Where do I begin?

Hells yeah, y'all, I'm back on the road! Well, it's not all fun and games, of course. I had to leave several good good friends back in ChCh, which is probably the worst thing about travelling. That, and not having enough money, EVER, to do the things that you want to do... But I'll be raking in the casheesh soon enough, so it's not all doom and gloom! Thanks (huge thanks, in fact) go out to Tam, Mel, EmJizzle, and Phil for the last south island road trip, it was fun. I'll miss you all, and already do.

Of course all the other folks back in good ol' ChCh will also be missed, and you know who you are. Thanks for the memories. So long, and thanks for all the fish.

Now, back to the travelling bit. Hopped on the ferry to Wellington on a beautiful cloud free day. Waved goodbyes across the bay to the ones I love the most, and set off into the distance. The trip itself was pretty uneventful, but once I arrived in Wellington I was determined not to get stuck in a rut and stay at the hostel. Nice city, Wellington, and my only full day there was spent walking around taking a few photos, visiting a couple museums, and generally being a tourist. Luckily there were plenty of other tourists to blend in with. Met a couple nice people, which always makes the stay that little bit brighter.

Wednesday morning I got on my Magic Mystery Bus (beam me up Scotty was our driver, in only his third ever solo trip. What joy awaited me!) at the oh-so-early hour of 7.55am. Off on the road we went, with fresh-faced Scotty telling us interesting banter that he read out of the Magic Bus Driver Handbook along the way... I'm sorry, but please don't re-hash all the same stuff you have been told in training. But if you absolutely HAVE to, at least get the facts right and remember names.

After a few gratuitous stops along the way we arrived in Napier, the art deco capital of New Zealand. Napier was levelled by a massive earthquake at the turn of the 20th century, and it was rebuilt in an art deco style. Unfortunately they seemed to have forgotten over the years that art deco is a fairly boring style of architecture, so it just ended up being any other town. Oh well. The hostel I stayed at was interesting. It used to be the local prison, and we got to sleep in the old prison cells or officers' buildings. The shower blocks were, well, interesting, with a small plywood board covering your tiddly bits. Thankfully there weren't any extremely tall or short people staying at the time. The creepiest bit about the hostel though, was the fact that they had decorated some of the cells with dummies and other "prison-esque" articles. You'd be walking through the halls and suddenly see this person looking at you through the bars, only to turn around and see that it was some mannequin. Wierd.

The next day we were off to Taupo, where I'm writing this right now. Nice little town, with the cheapest skydiving in the world. I signed up to do a 12,000ft jump, all for the low-low price of $145. Unfortunately when we arrived it was really windy, so the jump was called off. We arranged to jump in the morning (today) weather permitting, but it's been raining since yesterday evening, so no jump today. Now it's scheduled for 8.30am tomorrow morning, exactly two hours before the Magic Mystery Bus is scheduled to come and get me to take me to the next spot. Talk about cutting it short!

Anyway, instead of skydiving yesterday I walked to this little stream that is heated by thermal vents in the earth's crust, so I had a bit of a free hot spa by the side of the river. Mind you, it was bloody freakin' hot, so I didn't stay long. Instead I went back to the hostel, cracked a beer, and hopped in the hot spa there. Haha! Made a few friends, which was nice, and had a good time.

So today is a bit of a write off, really. I can't go for a walk along the lake, which is what I wanted to do, because it's too rainy and wet. Instead I've already watched "The Incredibles", eaten breakfast and lunch, played pool with an englishman who didn't know how to play pool, walked into town to buy some dinner food, and now I'm writing this. Oh well.

Tomorrow should be more eventful. Early morning skydive, bus to Rotorua for a stopover to see the bubbling thermal pools, and a couple nights in Mount Maunganui. The hostel there is meant to be great, with free breakfast AND free dinner. Who could ask for anything more?