New Zealand

As we begun our trip to New Zealand I was excited just to be in an airport again! I miss airports here, I’ve got used to flying all the time at home. So I spent my time trying on perfume and browsing duty free. The flight seemed to go really quickly- perhaps due to the onboard entertainment systems. I’m a big fan of having my own personal screen for shows and games even though the flight is only 3 hours. They should introduce them on trains and buses!

So we arrived in New Zealand around 12pm and caught the airport bus into Auckland where we had booked to stay the night in Nomads. The hostel was extremely noisy as it was right above a club but I was so exhausted I slept right through it until our alarm went off early in the morning so that we could catch our 7.30am bus to Rotorua. This first bus was actually a Great Sights tour bus so we had a really good driver who was telling us all about everything we passed. The countryside is very similar to English countryside. And there were a lot of cows –many more than sheep, which was unexpected. Our North Island bus ticket had included a stop at Waitamo Glow Worm Caves. They were amazing! At first it just seemed like a standard cave tour, in a huge cave with normal rock so nothing too exciting there. We were then shown some small patches of glowworms and some that were low down so that we could see the lines they put down to catch food. After this we went down to the river that flowed through the cave where we all got in a large boat that was going to take us out. As we travelled along the river the amount of glow worms was amazing. The cave wasn’t lit in this part so the glow worms really stood out. It was just like looking at the stars in the sky –just really up close! It was so beautiful.

We then got back on the bus and carried on to Rotorua where were greeted by a horrible smell of egg due to all the sulphur produced by the geothermal activity. We stopped there for a few days but never really got used to the smell. At least it wasn’t very strong in the area we were staying. It was amazing to see the bubbling, steaming pools of water and mud though. It was like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It’s so strange to think that the water I was standing by was heated by the centre of the earth. You expect that sort of thing to be impossible or a volcano. We spent the rest of the day wandering round the town and visiting the park with the hot water pools. Then in the evening there was a night market on which we had a little wander around before claiming our free drink from the hostel in the local pub.

The next day we slept for ages and then got up to have a wander by the lake where there were baby black swans! They were so, so cute! We didn’t really do much this day, but we’d been so crazy busy lately it was nice to have a rest and a chance to actually sleep in. We arranged to go to Hell’s gate park and spa the next day. We were picked up by a minibus in the morning and taken to Hell’s Gate Thermal Park. We firstly walked around the park where we saw all the various thermal pools –all different temperatures, pHs and colours. It was interesting to see the variety of it all –we even saw a hot waterfall. Where usually you see spray from the falling water, steam was rising. Very strange to see. Some of the pools were so hot they would bubble ferociously up into the air –even metres high! After the walk we came back to the Wai Ora Spa where we had a mud bath! It was so much fun sitting outside in a warm bath covering ourselves in mud! I think everyone should probably play in mud more often. We stayed in the mud bath for 20 minutes before having a cold shower and getting in the Sulphur pool. A large hot bath where the sulphur water is supposed to have healing properties. From the sulphur bath you could look out over the hot pools where the water was taken from. It is quite a surreal experience sat outside in New Zealand in geothermally heated sulphur water looking out at the bubbling pools and rocky landscape. I think this was definitely the highlight of the trip, and really the geothermal activity was the reason I went to the North Island. It is like nowhere else I’ve ever been. After our time in the spa we looked around the shop and tried our hand at wood carving. It looked surprisingly good after the carver fixed it up for me [Symbol]. We then headed back to the town for some lunch and a wander around. That night we had nachos in the pub with the free drinks which was quite delicious.

The next day we went for a walk around the lake but came to a part of the track that was completely flooded –we had managed to make our way around the puddles up until now but now the track was completely covered and water would have been up to out ankles. So we decided to go back and walk through the golf course. I think we would have been dryer wading through the puddles. The golf course was completely waterlogged and our feet got drenched! But at least at the end of it we got to see the baby swans. Someone started feeding the birds bread and it was so funny to see all the geese run over with their wings spread wide. The birds were crazy stealing bread off each other and there were so, so many of them!

