I am now in New Zealand and its Boxing Day so Christmas is over for another year...this one has definitely been one to remember!
I arrived in New Zealand just under a week ago and so far it has been great! After flying into Auckland with Liz and Vicky (girls I met in Fiji), Liz and I headed to our hostel and organised what we were going to do from Auckland onwards. I managed to sort out my Kiwi Experience buses and got booked on to head up to the Bay of Islands. The next day I was in Auckland by myself so had a wander round the city before getting on the bus at 7:15am the next day. The bus wasn't that full on the way up to the Bay of Islands, but I did meet Carolien who is doing pretty much the same journey as me round NZ so we are now travelling together which is great! On the bus we signed up for dolphin swimming that afternoon followed by a trip to Cape Reinga and a skydive on Christmas Day.
Unfortunately we didn't get to actually swim with the dolphins because the sea was too choppy, but we did see around 30 of them and they came right up to the boat which was pretty amazing! The next day was the trip to Cape Reinga which was good fun, a very busy day but we saw a lot. Being at the very top of New Zealand was great - with amazing views, we also went sandboarding which was not so great for me...I eneded up falling off halfway down a huge dune, rolling in the sand and eating/inhaling A LOT of sand! We also drove along 90 mile beach where we saw dead sharks and jelly fish washed up on the beach, before heading back to Paihia stopping for fish and chips along the way. The following day was my birthday and we headed over the bay to Russel where we walked across the island and sat on the beach...not bad for the middle of winter back home! In Russel we also saw a Christmas Parade and a childrens christmas present 'lucky dip' where the 5 of us chose each other a wrapped gift. On Christmas morning were collected for the skydive...the four of us got picked up at 10am and got kitted up at the skydive centre ready to jump out of a plane at 16,000ft! The plane ride up was pretty good with amazing views...although slightly cramped with 3 sets of tandem skydivers in a tiny plane! At around 10,000ft we put on the oxygen masks ready to climb up to 16,000ft - at this point it was pretty scary!! I was the first to go out of the plane which was definitely a good thing not having to watch the others fall, but the 65 seconds of free fall was incredible over the Bay of Island!! I did have a bit of trouble breathing which was a slight issue but soon recovered once the parachute was pulled - steering us round and twirling in circles was amazing!! Skydiving on Christmas Day has definitely been one of the highlights of my trip so far, but I think twice is enough - not sure I can cope with it all over again!! That evening we had Christmas dinner at the hostel followed by several drinks afterwards, not feeling too amazing today and getting up to skype home at 8:30am was hard work, but great seeing everyone open the presents that finally made it home from Uruguay! Today has been a very lazy day, wandering round Paihia before we head back down to Auckland ready to go to Hot Water Beach tomorrow, and then Taupo for New Year!
So far the start to New Zealand has been pretty good, definitely looking forward to the next 6 weeks before Australia!
Photos:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150433749936491.360093.516011490&type=1&l=58efcd75ff
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