New Zealand, North Island

A three hour boat ride connects the South Island to the North Island. As we were approaching Nelson we were warned of large swells and it was recommended that we waited in Kaikoura for a couple of days for the sea to calm down, but being on minimum time we decided to brave it... At this point of the trip we had a new group of friends, there were 10 of us, 5 guys and 5 girls. The guys were lured into buying a ticket to the VIP lounge on the promise of unlimited food and drink, whereas the rest of us just found a table in the cafe and played cards and read for the duration of the trip. And it really wasn't that bad, as long as you were seated the waves weren't a problem.

On arriving we met our bus driver (Rangi) who took us to our hostel in Wellington. Strangely enough there is never much to do in the bigger cities and as we were all feeling a bit tired from travelling we opted for an evening of bowling. And, not surprisingly, I was useless!!!

The next day I woke up with a horrible cold so was very bunged up on our bus ride to Taupo. Little did I know that I'd actually be jumping out of a plane that day! The weather was so beautiful and clear that our bus driver rushed us to Taupo so we were able to do our skydive that afternoon. The guys and Polly and I all went up together. As we were getting our jumpsuits on they strapped a number 13 pouch to me... unlucky! And then told me that I'd be the first one out of the plane. Needless to say I was terrified! The plane ride up to 15,000 feet takes just over 20 minutes. The scariest part of skydiving is actually leaving the plane, because you have to move over and dangle your legs out of the plane, and the wind catches them. And it feels so damn high! But before you have a chance to realise what's going on you're out of the plane and falling. The freefall lasts for just over a minute, but it is only towards the end that you can actually figure out what's going on. And when you do, you realise just how amazing it actually is. It doesn't feel like you're falling particularly fast and the views are outstanding. You could see for miles, all the way down to the south island. When we landed we were all buzzing, I could barely stand still!

That evening I bumped into some guys I'd met in Australia, so the following day we all hired bikes for the afternoon. We rode down by the river but somehow ended up on a footpath rather than the cyclepath, which meant that we had nicer views but also meant that there were some sketchy turns, and we had to be very careful for walkers!

Rotorua was our next stop where there are lots and lots of activities to choose from. Polly and I opted for Zorbing. For any of you that don't know, imagine a huge inflatable hamster ball which you climb inside (Polly and I went together) along with a splash of warm water and roll down a hill. I'd imagine it would be a similar feeling to the inside of a washing machine, it was SO much fun! We immediately wanted to go again, but as always our funds didn't allow it. Rotorua has lots of hot springs (unfortunately giving the whole town a faint smell of eggs) so when we got back to the hostel we went into the spa pool which felt like a big bath, it was lovely.

We said goodbye to the guys in Rotorua and the 5 of us headed up to Auckland for a night before continuing on up to the Bay of Islands. It was noticably warmer and absolutely stunning. Polly and I took a boat ride around the islands and stopped at a bay where there were dolphins jumping out of the water and generally showing off. It was amazing. Unfortunately there were babies so we weren't allowed to swim with them... it would have been freezing anyway!

The next day I took my last journey on the Kiwi Bus back to Auckland, I was really sad to have finished my tour of New Zealand. We met back up with the guys and spent a couple of days in Auckland, but there wasn't all that much to do there. We did find a game of Cluedo at the hostel which I was overly excited by! For our last night in Auckland we went out to the Base Bar and celebrated Bobbi's birthday which was a few days later. And somehow managed to go to two Irish Bars at the end of the night, Monday nights aren't the liveliest nights in Auckland.

So after 3 hours sleep I said goodbye to everyone and set off for the airport... I could quite happily have spent another month in New Zealand.