That afternoon we got the bus to Napier where we found a nice hostel to stay in that seemed more like a house. Somehow the dorm room we paid for turned out to be a twin so that was a bit of a bonus too. Napier is interesting because it was more or less completely destroyed by an earthquake in the 1930s and was rebuilt in the art deco style. Although to be honest I never worked out what that was but whilst we were there we had a good game of mini golf, spied on the seals through the fence of the closed sealife centre and walked up to the top of a hill to lookout over the coast and the port. I later rolled down the hill which was great fun, something I have not been doing enough of. I even started a small craze as some teenage girls saw me doing it and then went to have a go. I also somehow managed to have my picture taken with a random Asian guy at the lookout. I accidently walked down a path into his picture so he decided he would have it with me. It was quite amusing and he seemed a nice chap who was studying something that I couldn’t quite understand in NZ.

From Napier we travelled on to Wellington, which I think was my favourite place we went to on the trip. We checked into a hostel right by the station when we arrived before having a wander into town and then a look around Te Papa museum. The museum was really quite good we went in an earthquake room where it’s as if you are actually in an earthquake, and we saw the only colossus squid on public display. It was huge- many metres long and apparently has the largest eyes in the world. It is even supposed to have shrunk since the found it, but it was truly massive. It was caught accidently by Antarctic fisherman when their line caught the fish the squid was eating. As they pulled the fish up the squid just did not let go and ended up coming up to the surface from the depths of the ocean. It was really interesting to see it.

The next day in Wellington we had tickets for the city sights bus tour that had come free with our bus pass. So we got the bus at 9.30am and were driven around the city. We saw the wooden houses that people still live in and the way Wellington is expanding up into the hills rather than outwards because it is constricted to the small place in the valley. People who live there have to walk up hundreds of steps or use cable card to get from the roads up to their houses! We got off the bus in town and then caught the cable car up to the top of the hill. We then went to the Carter Astronomy where we sat in reclined chairs to watch a film on the ceiling of the dome about the stars and how the universe was made. It was really interesting and really cool how you were surrounded by the film. I would definitely recommend it. We then had a look around the exhibit before going to the cable car museum where we sat in one of the old cars that used to be used. We then walked through the botanical gardens, stopping at the duck pond and to see the rose garden. We then got back on the citysights bus to go to see parliament. As we walked in we had to go through metal scanners and leave our bags in the cloakroom before we could go on the tour. Luckily one was just starting as we got there. It was actually so much more interesting than I had anticipated. We learned how absolutely anybody can write in to have an audience with the committee as they make their decisions on which laws to pass and I was made Queen for the day as I stood exactly where the throne is put if any of the royal family are ever there. I think I’d now like to do one of these tours in London but I wonder if you even can there... There was also an Anne Frank exhibition at parliament which was interesting to see.

From parliament we walked into town and did a little shopping before heading back to the hostel where we played pool with a couple of guys and I even managed to pot a few balls! Later we went and ate tea by the harbour looking over the water. I was sad to leave Wellington and in hindsight we should have planned an extra day there instead of in Auckland but at least we made the most of our time there. We got an early bus to Taupo but on the bus encountered the most awful, ridiculous girl I think I’ve met. The bus was really full and me and Ryan had managed to get the last pair of seats together. At a later stop a girl and her boyfriend got on but had to sit apart as there weren’t any seats for them and this girl ended up sitting in front of us. We stopped for a quick loo stop and me and Ryan had both got off the bus, literally only for a few minutes. But when I got back on I saw this girl moving my bag and sitting in my seat. Giving her the benefit of the doubt I told her she was sat in my seat (perhaps it was an accident) but all she replied was “So?”. I asked her to move and she refused and then started to call her boyfriend over to go and sit in Ryan’s seat, but all of our stuff was still there. I looked at him to see what he was going to do and he at least acknowledged that it was our seat and told the girl to just stay where they were. But she was so stupid she just refused to move and then other people on the bus started to get involved telling her to move and eventually she did but really what did she think she was doing. As she moved Ryan had got on the bus so I told him what had been going on and then got threatened by this girl that she would “punch me in the head” if I kept on talking about her. She was crazy. At the next rest stop other people were commenting about her to us and telling us to get on the bus quick so she didn’t steal our seats again!

