We finally made it to Rangitoto Island on Sunday, at the second time of asking. The weather was glorious, not a cloud in the sky, in sharp contrast to the previous 3 or 4 days further north. We cought the 9.15 ferry, arriving just under half an hour later. The island itself was formed after a volcanic eruption just 600 years ago although it's thought to be extinct now. Before arriving we had already decided to take the route to the top and back before catching the 12.45 ferry back to Auckland. It was interesting to see some mums & dads struggling with pushchairs, they obviously presumed the track would be pushchair friendly. It wasn't - far from it. The walk to the summit (about an hour) was unremarkable. The flora was pretty boring (only the strong and seemingly most uninteresting plants can grow here) and there was little fauna to speak of. However the view from the top was astounding - we could see all of Auckland City, a number of the other islands and even as far over as the Coromandel Peninsula some 50 kms away. It was worth the trudge and we spent a good half hour taking in the views and having a pre-packed sarnie. On the way back down we visited the lava caves where we ventured about 100 metres through a semi-dark passageway that eventually came out further down the hill - all great fun. It was a little more dangerous than it sounds (although not alot if truth be known) as we forgot to pack a torch.

Leaving Auckland we headed south to Waitomo - home of the famous glow-worm caves and 'black-water rafting'. En route we saw small lambs, piglets, and also calves...maybe spring really is on the way and we'll get some better weather. We also saw (well Jen did) a 'weird looking thing, bit like a cross between a deer and a horse' - her words, not mine. Black-water rafting is where you climb down into a cave and then float inside on an inner tube down some rapids and also through the glow-worm caves. It was superb, despite the fact that they got us dressed up like extras from 'Fashion Retards - the Movie'. The wetsuits/helmets et al did the trick and kept us relatively warm and we went through a couple of caves with hundred of glow-worms in them. In the pitch black it was an enthralling sight. Apparently the life-span of a glow-worm is thus: eat for 9 months, have sex for 3 days, give birth and die. Apart from the last couple of days that sounds like just about the best lifestyle you could ask for. Our guide, John, also does 'proper' caving and has got 'stuck' on a couple of occasions on a vertical squeeze or something like that. He says last year a woman was stuck for 42 hours and that 90% of people who get 'stuck' die. You can probably appreciate that he wasn't selling this sport to me that well...

Anyhow the jumping down waterfalls, floating and the like was amazing - a great hour or so and, had we had more time and money we'd have probably done it again.

We moved on again afterwards and are now in Rotorua - home to Zorbing (throwing youself down a hill in a big ball), luging (throwing youself down a hill on a cart) and nice relaxing thermal spas, which we're going to need after the first 2 activities.

Tomorrow is our 3rd wedding anniversary, and we're booked into a nice hotel, that we can't really afford for a couple of nights to celebrate. We're also going to go luging, golfing, and thermal spa-ing tomorrow, before the hangi in the evening - traditional Maori show and meal - tomorrow night.

Close followers of this tripe will know I like my irony and here we are again...Jen has broken a tooth (well a filling has fallen out). You couldn't get more ironic unless you were a recruitment consultant who didn't know how or where to find a job...erm....