Diving, sailing, Zorbing and Quad biking

Poor Knights Island
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Wow, we've done so much in the last few weeks that I think I might be here for a while.

First up, Congrats to Dan! If you want to know why I'm sure he'll tell you!

Fortunately for you though I think I might be kicked out when the photo shop closes in an hour. I think I last left off when we were about to walk the Queen Carlotte track.  This stretches for 70K down a peninsular on the north of the South Island. Ill simply say it was pretty stunning and we were greatful for the bladder of wine we bought with us on the first night.  We met some interesting people and I'm sure Jo will share her thoughts on the Noonoo placement device (I know it's spelt correstly, I checked with her) if you want to ask her. -Apparantly it's a part of a cats brain.

Does my bum look big in this?
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After 3 days we got back and were pretty knackered but didn't have a minute to stop as we jumped straight on our ferry and headed for the North island.  We spend a day in the Wellington museum (I was sceptical following some very boring times spent in the V+A museum in London when I was younger) however it was well worth the recomendations and I had great fun - it was a sort of cross between the Natural history museum (big skelletons), the science museum (lots of things to play with) and a lot of Maori stuff thrown in.

The morning after the night before....
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Bombed up to Napier - wierd Art Deco town (all art deco not just a few bits) it felt a bit dream like, then headed into the centre where all the volcanic activity. lots of bits of steaming earth, that sort of thing, in fact you can just drive alongside bits of field that are steaming with cows standing round wondering what you are looking at.

We tried to walk the Tongariro crossing acouple of times but there were 80Km/h winds so we weren't allowed up.  After some careful planning on Jo, Tanya and Viki's part we all met up in Taupo (seemed a bit of a coincidence but I didn't say anything) anyhow as you do when you meet old frinds in foreign places we had a few jars, the outcome of which was that  Jo's never showing her face in Taupo again and Tanya and Viki ended up with half our clothing at the end of the night.  Fortunately we bumped into them in the morning (no planning they had our phones as well) and we got everything back apart from our memories - the photos are funny though!

Swimming with the fishys
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We saw some more geysers with them and then relaxed in the steeming pools before they had to leave and the next day Jo and I made our way through Rotorua. One of the things you can do there is Zorbing which I'd promised to do.

Zorbing is th best thing you can do on your own for 2 minutes.

It's pretty simple really, all you do is get in a massive inflateable beach ball with 6 inches of water and roll down hill.  The ball is about 12 ft tall with 1 1/2 ft walls and the space inside has 6 inches of water. There is a small hole about 1ft wide that you have to dive through like superman to get in then they zip you up and give you a little push. I tried to run but after about 5-10 m it's going too fast. The next 2 minutes is just hilarious I couldn't stop laughing I had no idea which way was up, every time I thought I was working it out the ball would hit a bump and the world would change.

Underwater world
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Brilliant, everyone should do this!

We then went up to the Coromandel Peninsular which is very beautiful and totaly unspoilt we climbed a few hills there and met even more kids. - the kids here never seem to be in school they are always doing adventure stuff. On Jo's birthday we headed down to the hot beach and stayed in a hotel - I'll let Jo fill you in on the details.

Since then we have come up to the far North for an intensive program of Diving Sailing, Quad biking and Kayaking.

Learning to Gybe
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We completed our Advanced diving course in what Jaques Cousteau claimed was the best sub tropical dive site in the world - it was very cool, lots of diving in caves and underwater arches masses of fish and increadibly clear water. We could cruise through the kelp fields and feel like we were flying.  Unfortunately one of the reasons we went there was to dive on a couple of sunken wrecks but the weather came in and it would have been too dificult to get back on the boat. - there were more school kids on the boat!

Driving off the edge of the world
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We legged it up to the far north were there are huge 300m - 600m tall sand dunes and hired a quad bike to raz around on. Once on the bike you can just point your way down and floor it! 70Km/h down them and if you change direction it's all over. fantastic fun and some awesome scenery.

We then chartered a yacht on the Bay of Islands for a couple of days - For those of you who like a description of the place well it's....... a.... Bay .....full of......Islands, enough said really!  I think Jo was a little nervous and asked me when exactly I was last in charge of a boat this size with no one else around! tThere were 20 knot winds the whole time and we had a brilliant time, very peaceful and just the two of us in the middle of the sea.

Quad biking on the beach
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We checked the internet when we got back to find that my Mum had kindly bought Jo a Kayaking trip on the esturies around there for her birthday. We booked for next day and and had a great time kayaking through the mangrove swamps and up to the waterfalls.

I'm running out of time so I'll pass you over to Jojo.

Rupert

Hi all,

2 days later Kayakers were airlifted from this river
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It's true - you can run but you can't hide.... We may be on the other side of the world but the date's still the same and the big 3 - 0 has well and truly caught up with me! Huge thanks to everyone for the e-cards, emails, texts and phone calls welcoming me to the dirty thirties (and thanks also to those 20 somethings who called to gloat.... your time will come).

I had a great birthday - and got well and truly spoilt which was fabulous! We spend the day on the Coromandel which is an amazing place. We visited one beautiful beach where you take a spade and dig a 'bath' in the sand and it fills with hot thermal water, amazing. You need to be a little careful where you dig though - some places are a little chilly and some hot hot hot! We ended up sharing our 'bath' with a dutch family which was very nice, if a little surreal.

The Zorb
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I think Rups has covered most of what we've been doing so I'll just add my highlights....

The town of Napier (Rich, Sue - have a card on it's way to you!) is just like stepping back in time to an art deco wonderland, it's also appropriately set in the middle of Hawkes bay wine country which allowed a quick stock up from our wine bike tour.

After Napier we headed in to Taupo and met up with Viki and Tanya, oh what a night. Say no more than we were all a little dazed, confused and hungover the next day so headed out to the thermal baths for a chill. We were under the impression we could swim in these baths so turned up equipped with swimmers and hangovers only to be met with some very stange looks. We weren't sure what exactly was going on so Tanya (her punishment for being the least hungover) was sent in to find out what was going on and where we could change. She was told that the water in the baths was over 70 degrees and it's advisable to stay on dry land. Oops. We went in anway and were met with some incredible (and smelly) volcanic activity, smoking landscapes and bubbling mud pools.

Huge ball of noise
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Rups loved his Zorbing (it was hilarious to watch - this huge inflatable ball rolling down the hill with SO much noise coming out of it!), and I loved the quad biking! Driving over the 'edge of the world' down the blackest of black runs on a four wheel drive bike was awesome. There's an adrenaline lover in me after all!

The Bay of Islands were also amazing (although Rach and Chris you were missed), we spent 2 days sailing around little bays relaxing and teaching me to sail - awesome. A yatch is now on the 'when we get home' wish list! The kayaking around the mangroves was also beautiful - even though we occasionally got stuck in trees.

The excitement
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Lots of news from home - when we first went away we were all a little concerned about how Dan was going to fill his days without Rups annoying him, well it turns out he got busy quite quickly and as a result Dan and Claire are expecting a baby! Congratulations! Rather considerately they're not due till we get back in the UK so Rups can be avaliable for drinking with Dan duties and I can buy baby grows, opening bubbles and changing nappies! SO EXCITING!

Other congratulations also to Caroline and Scott who have just announced their engagement and to Tim and Rach who are also expecting their 3rd baby in September. Phew - it's all go with good news!

That's about it before we get kicked out - you will notice that I haven't mentioned the 'noo noo' device Rupert talked about. That's definiely one to be saved until after a few glasses of the good stuff.

Hope all is OK and congrats again to baby Drury!

xxxx