Thankfully we were able to get away from her at Taupo. We checked into a hostel and then went for a wander around the town. Down by the lake there is a hole in one golf course where the hole is out in the lake. We watched a few people having a go but no one managed to do it. The next day we got up quite early and had a morning game of pool in the hostel before heading out to walk to Huka Falls. The waterfall was amazing! The water was travelling ridiculously fast, but it's not like a normal waterfall. The fall forms as the river is constricted because the type of rock changes to one that is not easily degraded. The water speeds along, shooting into the air and off rocks before it makes it to the ledge of the waterfall (which is really actually quite small in comparison). At one point the water seems to form an inverse wave as it hits a bump and is forced backwards over itself. I have never seen such powerful water -you would easily go along the 100m length in about 10seconds if you fell in but you would nearly definitely die on the way. We walked back along the path to the hot water stream where geothermally heated water joins the lake so you can sit in it as if in a bath. Although the heat is a bit more patchy and less consistent. Weirdly as we sat there rocks were floating by us. Apparently they'd all been washed down in a storm. These porous stones were easily carved so we sat there in the river bath making stone shapes. It was lovely. On the way back to the hostel we walked through a park and found a zipwire to play on. Some Asian people also found it at the same time and the granny Asian even had a go! It was quite funny.

The next day Ryan was watching the rugby so I went shopping when it was on and then we went to play crazy golf. Which I won and amazingly we both got hole in ones on the last shot which meant we won a free round. It was quite amusing because Ryan's went straight in to the hole whilst mine bounced off the sides for a while before going in. But I clearly meant for it to happen like that. Unfortunately we didn't have time for a 2nd round so we gave the tickets to reception to give to the next people to come in before going to catch our bus to Auckland and our final stop in New Zealand.

When we arrived in Auckland we checked into the first hostel we saw (which turned out it wasn't that nice as we had a boiling hot room in the basement with no windows) before going to a little chinese restaurant for tea. I decided to try something new so I had wonton noodle soup. It turned out I liked the wontons but not the soup, it actually made me want to be a little bit sick. Anyways, the restaurant was located opposite a reverse bungy so we were able to watch crazy people getting shot up into the air. We didn't really do too much in Auckland, there wasn't really anything to see. We spent the first day wandering around town and down to the harbour.Where there was actually a giant rubber duck that was really cool. But when we went into the iSites even though couldn't tell us anything we could do without spending loads of money. We thought about going up the skytower but as we were walking in someone walked out going "That was definitely not worth it". So we thought perhaps we should save our dollars. When we went back to the hostel we asked the staff there and a funny gay man recommended walking up the volcano Mount Eden. So that's what we spent our evening doing but it took so long. We had been told it would take 40mins so me, Ryan and 2 Swedish guys we'd met in our room headed out. It ended up taking us hours, we seemed to have walked halfway across town and out into the suburbs before we were anywhere near, and by that time it was dark so we had to scramble up the side of the volcano and every short cut we took seemed to be the complete opposite. It was a very beautiful view from the top though -definitely worth going to instead of the sky tower. It was cool to see the crater as well -a huge, huge dip down like an inverse hill. You could barely even see the bottom of it, although it was pretty dark by this point.

The next day in Auckland was spent looking round the shops, using the internet (trying to find a house) and then getting a bus to the seaside. It was pretty average there though. I had a paddle but decided it was too chilli for a swim. Stupidly we had decided to go the airport early for our 6am flight rather than staying in the hostel so we spent our night not being able to sleep in an airport.

New Zealand was great but it seemed to end on a bit of a low note with Auckland being so disappointing. I'd really like to go back though -next time to the South Island to see some glaciers!



lots of love xxxxxxx

Tuesday 14th December

I've been writing blogs as I go but not had anywhere to upload them. So now that I've got back to Brisbane a few have built up... I've named them as when I wrote them x

It’s been a week since we left Cairns and already we have been to Palm Cove, Mossman Gorge, Cape Tribulation, Port Douglas, The Boulders, Josephine Falls, Mission Beach and Townsville.

On the day we got our van it seemed like we had so much still to do. We had to get our rego, sort out insurance and roadside assistance, and then buy everything we were going to need for living out of a van. It took such a long time getting everything sorted. The walk to get our rego took so long –we didn’t realise how far it was and ended up walking in flip flops in the midday sun. I ended up with blisters but we did manage to sort everything out and get our number plates! It’s really quite exciting –you only get number plates once the vehicle has a rego so we ended up walking around town with them and taking pictures by the lagoon! We then headed to Peter Pan where you can use the internet cheaply and sorted out the insurance and roadside assistance. This took a lot longer than expected so we didn’t end up finishing in time to go to the shops. We decided to just get the van and pick our stuff up from the hostel before finding somewhere to sleep. So we fitted the number plates and drove off, only to find that the van was making the most awful screeching noise. We tried to ring the man who sold it to us but he wasn’t picking up and I started to panic that we had been conned. This was a horrible time and felt like all our plans were going to go wrong. We were able to get hold of the seller who was rather helpful telling us it was probably the fan belt and could be easily and cheaply fixed and told us where we could find some garages. In the morning we drove to the garage only to find that the noise had completely disappeared. We asked them about it and they said that the fan belt can screech while it warms up if it hasn’t been driven in a while. So we went off to buy all our goodies that we were going to need but in that time the screeching came back. We went back to the garage and they tightened the fan belt up and we both felt a lot better and headed up to Palm Cove where we would spend our first night.

