )

The Sevens tournement is famous for being one big fancy dress party pretty much and people didn't dissapoint. Virtally everyone got involved and there were some excellent constumes. The picture below indicates one of the more 'controversial' examples...

After Wellington, I travelled on up to Taupo, which is next to Lake Taupo, the largest in the southern hemisphere. Here I did what is regarded as one of the best walks in the world and to be honest it probably was. I say probably, as I can only go by the pictures I saw from a mate who did it the previous day. The day I went up, I spent 6 hours walking through clouds. The walk takes you across a volcano and past what many of you may know as Mount Doom from The Lord of the Rings (Below). This was where Frodo threw the ring into the lava at the end:

I managed to get hold the pictures to see what I missed; some parts were as you'd imagine Mars to be like on the surfice. Pictures, curtisey of Tom Evans are shown below....

The following day I did a skydive over Lake Taupo from 15,000ft. This was an incredible experience and it still hasn't quite registered yet. I was the only one who did it from 15,000ft (the others jumped at 12,000ft) and I was quite nervous while climbing that little extra, after watching them fall out. To be honest though, it wasn't too scary and as many people say, was easier than a bungy or the canyon swing I did.

The chute opened at 5,000ft so I fell 10,000ft in about 60 seconds of freefall. My eyes watered like crazy which made me lose a contact lense and my sinuses felt as though they were about to explode. When you leave the plane the temperature is about -5 degrees which made my hands a litle chilly >: )

The noise of freefall is extremely loud, but when the chute has opened it's virtually silent, with the guy telling me what certain things were in the distance.

After Taupo, I headed on up to Rotorua which quite litterally stinks. There are geysers and hot springs etc, with a great deal of sulpher being released, making the whole town stink of rotton eggs. Here I did Zorbing which was a good crack - you climb into a big ball with a mate, they add water, you get pushed down a hill and then giggle like girls. The picture below is from that.....

From Rotorua you can do a day trip to a cave with water running through it. This was excellent and included an abseil of 100ft or so. I was the '1st person in 14 years' that hurt themselves on this I was told! I was just moving to hang myself over the edge, when some flesh from my hand got caught in between the rope and a metal clip. I couldn't get it out as now my whole weight was pulling down and adding pressure. We managed to get me released eventually after the guide worked out what had happened and I was left with a small blood wound. Accident prone through this trip I fear...

It really was good fun and the glow worms were incredible. The pictures below/above are from this day.



The last night in Rotorua I attended a meal and show at the local Mauri replica village. We were shown the mock up village of what it used to look like and the various things they used to do. It was interesting enough, but the all you can eat buffet was the real highlight >: )

After Rotorua I shot up to Auckland for one night, before heading to Paihia in the north. To be honest, I didn't have time to see much of Paihia, but it seemed ok. Nice enough place to take a canoe out and explore.

Auckland is the largest city in New Zealand and home to a third of the population - however, it's not really a place with a great deal of character and I didn't make any particular effort to wonder about.

This is the end of my New Zealand exploring and next I'll be posting on my week in Fiji >: )

See you soon....