Jul 2006

Since we've last updated we've both jumped out of a plane strapped to strangers from 12000ft, and no it wasnt some new bizzare drinking game the Kiwi's have thought up, it was our first skydive, hopefully the first of many. We were scheduled to do it 2 days ago but due to weather not holding up we were postponed untill first thing yesterday, so we had gone though most of the anxious feelings and nervousness, on saying that it doesnt mean we both weren't cacking it before hand.

Us putting a brave face on just before getting kitted up.

We both had great instructors who sort of put our minds at rest and the journey up in the very small very rattly plane was suprisingly o.k. Reality set in once the door was opened and people started hurtling themselves out one by one, thankully this process was fairly rapid and before we knew it we were sitting at the door with our legs hanging out and with one look back (for a pre-jump photo) we were out.

Me on the way out, I know the pic looks superimposed but I promise its not, we've got a DVD with more proof if needed! (WARNING: DVD contains graphic facial movement that some viewers may find offensive or just plain wrong)

The freefall lasted about 45 seconds, long enough to stretch out cheeks by a good 8 inches and to make our mouths dryer than a barmaids armpit, but it was the best bit, just a really intense feeling with views of both the East and West coast of NZ amazing! once the chute was opened all was left was a gentle ride down to the ground during which time the instructor even gave me a shot at controlling the chute. Our only complaint was it was over all too quickly and if we get a chance to have another go well do it in the drop of a 'human from 12000ft'!.

We cant really top that event I wouldnt have thought from now on in, but we'll attatch a few pictures of a national park (Taringiao or summit like that) very beatiful!

Snowy national park.

Terinaki falls.

Tan with snow.

Us-lake Roturia.

Take care all, Ant and Tan xx

Another week or two has passed and we thought it was about time we gave you all an update, unfortunately no pictures as we've used our limit on here but we'll try and e-mail some more to you all soon, we will wait till then for you to thank us for filling your inbox's.

Not a great deal to report from our last 10/12 days or so in Australia, we didnt do a lot, mainly lazing by the pool making the most of the warm weather when we could. We did go to Saturday in the park "festival" its in inverted commars as we're not sure it actually classes as a festival, it didnt really live up to expectations but thats probably more to do with us being spoilt at home with the best festival in the world (Glastonbury!)

Last tuesday we arrived at Auckland airport after a 4 and a half hour flight from Cairns, to be honest the weather wasn't as bad as we had expected, cool yes but not quite brass monkeys so touch wood that'll still be the case when we next update once we're on the South Island (the far colder of the two). Auckland was good, much like many other cities but we enjoyed our few days there, great food (the fish and chips in particular) yes we're really branching out and trying all the local delicassies! We went up the Sky tower there, the tallest building in the Southern hemisphere apparantly, got some great ariel pictures of the city.

We've taken out another 'wicked camper' this one's called 'Dickhead' but amazingly its far less offensive than goold old Charlie. Its a little smaller than Charlie but is a 4X4 which i'm sure we are going to make full use of by the end of this leg, no more getting laughed at for getting stuck in the mud! HA!

We took 'Dickhead' North at first to Northland (wouldnt have guessed from the name I bet?) We visited 90mile beach, which as the name suggests is a large area of sand and sea, the Bay of Islands along with the Largest Kauri tree in the world (second largest species after Californian redwoods) it truely was a monster over 18m in circumference thats around the base(I knew that maths GCSE would come in usefull..........even though it took me four attempts....sorry I digress) anyway very large and very impressive. We then took a couple of days to visit family my (Ant) Grandfathers brother who lives in Whangarei pronounced Faw-ngar-ai yep the New Zealand place names are just as confusing as the Welsh (for all you non Welsh of course) and Tans cousins, in-laws in Hamilton which was really nice, NZ already more than anywhere else has a really homley feel to it, maybe its the visiting family, the weather or the rugby or a mix of the three, but we're really enjoying.

We're now in Rotorua, which smells like Port Talbot after a curry. It's full of steaming Geysers, sticky mud and eggy wiffs but its a fantastic place, so many amazing things to see and do, with that in mind we'll bid our farewells and get to it.

Cheerybye, Ant and Tan xx

Us overlooking Whitehaven inlet, weather-not so good.

G'day Mates, how is everyone, thanks for the comments, its always great to get them!

Since we last updated we've done more driving (in fact the last section) seen some more great things, met some top people and have finally got some good weather, so we're not just as jealous about the weather reports from back home as we were!.

We got to the Whitsundays on a cool and rainy day and even thought twice about spending a princely amount to go and visit them, but it would have been like going to Burger king and not buying a burger..... it just doesnt happen. We plumped for a day trip on an ocean raft, which to give you an idea is a large Dinghy with 2 aircraft engines as outboards, they are the boats which you see going down large rivers in the U.S and NZ, great fun. The boat took us (rather quickly) to a small island for some snorkelling first off, it wasnt quite as warm as snorkelling in Thailand but with a wetsuit and some moving about it wasn't too bad either. saw some weird and wonderfull things under the water including a shark spotting claim by Tan, she did say it was just a baby though. We then went onto to Whitehaven inlet and beach, both absolutley breathtaking you can see why it gets voted worlds number one beach regularly, although we didnt have perfect weather the sun did appear for us at lunch when we arrived at the beach, it gave us a chance to go for a swim and feed some fish. Also included was a bushwalk which included licking an Ants bum, now the conclusion most of you have jumped to is not neccassarily the correct one, although it is the same one as I jumped to when the guide first suggested it. The Ants are local and green-arsed ones which taste kind of like lime, i'd imagine they're pretty good draped over a Margerita, we'll see if tesco will stock them. The journey back consisted of the driver breaking the speed of sound doing various dounuts and handbrake turns, several of the older people in the group making full use of their colostimy bags and me loosing a flip-flop (thong!) But it has to be one of the best days we've had all along.

Fishy, on the great barrier reef.

From Airlee beach (the Whitsundays) we headed to Cairns, our final destination stopping off a few times on route, including a day long stop in Atherton just West of Cairns, it had 5 or 6 beatifull waterfalls which we're glad we spent the time going inland to visit.

Us at a waterfall in Atherton.

Making use of our waterproof camera again.

We're now in Cairns and have dropped charlie off *sob* but as soon as we land in icy cold New Zeland we're taking another loudly painted 'wicked camper' out!

Hope everyone well, Love from Ant and Tan xx xx