Sand Tobogganing, the Almighty Sand Dunes ( Plus Cape Reinga and Ninety Mile Beach)

Wow!! What an amazing day we've had today!! It's been the first really touristy thing we've done and it was ace!! We set off at nine this morning heading north to the cape, stopping off at the kauri exhibition/shop place, and the gumdiggers museum/thing. At both we got to witness trees that had been carbondated as 45000 years old. I personally can't comprehend something like that, but perhaps to put it in better terms, they have been through 5 ice ages. After these we headed up the highway to Cape Reinga - the northern most point of NZ, and saw the tree where the maori people believe the spirits begin their journey to the underworld. Plus youcan see where the Tasman and South Pacific meet. The views were amazing - many pics. We then went back on ourselves (well we had to really didn't we?!!) and went off down a rather windy road to a little bay for lunch. It was very pleasant. But the best was yet to come!! Sand tobogganing!! yeah baby, it was fantastic. The size of the dunes was unbelievable, i was expecting ones maybe twice the height of the blackpool dunes (duh!). These ones were, i don't know, over 5/6 times the height at least (I'm not good at estimates, so excuse me if that's wrong). Our driver Dennis (who was fab) told us the tallest were about 150 metres. We climbed up the side with our little blue toboggans, and plunged down again at amazing speed, sometimes only just managing to stay out of the stream at the bottom. If you ever get the chance you have to go. Then, alas, it was back on the bus and on to 90 mile beach (no more alas), which is apparently only 64 actual miles in length. We drove along the sand for 50 miles, stopping at points to firstly pick up our tea of clams, digging around the edge of the surf to find the little treasures (sally also managed to bag a crab, but he was released safe and sound - fear not!!), and secondly to witness a car that had got stranded 3 weeks earlier. It's half buried in the sand now. Don't worry we have pics of that too. Dennis sang us a few songs as we cruised along the sand, and eventually we turned of the beach, back on to the highway, and arrived back in Kaitaia about ten to 5. The clams are currently spitting out their sand and will soon be satisfying our hunger. Hope you are all well. Tarra for now. xx

German Showdown in One Street Town

Katie won crazy golf by cheating! Not playing Sally (as you won by cheating in Africa Mhairi) but playing Stefan, a crazy german guy we met last night. Ha ha Boris you may be a genius on the tennis courts but us Brits can cheat on the home-made crazy golf course and be victorious. (The crazy golf task was to get a golfball in an outdoor stove using a rolling pin, an easy task you might think but not so to the competitors who took an hour about it, with the ball ending up in the kitchen and other such inappropriate places). You might think why do this? But if you were in Kaitaia with us you would understand... it's a 'city' with one main street 1km long and nothing to do but drink wine with other backpackers. Stefan's travelling companion Christian insisted on showing us his weapon (home-made knife) over and over again, brandishing it when Katie refused to call 'The Dead Trousers' by their German name, die toten hosen. We have video footage- once Katie got her camera out there was no stopping him. On the journey up here in the coach we both felt sick. Ja. Tomorrow we head up the ninty mile beach (haha) to Cape Reinga to do some sand surfing (we couldn't spell tobogganing) and hopefully soak up some sun. The landscape is gorgeous and so are we. Goodbye xx Oh and a big shout out to Analisa, hopefully see you soon! xx

FISH OF DEATH OR HOKEY POKEY - YOU DECIDE!!!

So, it has been our last day and evening in city that is Auckland, well for a while at least, and oh yes we have been living on the wild side!! We went our separate ways this morning as Sal took a tramp ( a good-looking one too) up Mount Eden to enjoy a wonderful view of the city and surrounding area, and i stayed in to have some quiet time. We then joined forces to make our delicious lunch of baked potato, tuna, carrots and broccoli. It was then we made a tremendous discovery. That in this country on the far side of the world the name for honeycomb is hokey pokey as Katie found out when she bought a crunchie. Man I was jealous; the hokey pokey aspect made it seem all the more exciting. In the afternoon we hit the streets of Auckland and had dinner down by the harbour, and Katie faced her most deadly adversery yet, the fish of death! Only those that have had pictures emailed to you can truly appreciate the size of this monstrous beast... it made Moby Dick look as harmless as sponge-bob square pants. But she did not shy away from the struggle and plunged right in with gusto... an hour later she was rather gusto-less. But the fish was defeated. We celebrated by going up Sky Tower and watching the sun set over Auckland. Huzza! Tomorrow we head north on the bus up to the ninty-mile beach to catch some rays. The sun finally returned to us today... huzza, and huzza again!!! K and S xx
(sally thought this picture better represnted the fish of death situation than the previous one)

For the Newsome and Caig girls

Yesterday when me and Katie were shopping we found a second-hand clothes shop called Paper Bag Princess, with pictures and text from the book done in big murals on the wall, how cool! But they had changed the last bit from 'Ronald you are a toad' to 'Ronald you are a bum', so I'm not sure how much I approved of it...

