Rotorua Area

From there we drove a big leg for us down through Auckland in the rain and to the Coromandel peninsula, where we camped in the Kaurango valley in quite a remote spot... It was pretty scenic but we were up early complaining about the van and the uneven cushions and the collapsing bed. We got it fixed at a local garage – they were really helpful – and then we went to hospital to get Jenni's poorly shoulder looked at. This was probably caused by falling through the bed at 3am!! The bed was just collapsing every few hours and was getting stupid.

The hospital was pretty effective and also free. Jenni got a sling and told to take some tablets as she strained her deltoids. Nothing serious though.

We took a drive to Kiwi country and made it to Maketu in the Bay of Plenty. Stayed at a really nicely located camp site right on the water's edge. The facilities were pretty skanky though which was a shame, as the location was great. We only had a day there before heading to Rotorua.

Rotorua was a bit stinky upon arrival, but based around lakes and mountains and volcanoes it was very pretty. The i-site was easy to find and helped us find somewhere to stay – the Malone's Motel – Korean run, spa bath in every room and nicely set out. Pretty good value. We made use of the bath on both days we stayed, saw the Okere falls and the whitewater rafts going along there. We took a drive to the Green and Blue lakes (they weren't so coloured that we wanted to photo them) and to Lake Terawera which was also very pretty.

Lake Rotorua in town is basically the top of a volcano, the crater being the lake, and reminded me of the film with Tommy Lee Jones – Volcano – where the lake water started bubbling and erupting! The hotels can all have spa baths as there's basically a free supply of hot water under the ground.

We met up with relatives from the UK – Helen, Alison and her husband, Dave, and their son. It was a nice bit of lunch and a good chance to catch up with them, so someone from home has seen us in the flesh! We just relaxed in the afternoon and made full use of the spa bath...

We weren't going far, so mini golf then supply shopping before heading out for Waikite valley, another thermal area. We got to the associated camp site with the hot springs and got our spot. I napped as I was bushed, but later on went to the pools. They were well up near 40 degrees, lovely and hot. I spent about an hour going from pool to pool, relaxing and watching the clouds go by and the countryside. So very relaxing. And hot, I was glowing for a couple of hours afterwards!

Rest of Northland

After all the excitement of the previous day, we were up early and headed out on our day cruise around the bay of islands. It took 6 ½ hours but we saw loads of beautiful scenery, a seal, gannets nesting, the hole in the rock – which we sailed through as well – and most importantly, dolphin spotting. We found some early on and had we had better clothes, we would have swum with them. As it was freezing, we missed out. There were at least 6 wild dolphins swimming with the boat, under, rolling about and having fun, until the 15 people dived in the water to swim with them! I think it was a little too much. We got back, grabbed fish and chips and a mussoman curry for tea and headed back to the motel – I had an early morning next day – at 5am I got up and watched United lose to Chelsea, 12 men...

The next journey was from Paihia to Maitai beach, which was towards the top of New Zealand. We didn't go to ninety mile beach, but this was pretty close. Again, another beautiful DOC site right by the beach. So we took a little walk to the beach and relaxed in the sunshine before our long journey the following day.

I think we'd had enough of heading north, so we were aiming for Whangarei again, but via the west coast, rather than back the way we'd come. So it was a twisty journey through to Kaitaia and then down the coast, but we took a shortcut, and the ferry between Kohukohu and Rawene in the Hokianga delta!. We'd stopped for an amazing lunch before the ferry at Waterline, proper homemade burger and pizza... mmm... Anyway, we got back on the coastal road and ended up in the Waipoua forest, famous I believe and most of the big trips come through here. We found out why when we came across the Kauri tree there. It was MASSIVE. Much bigger than either of us expected! Just phenomenally huge in girth. We were amazed even later when we thought back. We just expected a slightly large tree, not one that big!

We'd headed back, slightly northwards, to Whangarei as we wanted to go see the big cats of Zion animal park and The Lion Man (as seen on TV). So we aimed for the 9:30 performance and we had the place to ourselves for 2 hours! It was supposed to be a 1 ½ hour tour, but we got a little longer.. The Lion Man himself was not there, he'd been dismissed from the park about a year earlier. Somewhat surprising, but there were legal cases and what not going on against him, so something big went on.

But, we enjoyed our tour nonetheless, seeing 41 big cats including a Black Leopard (very handsome), 2 servals, a baboon, 11 tigers and 25 lions and 2 cheetahs. There were also 2 pigs and 2 ostriches and some deer. Zion, the main lion there, is the star of discovery channel adverts and the Lion, the witch and the Wardrobe film. It was very cool, but no interaction, even for the workers due to a fatality in May at the park – a tiger mauled a guy to death and was put to sleep so they could rescue at least one more guy in the cage. A shame, and no idea why the Tiger turned... But we learnt a lot and enjoyed our time..

Skydive

The guys from the skydive place turned up and Jenni and I hopped in the van. She was surprised when we arrived at the airport in Kerikeri for the jump. Not sure where she thought the plane would take off from!

I signed in, met the guy that owned the place, an English ex-para and settled in for the safety briefing. I only learnt 3 things: hold your harness going out, kick them in the arse and arch your hips down. When tapped on the shoulder I could spread my arms out wide! That was about it, then it was suit up and away we go!! It went awfully quickly.

