South Island!

I am soooooo sorry guys! I have been so out of contact with internet for a long time, but I'm here for you now! So last time we spoke I was about to drive the camper van on board the ferry to Wellington (I managed to do that in case you were wondering). A bit of seasickness later we were in the capital city of New Zealand! We stayed in Lower Hutt with a friend of my dad's (Dot), which was so amazing. She was so welcoming, and sleeping in a bed was brilliant too! The Saturday we were there we had a very leisurely morning (thanks to Dot) with a lovely breakfast and relaxing showers! We headed into Wellington to see the sights (and shops), and just really sat around in the evening! On Sunday Dot took us over to Martinborough to visit the famous wine region. 4 wineries later we were (only a little) merry and headed home via Greytown with a visit to a chocolate shop and an ice cream! We had a great dinner (on dad) on Sunday night and had a lovely tour of Lower Hutt up the hills with views of Wellington! Monday was cricket day! So exciting...we only got 2 1/2 hrs of play...but we won and I got so close to Alistair Cook and Kevin Pietersen it's unreal! The rest of St Patrick's Day we whiled away in the botanic gardens and in an Irish pub! Fun! Dot, who has Irish blood cooked us an awesome St Paddy's Day dinner with Kumara potatoes! Yummy! We unfortunately had to leave the loveliness that is Dot's house and head away to Tongariro National Park and the town of Ohakune.

We stopped off at Taihape and the Brown Sugar Cafe (thanks for the tip Dot) and had some fabulous chocolate brownies! The 3 volcanoes in the middle of the North Island (Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe and Tongariro) are a sight to see I can tell you! We climbed/drove up one side of Ruapehu when we arrived and drove up the other side the next day. We also did some beautiful walks around the Whakapapa ski area. On the way out of Ohakune we drove along the desert road with views of all 3 volcanoes. Stunning views! We then stopped briefly at Lake Taupo and after meeting some scary waiters in a coffee shop we headed on to Rotarua.

Roterua was so cool! We went up in the skyline (gondola) and then rode the luge all the way down...5 times and back up in the chair lift! So much fun! The beaches just north of Roterua are gorgeous too so we headed up to Mt Monganui and upon our return we headed over to the Polynesian spa...heated by the earth itself due to a thin crust in the area. We also went to the thermal wonderland at Waiutapu. The thin earth crust in the area forms the warm lakes and geysers which occur there in abundance. We say the Lady Knox Geyser erupt at 10:15...forced by a washing powder type substance! Rotarua is famous for it's Maori culture and we went to a Hangi organised in the Tamaki Maori Village. We first watched a concert and then had a meal which had been cooked in the ground (traditional Maori fashion!) So that was pretty jam packed!

We headed up to the Hot Water Beach where there are hot water pools on the coastline. It was manic! As it was Easter Sunday we didn't dig a hole oursleves but watched all the mental people doing it instead! We had a foot spa! Today we have arrived in Kerikeri which is in the Bay of Islands...a quick itinerary for the coming days:

Tues: Bay of Island cruise and drive to the Kaori coast for the Kaori Tree and kiwi spotting night walk.
Wed: Auckland
Thurs: Auckland
Fri: fly to LA!

Probably will update you again in LA! Sorry it was very rushed! See you all soon to update you properly! Only 10 days to go...yikes!