Piratical adventures

I write to you all in a state of high excitement. I have pirate plasters!!! And a jolly roger patch to sew onto my backpack!! After spending the morning sorting out bus passes and hostel stuff, Katie and I took a walk down K Road, a very bohemian part of Auckland with lovely secondhand clothes shops and lots of bars and cafes. It was there I made my epic purchases... Katie actually has a poorly finger so had reason to wear a plaster but I couldn't wait so am wearing one despite having no cut. Rather like Nelly. I think he wore his plaster while his brother was in jail, so I'll wear mine in memory of all you guys at home. I always knew I was dead bling...
Hayley Westenra was lovely last night. The evening was made thoroughly ridiculous by mine and Katie's attempts to talk in a convincing Scottish accent all night. I don't think anyone was fooled. (i'm not sure, i think some were - ha ha the fools! K) Example: Och aye, we're away to have a wee bit of food just now, and then we may go up the big hoosie Sky Tower. See how bad it is? My point is proved! S x (Apologies to Mhairi, Alan, Ali, Allan, and Ainsley) xxx

Monsoon Weather

So us intrepid explorers get up ready for another day full of dangers, excitement and adventure only to find that it is raining, raining, raining so what else is there to do but let you all know what we have been up to? After the breathtaking experience of the Magic Numbers and the White Stripes we have been taking things a little more easy, trying to recover from the immense voyage over to this beautiful land. On Sunday we went to see the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe which would have been an entirely lovely experience, were it not for my awful realisation an hour before we went in that they don't have any orange ads on over here! Seven months without the Orange guy... (Mhairi, I think only you can truly understand the extent of my horror). I was a little consoled by a Boris-Becker type guy's attempt to pull Katie: "Nice glasses, I think they are Prada, jah?" After the film we had pizza at a funky Kiwi music cafe, that plays only New Zealand music. Some of it was pretty cool, which encouraged me in my mission to find a New Zealand rap band as cool as the French Old School. The local radio station is called Classic, and is ace. Lots of Abba, Dire Straits and S Club 7... rock and roll!
Yesterday we took a trip to the zoo, and both got a little over-excited at parts. Of course Katie was busy naming every animal she saw (hello Geoff the lion!). The penguins were away from home which made her upset, but we did both get to see real Kiwis which were incredibly cute. Right next to the zoo is a lovely lakeside park with swings, woo hoo... only slightly marred by the huge amount of seagulls lurking on the ground. However, you'll all be glad to know that the seagull here is a much smaller, less aggressive version of the henious deathgulls that patrol the Aberdeen skies, thank goodness.
Today the rain means all we can do is go and see King Kong... but tonight we're off to see Hayley Westenra in concert. Have been regailing Katie will my impressions of her this morning. I think she's impressed. S x

Disasters in Hotmailing (for Sally's mum)

I've tried sending emails but for some reason my hotmail account isn't letting me send anything, so I can't reply to your email. I will try again later, but would you mind sending this address to Anna and Katie in the meantime? I don't think either of them have it. And please don't panic, the leech was absolutely tiny! Love to you and Dad xx

We're Here!!!! (sally gets sucked by leech!!)

Hello!! It's Sunday morning with us here in Auckland, and another sunny day, but can you believe it was raining when we arrived?!! We've just moved out from our first hostel into the YHA, which we much prefer methinks, and headed to this here internet place to make contact with the outside world. How is everybody?
We were at the BIG DAY OUT on Friday, which was a one day music festival, and saw the likes of the subways, the magic numbers (who were absolutely brilliant) and the kings of leon (thought of you and your dancin' mark!!) all while you lot were fast asleep.
We took a trip on the ferry to a place called Devonport yesterday, just across the harbour from Auckland. It's very pretty, lots of gorgeous houses. Got to have a paddle in the South Pacific too which we enjoyed, until Sally got sucked by this white leech thing - she was bleeding and everything!! (It wasn't much blood at all, more like a pin prick, but still, not what you want!!)
Who knows what today holds, we may tell you after, we may not. That's life!! tarra for now. xx