New Zealand in a nutshell

Hey all, haven't really posted in a while due to being extremely busy. In the past 2 weeks I spent a week in New Zealand taking a hop-on hop-off bus around the north island, it's very cool. I then flew to Melbourne, AUS where I am now.

Top highlights of NZ were going to a rugby match, auckland blues v south africa sharks. we sat next to an extremely wicked guy from Johannesburg who pretty much made the game. I told him I heard Johannesburg is pretty darn sketch and he just said yep and looked up. I was kinda weirded out because I thought he was ignoring us now but after a few moments I realized he was showing us his GIANT scar on his neck from a knife wound he sustained in S. Africa. At that moment the Sharks scored a try and he got up hecking all the Blues fans by singing "it ain't nothing but a real thing baby." Now that's a celebration!

Kiwis have the weirdest flavor chips in the world as well. A sample of the flavors: Chicken, Lamb & Mint, Mince pie and Cheese. We tried the lamb and mint and it was pretty much that, yuck!

Also trecked to Rotorua where they have geothermal parks where the ground is literally bubbling everywhere and steam is coming out, looks pretty much like hell. Our extremely colorful bus driver then told us a story of an old bus driver telling his passengers that the mud in these baths have healing powers and that they should put it on their faces. They then proceeded to do so. Apparently the mud doesn't burn right away, but a few seconds later the people were running in circles splashing loads of water on their faces to clear the mud. Funny and cruel at the same time.

In Rotorua we also went to a Hangi, which is a Maori dinner and cultural show. The highlight was the Haka, which is the war dance they do. It is insanely cool and the All Blacks (NZ rugby team) do it as well before each test match. The food itself was just meh but all you can eat, so as the poor backpackers we are, we ate alot. Here is a video of the tribal ritual of determining if guests are enemies or friends:



Speaking of food, the following nights consisted of eating 2 kilos of ground beef for a lunch and 2 dinners, quite manly if i do say so myself.

We then trecked around Taupo and Mt Manganui, very cool areas but unfortunatly we had a flight to catch in Auckland so we didn't get to explore as much as we'd liked. Must come back to New Zealand in the future. Ah yes, one of our newly aquired buddies jumped off the auckland bridge to bungy, the rest of us weren't so brave, but next time I shall.

Now I'm in Melbourne about to take off for Sydney on Wednesday. Probably will then take the same sorta bus I took in NZ up to Cairns, the biggest area to go diving out to the great barrier reef. I'll try to update along the way.

I shall leave you with a joke our driver made. How do you circumcise a hillbilly?

... Kick his sister in the jaw.

badabing, badaboom, i'm out.