BUNGEEEEEEE was pretty scary but all good fun in the end. Being the heaviest, they hooked up the livestock strength uber-bungee and made me go first, which was even scarier, but meant I got to laugh at everyone else afterwards.

I have just returned from a 3-day tour of the Northlands. This invovled a trip up the coast to the Bay of Islands, stopping for some horse riding. My mount was a greedy, independant spirited beast called Barbie, who was so annoyingly similar to me in those respects that we seemed to get on in the end. Infact, where it not for her equine species, we could of had something special... ah well

Next day we took a tour to the very top of New Zeland, Cape Regina, took in some sights, and went Dune boarding (throwing yourself down sand dunes on a boogie board). At this point our tour bus broke down, which gave us four extra hours to Dune Board in (yea) until a rescue bus could be sent out. Then end of the tour was a nighttime drive down 90 mile beach at high tide (rather than the low tide we were supposed to do it in) which made for some wave dodging and fast riding down there. All in all, a lot better than it was billed !!!

Still, we got an apology note and a free trip on the "Duck" bus/boat the next day to make up for the bits of the tour we missed. So today we headed out on the duck, drove past a golf course and then down the ramp into the bay. At this point we heard a loud cracking noise as the engine hit the base of the ramp and broke off, leaving us stranded in the water. Being much closer to home, the rescue was a much quicker affair, but needless to say the guy who owned the company was very VERY apologetic this time (we all thought it was hilarious). As they knew we were due to rejoin our tour bus back to Auckland today, they gave us half of our money back for that day trip in the end, which was fair.

Back in Auckland now - but leaving straight away to explore the rest of the North Island. Lost my camera lead, so photos are probably a couple of weeks away until I get to the next major town (Wellington).

Made it to Auckland ! I'll write more when I've actually done something - so stop reading and get on with your jobs...

Ok - so far Auckland has been a little dull for a major town, but has given me time to plan my full-on trip around NZ. On Monday I depart for a 3-day tour of the Bay of Islands (the top bit), and then I head back through Auckland for a 17 day+ tour of the North and South Islands. The "+" part meaning I can jump off at stops of spend extra days there if they look good fun.

So, left with a weekend to kill, I have signed up for the Auckland bridge bungee jump - to take place in just over an hour... Don't feel too scared to be honest, but that's probably as I'm not standing on the edge of the 43m drop yet !

Bula !

After 10 fun days of relaxing around the various isles of Fiji, I find myself rejuvinatred, slightly better tanned, missing some more basic items (towel, sunglasses - whoops) and feeling quite chilled. Some of the final point may be attributed to today's extended kava ceremony whilst waiting for my flight out of here :)

During my time I read books, played lots of drinking games with fellow travellers, snorkled and even got to dress up as a Fijian cheif during one evening of entertainments. As always, pictures will follow soon.

The only real story was the transfer between the two islands, which we attempted to do in one day going via the mainland to pick up supplies. This seemed a good idea until you remember getting supplies is not as easy as popping down Tescos - we are in a completley different culture and unknown town. So in buying food and booze we missed the bus (by choice) and got a taxi down to our dock - arriving one hour too late, which even by "fiji time" is a little tardy. The sun had set, the wharf was empty and dark and no-one seemed to be around...

Eventually we found one small shop that was still open, who called out to the island and got us a boat. Although, from language barriers, we were not exactly sure this was the case until the boat was physically there... and even then we didn't really know if it was going to the RIGHT island ! All good traveller fun - not too worrying - but a little stress reminds you how much fun relaxing on a beach is :)

Off to NZ on a 4:30am flight soon - but first time to sample the local goat curry and one last Fiji Bitter

Grand Canyon was a big hole in the floor but quite impressive. I'd love to go back there and do a 2-3 day trek into the center of it - just walking around the outside didn't quite capture how godamn big it was :)

But after a few hours of walking and gawping, we headed back into San Diego where we stayed round mission beach and partyed a few days away. Then back into LA for some final all-night benders on Sunset strip (during which our SUV aquired a new outside paint job from a new drunken friend) and then a tearful farewell to Ben and Will... sniff...

Anyhow, one 11 hour plane journey later, I am now in the tropical paradise of Fiji where I have no idea where I am or what to do and I have no local money at all. Some more reseach could of been good ! Fortunatley I have been taken under the wing of three helpful girls who have all got some idea of what they are doing, so I am happily adopting them as guides and drinking buddies !

Long time offline - apologies for current e-mail silence ! I've been through San Diego now, nice beaches and a few travelling reunions (hello to Erwann and Jessica). Whilst staying near the mexican border, a quck day trip to Tijuana was in order - which heralded a day of bad tourist shlock and cheap cheap tequila drinks !

Then on Saturday I got a lift up to Los Angles, where I met up with Will and Ben for some holiday style relaxing. After 10 weeks of solo tourism, it was nice to kick back and relax for a while, and having a car in the US is a great bonus - especially in spread out LA. We went down to universal studios and rode all the rides, went drinking on Sunset Blvd and cruised the beaches and Hollywood sign.

Then we moved onto Las Vegus and toured the casinos. Another random travel reunion (hey Joe) and some low stake blackjack games culimanated in an all night bender of dollar beers, dancing util 5am and then gambling on $5 stake blackjack whilst utterly drunk. Fortunatley I had, like everyone else in Vegus, a system ! So despite my intoxication, I just followed the system and walked off $100 richer - basically covering the cost of previous losses and 3 days of all-you-can-eat buffets.

Currently the three of us are chilling out a few miles away from the Grand Canyon which should be tomorrows expedition. Better sign off and get some kip - only got about 2-3 hours last night and feeling a little drained now !

Hey - in San Francisco right now. Just had a real moment standing outside the hostel with two American guys in the military telling us how lucky we are they were keeping us alive. Esp. from Iraq soldiers. I tried to explain to them that we invaded iraq - and that they had nothing to do with 9/11 - but they didn't seem to get it. Infact, when I conjectuered that had the 20 odd terroists been based in Britiain rather than Afganisitan, would they have bombed great britain, one guy said "yes - because they were stopping American freedom". I laughed so hard, it was like a really good Bill Hicks or Python sketch. Except real, which made it a little worrying and scary.

Anyhow, off to see AL-CA-TRAZ now. Wooo.