Our last week in NZ was just as much of a whirlwind as the first two, and we fitted in Wellington, Taupo, Rotorua, Waitomo, Coromandel and Auckland.

On our last morning on the South Island, we showered and came back to our cabin to find the holiday park’s resident ducks (Mr and Mrs) sitting on our porch, so we fed them some of the bread we had left in our cool-box. They were very tame and even took pieces of bread from our hands - very sweet.

After taking the InterIslander ferry, we arrived in Wellington at about five in the afternoon, and we met up with Mel who is originally from NZ but lived in the UK for eight years and has been back in NZ for about a year. We also met her English husband Sam, and the four of us took a swim in the harbour (it was freezing) before taking a bit of a tour of the area and then sharing a lovely Japanese meal in town. We had planned to find a hostel to stay in but Mel and Sam offered to put us up on their floor which was great as it meant that we could chat long into the night (and we got to share with their cat, Sherlock, which is always a bonus). The next morning we walked into town to explore a little, but we’re both a bit ‘over’ towns and cities at the moment so we probably didn’t really do it justice before having lunch at Fidels and jumping back in the car to drive to Taupo (sorry Wellington).

Taupo and Waitomo were the two highlights of our tour around the North Island; the North is definitely less spectacular than the South (but no less enjoyable for it).

When we arrived in Taupo in the afternoon, we checked into our holiday park, and picked up some leaflets for skydive companies. Simon had been wanting to skydive since our Gold Coast holiday in Australia, but I was a little less sure (because, you know, throwing yourself out of an aeroplane just isn’t normal), and out of the three companies, we found one who claimed to take good care of people who are nervous so that was the one we went for. We booked our skydive for the following morning, reasoning that it was best to get it done early in the day so that I wouldn’t have as much time to get nervous and there was less chance that I would chicken out! In the event, I actually was very calm - my instructor Steve was excellent and really took care of me. Once we were kitted up, we boarded the tiny fuschia-pink plane and rose up 15,000 feet into the air. While we were climbing, I spotted another plane and watched some of the people jump out - they had disappeared in about 2 seconds and that had me a little worried, although Steve assured me that you don’t feel it at that altitude (turns out he was right). Thankfully, when it comes to your turn to jump out of the plane, you’re attached to your instructor and it all happens very quickly so you don’t have time to panic.

The free-fall lasted about 60 seconds and was absolutely terrifying but quite cool at the same time (I screamed a lot but managed not to swear). Simon and I fell (I say ‘fell’ because you’re attached to someone else who is doing the jumping, and ‘jump’ implies that I was actually brave enough to do it of my own accord) out of the plane one after the other and so we got a glimpse of each other in free-fall, and then once the parachutes were open, we floated down fairly gently, getting an incredible view of Lake Taupo and the surrounding mountains. It was an incredible experience and I still can’t believe I fell out of a plane out of choice - Simon now thinks that I am incredibly brave and is hoping that I will continue to do daredevil-type things but I’m not entirely sure...

In Rotorua there are thermal pools everywhere and you can smell the sulphur as you drive into town. We spent a day and a night there, and experienced Te Puia which is a Maori cultural centre and thermal valley. We saw lots of thermal mud pools, and also caught a geyser going off which was fairly spectacular. We took part in a Maori concert, where lots of visitors gathered outside the main entrance to the Marae (meeting place). I volunteered Simon to be the visitors’ representative (Chief) (which I thought was rather nice of me) and he took part in the traditional karanga (welcome) where he had to set down a fern leaf on the ground for the Maori Warrior to pick up. It also meant that once we were inside the Marae, he had to shake hands and rub noses with all of the other Maori warriors which was pretty cool, and then we watched the show of song and dance including the poi dance, the ferocious haka (war challenge), and the complex tititorea (stick games).

In Waitomo, we booked a caving experience in the glow-worm caves which was also brilliant fun (and not quite as crazy as falling out of a plane). Along with six other people, we got into wetsuits, wellies (‘gumboots’), and harnesses, and with our guides Terry and Monkey (not his real name I suspect), abseiled down a narrow hole into a cave. Once inside, we zip-lined further into the cave, and then jumped off a ledge with a large rubber tube into a freezing cold river to float downstream in the pitch dark to see the glow-worms which was pretty amazing. Afterwards, we ditched the tubes and crawled through tiny holes, up and down waterfalls, and through more freezing water. At one point when we were climbing up a rock, Simon pinched Monkey’s bum, thinking it was mine. Thankfully he had a good sense of humour and wasn’t worried at all (I secretly think he was rather flattered).

We spent our last two days in NZ in Auckland, arriving the day before my birthday; we did a little bit of exploring (it’s quite nice, not much to do) and then met up with Richard, an old friend from Harrow Light Opera who now lives in Devonport in Auckland. The three of us took a ferry across to the city and met up with Martin and Greg, two other old friends from Harrow Light who are originally from NZ and moved back there after spending about ten years in the U.K. We had a really great evening, having dinner and a few drinks and catching up and chatting about old times. The following day, we flew out of Auckland, via Tahiti, to LA. We crossed the international date line and so for a few hours it was my birthday again, and then when we landed in LA it was the day before so we actually got two Tuesdays which is always nice.

New Zealand was awesome, and we had a brilliant three weeks there. Although we packed everything into nineteen days, we could have spent at least a month or two there, and we would heartily recommend it to anyone - like I said in our last blog, if you get the chance to go, you really, really should.