A brief synopsis of the NZ adventure- Part 1

NZ is gloriously green first off.
Waitomo caves were great first staying in a lovely B&B, and doing a sedate trip underground to see glowworms, and then another though a nice cave system with Moa bones in it. The next day was an adrenaline fuelled trip abseiling underground, and 2* down waterfalls, still underground. Then crawling through quite small caves, and having a tea break shortly before surfacing into the light.
Next up was Rotoroa, with its geothermic activity, and sulfurous smells. It had great scenery, with hot pools with lurid yellows, warm reds, and bubbling mud. It also had an awesome collection of mountain bike tracks, which I sampled, without too many injuries.
I can't believe I almost forgot white water rafting a grade V river, but even better was white water surfing, with a funny inflatable thing infront and a sturdy wetsuit!
Then up to the North to climb though Kauri trees, well a small staircase made of one, and marvel in the forests at how big they get( and how long they live 1000+ yrs)
Then before getting back to Auckland, going on water plumes, made of steel, so pitch black inside, and you get washed along, twisting and turning, droping and rocking, and having a great time and finally spat out, only to run back up to the top, to start again.
After a few days of relative calm it was off to Taupo, for another dose of madness, sky diving. First there was the initial aniticipation, and to build it the first day I did the Tongariro Crossing ' the best one day walk in NZ', this may be if you have good weather, but it was raining, but it was great fun, and reminded me of LotR, funnily enough one of the mountains was Mt Doom from the film, with the rain it reminded me of the bit with lakes with bodies floating in it!.
The next day I was supposed to jump, but there were too many clouds, so the suspense was building more so. The afternoon I practised jumping from height by doing the rocks and ropes course, the highlight was jumping from a wobbly pole and grabbing a trapeze.
Next day was the Jump from 12k, it was like a breath of fresh air being fired at you, starting with my mouth open, I'm not quite sure what my cheeks would have looked like if they'd been filmed.
Time for some culture, so next was Napier, a beautiful city with loads of Art Deco building, which also had a really nice backpackers with sharp knives in the kitchen. There was a small festival on, so saw lots of old cars, steam engines and people dressed up in period clothing.

Oz in a nutshell

Oz started with pouring rain in Oz and getting totally drenched. I tried Ceroc there, which was a touch disapointing. In Sydney I was staying in Kings Cross, which, is very like Soho, so quite a lively place to stay. Bondi beach was a disapointment, Manly beach was a really nice beach, good for running along. I then moved on to Port McQuarry(sp) and got the PADI open water qualification, saw 6 dolphins swimming in the harbour, enjoyed the escape from Sydney and the fresh air, saw a cool Lizard. Next up was Byron bay, staying in the Arts Factory, a place with Didg lessons, yoga classes and self defence classes, I started my day there early as I'd missed my bus from PM, due to it not being labelled Greyhound, grrr, so I arrived at 4 in the morning, or some ungodly hour, so I managed to get to see the sunrise from the coast, v.cool. It was also my first experience with the green eyed monster- the evil steroid taking native horse fly, it's got a nasty bite!.
In Byron did more surfing, which was fantastic, and ended up with farmers arms- the burn pattern from burning only your hands and a bit of your arm.
Next up was Brisbane, were I briefly got to meet my uncle, and had a very brief, but pleasant stay.
Next was Noosa, and doing a Canoe trip, which was very wet, and preceeded with a stay in a bush camp which stunk to high heaven of sweat, and had a very lively collection of Mossies.
Next was Fraser Island, which was superb, with gorgeous beaches, great company, and lakes you could swim across, some with turtles.
Whit Sundays could have been good were in not for the fact it was raining, and the boat had water coming in down the side of the mast, though around the windows, and most beds were wet.
Last up was Cairns, and the diving was a major let down, snorkling being about as good.
Last up was back to Sydney, and nice weather again:-) and getting to finally walk across the bridge.
The weather let the place down sadly, but hey better than the weather at home:-)

SA The last bits

Well met up with my dad, and ended up doing some fantastic walks in the Drakensburg mountains, had a superb xmas, and had loads of fun playing with Andrew my 8 yr old brother. Most games were based about throwing him in the pool, and usually ending up there myself, doing silly army marching songs on the way to the supermarket, And trying to teach him the times tables using a obscure method( it made an 8 hour bus journey fun for the two of us... I hope). We also went to some local game reserves, which had no predators, and had fun walking around and seeing lots of Zebras and lucky spot of Giraffe.
NY Eve was fireworks and lightning, with the fireworks a poor second.
Then off to J'Burg, where my Aunt lives, and consisted of more fun in the pool, and going to a great game reserve, with magestic lions and a good aviary.
Then the flight to Oz