I was to go in the 2^nd group, the little plane could only take 6 people – 3 pros and 3 jumpers. So I had to wait the 20 minutes or so for them to get back, nervous times, oh yes. Then it was my turn.

I got suited up into my jump suit, got my hat and goggles and headed out with Gavin. We were in the plane first, so last out, we all crammed in and then it was off. Quite a smooth flight in such a little plane, a great view of the bay of islands and then round to our drop zone. We were informed of milestones such as ½ way up, 5, 3 and 1 minutes to go before leaping. Then the first guy went and boy do you shoot away from the plane! The the 2^nd guy and then our turn... It was surprisingly easy to get to the door and “ready, set, go” out of there. 45 seconds of freefall. What can I say? There are no words to describe it but you feel the air rushing past you, but the ground is so far away that it is not a bother. Then the chute is deployed and down we floated to the ground. Absolutely amazing. Would I do it again? Definitely.

Northland

We drove a little bit further north from Waipu, stopping briefly in Whangarei. We looked for a fudge factory but never found it somewhere near the waterfront... We headed a bit further north – to Whananaki – which was about a 27km drive out to the coast. Again, a beautiful camp site really close to the beach. We managed to find the time to play for hours by the sea... In rockpools, along the sand, in the stream running to the beach (where we found shells – like the shell petrol company shells – and floated them down the river, helping them along the way), and generally walked the whole length of it. There was a great view out to sea and we made the most of it before we called it a night.

We could have stayed another day, but instead we headed up to the Bay of Islands and Paihia. It was a gorgeous place, the sun was shining and so we decided to stay for a few days. After checking out a nearby campsite, we opted for the i-site and then found the Abel Tasman motel right in the bay with a gorgeous view out to sea. We were able to catch up with the internet that afternoon, along with some mini golf. Although good in concept, without edges on a hillside, the execution of the minigolf was not great. It was super difficult.

The following day was a lazy one, a wander round the shops and out to the harbour to book a cruise for the next day. We wandered back and I asked the guy at reception about skydiving. He called up to see if they were going to go out again that day, which they were, and let me know they'd be there to pick me up in half an hour! I wasn't expecting that, but it worked out well as I didn't have to make the conscious decision to go for it!

Auckland

We again toured the city, had a great curry for lunch at Raviz on Hobson. Highly recommended! Then we called in at the cinema and theatre to check out show times before returning for $10 Tuesdays at the flicks to watch Surrogates, a bit of a twist on the Matrix theme. Good nonetheless, if a little predictable.

A shame that at 2:36 our neighbours chose to be inconsiderate and noisy for about 4 hours. I complained as we checked out about them. We headed north, stopped for supplies at New World supermarket – a little expensive compared to home, whereas eating out seems reasonable. Maybe I haven't grasped the exchange rate yet.

We ended up at Waipu, at a campsite over the sand dunes from an amazing beach. We sat down on the beach with a drink and some chocolate soaking up the sun before having tea. Maybe there'll be some animals tonight!!

Body Combat 43 Filming

I had already popped into Les Mills to get a pass sorted out for me to go to the filming later that night, but nothing had really been resolved. So, about 7pm I headed back to Les Mills, picked up my pass and got changed. The gym is pretty huge with a big “meat-head” section downstairs on the ground level of the main gym. There were some cardio machines scattered about upstairs that I went on to warm up.

Through a little tunnel was the studio section with a dedicated circuit room and 2 studios. I headed up to the top floor – studio 1 – and watched the end of the Body Attack filming before my class started. Seemed like hard work, lots of bouncing!!

Soon came time to start the Body Combat filming and it was interesting to see how the DVD is formed from a class, where are the natural breaks and where are sections cut out! Track 4 had a great new move, “the shoot”, track 6 was pretty intense then really went off. Looking forward to teaching that one! Track 8 was a great finishing track before some push ups and sit ups that will toughen the fighters up a bit.

Dan reckoned that track 4 would hurt your butt cheeks, he wasn't wrong, mine are still hurting 2 days after! After the filming finished I got to meet Dan, Rach, Hernan and Oscar. 4 people that I've seen on the DVDs and have now met in person. Hopefully won't be the last time either. Pizza and beer for the aftershow and then I just wandered back up to the hotel where I was too excited to be sleeping!

New Zealand

Auckland

The airport at Melbourne was pretty anal about a lot of things, check in times, security issues and the likes but we had no problems really. It was a shame that our lounge only opened an hour before we were due to take off, but we still got some lunch in! Air New Zealand were really good, and especially Margot in the cabin crew who was excellent with Jenni. Also sat next to Jenni was a young girl who liked a chat, so kept Jenni pretty occupied throughout the flight and therefore it was no problem. Food was good too, Shepherds pie :)

We were due to pick up a campervan on arrival, but we put it back a day due to our arrival time. Just as well as we bought some booze, got stopped at customs as we'd been camping in Australia and then took time to get our bags. So we stayed at an airport hotel, it was OK, nothing special and were picked up next day by Jucy...

After the usual rigmarole of getting the camper, we headed into Auckland City, found somewhere to park and had lunch. Discussing our options we decided it would be best to stay in a hotel in the city. We chose one in good proximity to Sky Tower, SkyCity, Les Mills and the city centre. It also had free parking and free wireless internet, so it was an Asian run hotel, yes!! I went for a haircut, we went to the sky tower and generally wandered around the city.