Hotel On Devonport Tauranga

... really had to get that pack weight down. I compromised and decided my Nivea face cleanser could double-up as shower gel, and I could get rid of the other skirt that I had packed. We eventually got the pack down to a reasonable weight &#8211; although I can confess to putting my moisturizer pack into the pack when Alan wasn&#8217;t looking. I mean, really &#8211; you can&#8217;t go without the moisturizer!<br>

... in New Zealand. We took it easy that night in preparation for our rafting in the morning. We got picked up at 9am the next morning and brought out to the whitewater rafting center. The sun was out and it was cracker of a day. we got kitted out in our wetsuits, lifejackets and helmets. After very brief safety instructions we got the raft in the water and jumped in. In our raft it was the me, the instructor, Rachel, Dave, and another girl from the magic bus. There ...

... evening. but the mid day was spent doing some mountain biking. we had heard from our travels that rotorua has world class mountain biking trails. so... what the hey, let us go! eunice and i are virgins to MTBing. sam had done it some and bobae was new at it as well. there is a reason why a grade of 4 out of 5 is considered difficult. with me leading, we headed for the difficult level. imagine going up a black diamond on your ...

Tauranga this morning.  I went out onto the veranda with my camera and could see land not to far away - we were going very slowly. Then I glimpsed some movement out of the corner of my eye, and there were two dolphins riding the wash from the ship. They were gone in a flash, but came back a few times, so I got some video of them. Amazingly fast, in perfect unison, they seemed to surf some waves before disappearing under the ship, and them reappearing for another ...

... one is by far better. The tracks are wider, faster and longer! I have attached some photos of the action. Don't be decieved by the photo of me. It looks like I am sitting still but I am actually moving at extreme speed (it is simply a trick of the camera).  I'll be back with day 2 soon! William

... t get back to Hamilton until nearly 11 pm, and I had to to stay awake and be an alert, well-informed academic all that time with an absolute dynamic superwoman who told me to telephone her at 7.30 am the following morning about something (and believe me, you don't argue!) and who said in passing during said phone call that she'e been doing emails after she'd dropped me off, and then also in the middle of the night and was then checking again at the ...

... with stenching steaming holes of sulphur bubbling up. The ground can be boiling hot so there are special boarded walkways and viewpoints. It's fascinating. Sometimes the ground was really soft and bouncy underfoot by particular steaming vents so it was quite unnerving: perhaps this ground was ripe for collapsing at any time as a result of the boiling temperatures....so we quickly moved on...especially as the soft and bouncy ground was right on the rim of the steaming vents! It was ...

We arrived Rotorua late in the afternoon with alot on the agenda. This city is known for extreme sports and we wanted to do most that they had to offer. I'll be quick with what we did on day 1 in Rotorua. We did the luge run 5 times in the cold and pouring rain. On run 4 the weather let up a bit so we really got some speed. The last run Mike went all out and crashed the luge in the rain. He was alright though ...

... for. It's pretty discouraging. We've been staying at Just the ducks nuts in Oetemetai and have been sharing a room with a very smelly german. Oh yA! we're basically in germany with all the germans that are in our hostel. Another little fun fact. As I was on my way to pick up Denise from a job trial, i found out that i had a flat front tyre(&lt;---that's how they spell it here). YES! $178 right outta my pocket! So I'm just really hoping for a good job....any job...i need money...NOW!

... de moeder en Tisha, de pup, worden wat onrustiger. Zullen we dan maar even de honden uitlaten? Euhm, ja, prima... (het wordt al laat in de middag en ik begrijp dat ik het stadten wel even vergeten kan). We komen aan in een bos en lopen een pad af... en op... en verder op... en nog verder omhoog.... hijg, puf, jeetje wat een klim zeg! Sheeba heeft het gelukkig net zo moeilijk als ik en samen vormen we de achterhoede. Het blijkt dat Paul naar de rivier wil lopen. Dat betekent dat ...