Hi All,
Yes its me again. Its been a while and that is because i have tried to send this three times and each time the computer has crashed resulting in me banging my head off the wall as it took 20 mins to write each time. Bring back the pen and paper!
Well anyway enough of that last time i wrote we were in Cape Reinga and that seems so long ago. Well after that we headed back down the coast for Auckland. We drove down the west coast this time through the Waipu Forest and this is where we seen the Tane Mahuta. This is basically a huge kauri tree. Exciting stuff!!! You have to see these kind of things.
Well we stopped off in Auckland for two nights and stayed with Chris and Maree again. We spent the 2 days washing and getting ourselves organised. You would be surprised at how quick you run out of clean clothes. So armed with a bag full of clean clothes we headed off to the coromandel. This region is on the east coast. It was one of my favourite places in the north island probably because it was really hot and sunny and also we stayed in a really nice hostel. We just chilled out on the beach for two days and topped up the tan. We also went to hot water beach where you dig a hole in the sand and lie in really hot water that comes from thermal springs under the sand. How cool is that???
Well after the Coromandel we headed to Rotorua and stayed with Chris and Maree on their farm. Ken even milked a cow!!! We spent one full fun packed day in Rotorua as it was half an hour from the farm. I still cant belive we fit so much in one day. First we went to a really famous Maori church on lake rotorua, then we went to a Maori themal village. This was excellent. We seen the bubbling mudpools and the geysers and we seen a real kiwi. It is mad in Rotorua. You can see steam rising up in peaples gardens. Its really strange and so is the smell. The whole place smells like rotten eggs from the sulpher. After the thermal village we went to the luge. You ride a gondola up to the top of a steep hill and then fly back down on one of three tracks on a thing like a toboggan with wheels. Great fun. Arter the luge we went to tamaki brothers maori village for a traditionnal Maori evening. This was fantastic. We seen the welcoming ceremony, traditionnal dance and song, games and then we had dinner cooked in a hungi. This is cooked underground in the thermal water. It was really great fun especially as my Dad's friend Dermot was picked as a chief. Great craic. After all this we headed back to town and went to the polynesian spa where we chilled out in 40 degree thermal pools. A great end to the day.
After Rotorua we headed to Lake Taupo and this is where i jumped out of a plane at 12000 feet, fell 8000 feet in 45 seconds and did another 4 mins under a parachute before landing safely on solid ground. No you are not reading things Emma Mc Grath adventure woman extrodinaire jumped from a plane and loved every second. One of the coolest things i have ever done. The sense of achievement afterwards is cool. Would defo so it again but hey its an expensive past-time. But then i am an expensive kind of girl!!!
After Taupo we headed down the east coast through Napier on to Wellington. Napier is a town which was destroyed in an earthquake and built back in Art deco style. Nice to see but only for a day. We then went on to Wellington and got drunk, thought our car had been stolen (another story) and then went to the Te Papa museum. Museums are not usually my thing but it was really great.
After Wellington we got the ferry to the South Island and we have been here for a week. My hands are now too tired to write about all the stuff we have done since we got to the south island and i am sure i am boring you so i will write it another day.
Well best go. Loving New Zealand. Its a cool place. I hope all of you that are keeping in touch are great and as for the rest of you, you may feck off. only joking!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Take Care all.
Love
Emma and Ken
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