Hello All! We are finally in Auckland after our five day mad dash around the North Island. I have to say I'm most impressed with how much we have packed in!

After Wanganui, we went to the Waitomo Glow worm caves, which were fantastic! We went on our tour through the caves to the 'Cathedral', where the Tenors and Kiri Te Kanawa have sung, and a member of our group sang a little hymn for us all - amazing! Then we went on a boat through the caves to see the glow wornms - lots of little blue lights highlighting the caves for us.

We then drove on Rotorua for the thermal pools - all very foul smelling like sulphur! The pools were all sorts of colours, including one which one luminous snot green - nice! We then went onto the Bay of Islands (where James' relatives used to live, but sadly don't anymore!), which were beautiful!

We visited Waitangi where the famous treaty was signed, where basically the Maori gave away sovereignty of their land, in return for 'protection' from the Crown. It was us or the French! We then took a mad day trip up to Cape Reinga, which is the northermost tip of New Zealand. To get there we took a coach along ninety mile beach (in fact only 50 miles long), but had to drive on the sand and sea to get there! Very cool!

We arrived in Auckland last night, and today I have been dragging James round the famous Xena beaches (all VERY interesting) with the black sand, etc. which got all over the van. Luckily, the hire comapny didn't notice today when we handed it in, nor the electircal cabel that James managed to break by driving away with it still attached to the van! OOPS!

Off to Fiji in two days for a short break, and then it's back to the UK by the end of the week! Am typing this whild drunk - i hope it all makes sense! Take care!