Back To New Zealand- Auckland Rotorua

Once again I was returning to New Zealand although this time it wasnt at some ridiculous hour and I knew what I was doing. I was sad to leave Sydney but excited to be returning to do more exploring in New Zealand.I left on a Friday afternoon and on the plane over I started talking to the lady sitting beside me. Turns out that we had a lot of similarities and we talked a bit. And when the plane was landing she asked how i was getting from the airport to the city. I told her that I was planning on getting the bus in and she said that her husband was collecting her and asked if i wanted a lift that it would be no problem. I being the backpacker and taking any opportunity to save money accepted and I was dropped to my location of need and very greatful to these wonderfully friendly and kind people that i met (if your reading this- Thanks Louise and Simon!. I was back in Auckland but this time i was all by myself. I didnt have anywhere to stay, I had to many bags but i was glad to be back. I checked myself into a hostel and got to my room at the same time as a lovely german girl and we also met our other room mate- from Cork!! Within minutes we were dumping our things and going out to get something to eat and drink. We spent the evening chatting and laughing and opening our hearts up. Its funny how open you are with strangers!!

The next morning I was on the beginning of my trip around New Zealand starting in Auckland and finishing in Queenstown in the South Island. We left Auckland at around 8 and made our way down to Rotorua stopping at various places for views of Auckland and a big stop at the Waitomo Caves to doBlack Water Rafting. This involved extremely tight wetsuits, hideous "gum boots", a big hard hat and a light on the hat... which mine didnt work! After a lot of breathing in deeply and wondering what we got ourselves into we made our way to the gaves and got ourselves a black round tube. From there we walked into the caves and jumped into freezing cold water ramped our legs around the person in front of us and floated through the cave feeling eels at our bums and looking at glow worms above us. We did at one stage have to stand at the edge of a wall with our back to the water and get pushed back into the water. That was great fun. After an hour and a bit, out water filled boots were pulled to the top of too many steps and we struggled to get our boots off and get rid of the water. The trip was finished with a hot shower and some hot soup before we had to jump on the bus and continue our journey down to Rotorua.