Otorohanga Cottage Lodge

... and even the carbon dioxide we bring in to this very cool environment.

Northland

Our next goal was to head up to Cape Reinga and lighthouse of the same name. When we arrived the skies were fairly clear and the wind was blowing only a small fraction of the power it's known for in this area. As has been the trend, a new storm was expected to arrive that evening so we got the cameras and took a short but beautiful walk down to the ...

... Brooks you idiot what did you get me into smile. We got to the site suited up our gear which consisted of a hardhat, wetsuit, rain boots, light, and abseil harness. Then came our great abseiling lesson. The field behind the warehouse like building that we suited in was on a 30 degree decline. "Ok, the line goes in out, in and back out and remember if you want to stop, thumb up the bum and that means lock the rope directly behind your ...

... in mount rapheu about 3.5 hours away from here, so looked into car hire, but as i'm under 25 it was working out at around 140 dollars for the weekend....if i was 25 it would be 111.. not fair! So i decided i would stay here and see some of new plymouths sights before i leave, becuase next weekend I have booked a mammouth trip to christchurch to meet up with laura and dan from uni doing their elective there. Am spending 2 days in christchurch, and then were going to drive ...

... The falls were stunning but we couldn't spend much time there as we hadn't anticipated how long the dirt track would take us & it was beginning to get dark. We decided to try & get as near to Auckland as we could, so we stopped in a town called Mercer & had a drink in an Irish bar nearby before camping in the car park.

After a few days in Auckland, we had to drop Christina off at the airport as she was flying back to meet her sister & friend from Germany ...

... very popular concept after 5 weeks of meat deprivation in India beforehand. Everyone congregated in the bar before heading over to the common room for some cheap (and legitimate) drinking of goon and vodka- needless to say everyone seemed to be having a really good time. The next morning we got a little bit of a (much needed) lie in before heading or 'cruising on,'to quote Josh, towards Taupo where the majority of ...

Gutted we were upon arrival at Otorahanga and the realisation that there was NO MINT TIFFIN!!! WTF?! Yes, as you can guess we were pretty much unamused! Hours later we were still saying things like 'Can't believe we came all the way from Scotland and they didn't have any of the f-in tiffin!' LOL! So sad I know, but we were looking forward to it for sooooo long! Not getting married, not going to NZ, but the mint tiffin! LMAO!! Ok, ok, so onto the proper blog ...

... 20 seconds. i know it doesnt sound like much but it was really fun. our zorb almost jumped the high fence embankment and i got launched across the zorbe and took out alex. we were all laughing so hard it was a good time. we did this three times and it never got boring. the second run we all took individually down the zig-zag, since ...

... the complete lack of barf and diarrhea). We flew into Auckland on New Zealand's North Island. For any of you who didn't know that New Zealand has a north island and a south island, don't feel bad - in our blissfully ignorant existence prior to our trip planning, we didn't know either! From Auckland, we went immediately north and the scenery was amazing. While we have visited some marvelous sights over the last three months, Tracy and I had ...

Quiet drive to Otorahanga, alleged to be an archetypal NZ town: everything on the main street, celebrating kiwi icons such as Anchor dairy products and gumboots. The big attraction is the opportunity to see real kiwi birds. These are flightless creatures with no wings but a long beak that they use to root around for tasty morsels. They are normally nocturnal but the bird park (yes, we visited a bird park) has a ...

... although they are organised enough to a leave space for a runway at the side. Once fledged the birds take off for Oz, with the survivors of this marathon flight returning to raise fluffballs of their own.

Worn out by the walk back (dawdling is unwise as the route is tidal) we moved on to the Te Urewera National Park. This oasis of lakes and forests in the middle of the north island is sparsely settled, and accessed only by a lengthy, narrow, twisting gravel road. We ...