It was very exciting driving the van for the first time, especially after all the trauma we’d had trying to sort it all out. We only went a little way up the coast to Palm Cove, a little beach side town, with mostly only restaurants and a few souvenir shops. We booked into the campsite and set up for the night and cooked our first meal of pasta with Moroccan tuna. We bought lots of little tins of different flavours of tuna so have been living off those with pasta quite a lot. When we were at the campsite I was walking back from the toilets to see Ryan waving and signalling to me. I was very confused as to what he was doing but managed to figure out that he wanted me to see something. I was so excited to find a wallaby sitting in the grass by the track! He jumped off when I came closer but he was so cute! We saw him later once it got dark as well. We also saw some yellow-crested cockatoos.

The next day we drove up to Mossman Gorge. The highway follows the coast here so it was really beautiful and the sea looked so, so blue. At Mossman Gorge we went on a walk through the rainforest and then for a swim in a river that was so chilly I thought I must be back at home. It was Ryan’s first experience of the rainforest and our first proper trip so was all quite exciting! It started raining when we were swimming but it just added to the experience of swimming in a rainforest in the rain! We then drove towards Cape Tribulation taking the ferry across the river. Once on the other side of the river we looked for somewhere to camp, but the campsites were really quite expensive. We eventually found a rest stop to pull in at and started to sort all our stuff out. But by this time it had gotten dark and there were a million bugs about that were all attracted to our lights. Whilst cooking we ended up surrounded by bugs and eventually ran away to sit in the van as a huge 3inch bug decided to join us. We then went straight to bed to get away from all the bugs but were woken up by torrential rain and storms. It was so scary –the lightning and thunder seemed relentless and at some points seemed to be right over us. It eventually died down a bit and we managed to get a bit of sleep only to be woken up by more. This was not an enjoyable night and I can say that I definitely do not recommend camping in the rainforest –you will be eaten and the storms are ridiculous!

The next day a tired Ryan and Claire finished the journey to Cape Tribulation which is the tiniest of places. There seems to be a shop, a cafe, a hostel and a bat house. We booked in to go Jungle Surfing at 9.45am. This is where you zip wire through the canopy of the rainforest. Ryan got a little nervous but it was a lot of fun. We got given helmets with our new names on them- I got Cookie Monster and Ryan- Tinkerbell. They seemed quite appropriate. We then went through the rainforest to the first platform where we went uphill along a zip wire to the 2^nd platform. Purely man powered by one of the guides. I was feeling very sorry for him by the time it got to the last person! We were able to go along the next 2 zip wires in pairs and were able to take some good photos from above. For the last 2 lines we went firstly with no hands and then the last one upside down! Jungle surfing was really good and the beach at Cape Tribulation was nice but there wasn’t much else there for us so we decided to head back after lunch and a shower. Once you have seen the rainforest once it seems to all look the same to be honest. We ate lunch on the beach although managed to undercook the pasta and pick a fairly awful flavour of tuna –tomato and rosemary. It was really quite awful. So we bought ice lollies and I managed to win a free one (instant win a bit like McDonalds monopoly), which I had yesterday and won another one! I’m hopeful that this is going to continue and provide me with ice creams for the entire trip!

So we drove back down to Port Douglas, stopping off at the cutest little tea shop. It was at the Daintree tea plantation and was just a chest of tea with a money box beside it and a couple of visitor books. There seem to be quite a lot of these honesty stalls around as there are fruit stalls at all the banana plantations, and other fruit farms. We bought a couple of bananas from one and I definitely thought that they were even more delicious for being so fresh.

Port Douglas is a lovely little town so we decided to stop the night and spend the day there the next day. It’s what I imagined most towns would be like here. We went off to look for somewhere to stay but the screeching fan belt had come back. We called out the RACQ and they said the fan belt would probably need replacing but they could tighten it to work just for now. We had it sorted at a garage in Port Douglas the next day while we lazed on the beach. I managed to get burnt whilst Ryan went off to the shops thoughL. When he got back we went for a swim in the 30˚C water which was so lovely, and as warm as a bath in places. The beach there was really beautiful and I wanted to stay longer but we figured there would be plenty more beautiful places to see. We went on the internet before leaving where I booked flight to New Zealand! I will be going on the 26^th January and coming back on the 8^th of February ready for Jamie to arrive! Ryan won’t be coming so I think I’m going to try and find a tour to book myself on to. I decided to go to the North Island as I want to go to the geothermic hot mud pools! It still seems a long way off now but I bet it will fly by. We then drove back to the campsite at Palm Cove to sleep, although ended up hanging around for ages in the morning as we put a wash on in the evening and then the washroom had been locked up. Whilst we were there we opened all our Christmas cards on the beach. It was 2 weeks before Christmas so seemed like a good day to do it. It seemed so strange opening Christmas cards and still doesn’t feel like Christmas here. I’m not sure it ever will. I got very homesick opening Christmas cards and started to wish I was coming back. I think Christmas day will be even sadder –but at least I’ll be having a BBQ on the beach!

From Palm Cove we headed to the boulders where there is a really nice free campsite. We had a bit of a chilled out day then went for a walk along the river and then a swim. It wasn’t quite as cold this time so was a bit more pleasant. The next morning we got up early and went to Josephine Falls. These are really beautiful waterfalls with a pool where you can swim, including natural water slides! We climbed up on to the rock and carefully made our way across the top to the place where you can slide down. It was a lot of fun and a little bit scary! So we went a few more times and took some videos! Josephine falls has been my favourite place so far –the waterfalls were amazing and the slides were so much fun! From there we drove to Mission Beach which we thought was going to be a huge tourist hub but turns out to be an extremely quiet town where the main activity seems to be sky diving. As we walked along the beach we saw 2 people setting a flag up and then looking up. Wondering what was going on we stopped to watch and suddenly started to see people falling out of the clouds! We watched as their parachutes opened and they slowly made their way down to land on the beach. All except the one who seemed to be the videographer who came flying down and tumbled on to the beach. It looked like so much fun and something which I thought I would never want to do has now become something I think I really want to do!

From Mission Beach we drove towards Townsville and stopped at a roadside rest area to sleep. We then drove the remainder to Townsville the next day only to find that the screeching fan belt had returned! We called out the RACQ who tightened it and said it wasn’t dangerous to drive with it and that we could call them out as many times as we like. I am ever hopeful that it won’t happen again but it does seem to have started a trend that seems set to continue. I am so pleased we decided to take out roadside assistance though as we seem to be making full use of it.

At Townsville we went for a swim in the lagoon area although stupidly I jumped in with my sunglasses on my head and they now seem to be lost forever. The lagoon was filled with sea water and the visibility was so poor you couldn’t even see your feet when stood up. We then went to Reef HQ an aquarium with a turtle hospital. The aquarium was quite good and we went on a feeding tour but the Turtle hospital was what really made it. You get to go behind the scenes to see where all the poorly turtles are looked after and the stories of them all. They had so many turtles there that they were taking over the rest of the aquariums pools as well! It was really interesting to see, although sad to know how long some of the turtles have to stay there for –one of them had been there for 4 months and only just started to eat anything. After that we headed south to camp at Home Hill comfort stop, where I am now. It is really just a back street where a facilities building has been built.

And today? Well I actually have no idea what the plan is for today. We will be going somewhere south –probably.

MISS YOU ALL LOTS

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This and that

So I haven't blogged for a while but I'm also not really sure what I've been doing. One thing that I am very excited about is that I'm going to start volunteering at the RSPCA. I'm going for training on saturday and then will start going every friday. I have to do a couple of hours of admin work, but then I got to do dog walking and animal enrichment activities. I really miss Lexie and Moss so it will be good to work with the dogs :D

Other than that I have been mostly working these last few weeks. My job is getting pretty tedious but at least I should be doing some fun things with the money over summer. I will hopefully be going whale watching in Surfer's Paradise this weekend. And then on monday I'll be going on my field trip to Fraser Island with my Australia's Terrestrial Environment course. It's crazy that it's midsemester already though! I don't feel like I've been here all that long, but at the same time when I think about arriving here that seems like a world away.

Ryan has moved into his own place and got a job where I'm working now. He's going training for it today so should be starting pretty soon. We've been vaguely starting to make travel plans. So far we are thinking that we will go straight to Ayre's rock when exams are over, then possibly visit Alice Springs as well. Then we're going to fly up to either Darwin or Cairns where Ryan will buy a campervan and then we're going to travel all the way down the East Coast. We've heard it may not be worth going to Darwin and I can't seem to find any flights to there from Ayre's rock either so it's looking like we might be starting in Cairns. Which is meant to be amazing for backpackers and it's right by the Great Barrier Reef -so I think I'm going to get my scuba diving certificate there. You can do courses where you live in on the boats which sounds like so much fun! I've always wanted to go on a boat holiday :).

Anyways, things that I have actually been doing...

At the beginning of September the Brisbane festival started. This is not at all like the Edinburgh festival. Everything is expensive so I haven't actually been to any of the events. The opening was pretty amazing though. It's called Riverfire and it starts with a fighter jet zooming between along the river with a glowing ball of fire shooting out the back of it. It was really cool -looked a bit like the sun. Then the river lit up with fire along it (this wasn't actually on the water, there were platforms along the river) and the fireworks started it. But they didn't just come off the river, they were coming off the tops of all the skyscrapers on the other side of the river (we were at South Bank). Then the bridge lit up with a waterfall of sparks. It was all really pretty. It finished with the jet coming back through. I am a big fan of fireworks so this was pretty amazing, especially with the jet. And it was free :).

So the next week I had my fieldtrip to Lamington Park. This involved a 12km trek in the rain. It wasn't a great day. It was pretty much the same as Brisbane Forest Park, except we got to see some heathland as well. There's supposed to be really good views from there but it was so misty that you couldn't actually see anything at all.

Me at Lamington with a big uprooted tree.

The next day I was going on a trip with QUEST to Springbrook -which is pretty much right by Lamington so I was feeling pretty concerned. This actually turned out to be really good though. The sun was out and everyone was much happier. We went to 'best of all lookout' where you can see all the way to Byron Bay. Then we headed to the 'Forest of dreams' where we saw glow worms and fed parrots.

Feeding a parrot!!

We then went to a waterfall where some crazy people went swimming. I was considering it until I heard the horrible screaming noises everyone was making when they got in.

Me from behind the waterfall -slightly damp!

After spending some time there we headed over to this place called Natural Bridge. It's hard to explain but is basically water going through a hole into a cave and somehow this is a bridge... It was pretty too and we even saw some glow worms in there natural habitat. After that we headed home.

Me and Louisa them met up with Guy and Ryan for dinner at a Turkish restaurant. I discovered that I do not like Turkish food. For some reason I thought it would taste like Moroccan food so was massively disappointed. There was a belly dancer though, although she did not roll her belly which we found odd.

Last week we went to QUEST's film night where we saw a pretty odd Australian film called Priscilla Queen of the Desert. It was about transvestites travelling to Alice Springs to put on some shows. Was surprisingly good. We then headed to RE which is a pretty cool bar in Toowong with live music. Was pretty dead by 11.30pm though -people seem to head out and go home earlier in Australia.

This weekend me and Ryan went to Wet and Wild -a water park at the Gold Coast. I bought my first rash vest for it! It's very nice -blue, stripey roxy tee :). However ended up not wearing it as wasn't allowed it on some of the ride. Ryan, Guy and Rich had been the week before but I had been working. But Ryan loved it so made me go even though it was cloudy. It was fun though although they have a ridiculously scary water slide. You go up to the top where the slide is unlocked for you to get in. You get in and are standing up with your back against the vertical slide. You are locked in and then there is a countdown before the floor drops out from beneath you and you fall down at ridiculous speeds. It was so scary that I couldn't even scream! Horrible ride. After falling down you do a loop the loop which you can't even notice due to going so fast. At least it was over quickly. The other rides were much nicer. I especially enjoyed the Kamikaze which involves a 2 seater rubber ring, which you sit in facing each other. It's a bit like a half tube or something. You drop off one side and then go up the other and then again until you slow to a stop. I got straight back on this one it was so good. The rest of the slides were all pretty mellow. It seemed that most of the rides there were either too scary or not scary enough.

So that's about all I've been up to -it seems that I may have done more than I thought.

Love you and miss you xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx