TIME FOR ACTION!
I awoke and realised that although I wasn't completely over my flu it was time for some ACTION! So I sent my ass to the Agrodome. A place of many random adventure sports. I first hit up the Agrojet, a small speedboat that is more engine that boat and can hit 100 kph in under 4 seconds. I got in and told the guy: "Open her up, man, been looking forward to this"
"Flat out?" He asked
"Flat out."
"Great!"
I was astounded how this thing cornered. The speed it hit was awesome and the course was only 1 km around.
Afterwards I hit the Swoop diving. You're basically strapped into a sleeping bag with a harness with is attached to two cables and then hauled up to the top of a crane. Then you simply pull a ripcord and do the 40m swing. It was awesome fun!
Next... Zorbing! The idea is that you are put in a giant inflatable ball half filled with water, hauled up a hill and then rolled down it. It was like being inside a washing machine. It was amazing fun, bouncing and rolling down this hill while getting waves of water hitting you. Was a great start to the day.
In the evening I was going to a Maori Concert and Hangi (traditional Maori meal). We started the night with a brief intro to Maori history and culture and the history of the business, Tamaki tours. Afterwards we headed out in our 'waka' or canoe (or bus) towards the Maori village. On the way the driver told us that we needed a chief for the night to guide our tribe. He told us he must be Brave, Intelligent and Handsome. And he said "If any man feels he's got what it takes, and I have to see this, Stand up now."
There was a moments silence as everyone looked around, then one man stood up raised his fist and shouted:
"I'LL DAY IT!"
And for the foresighted among you, you're right, that man was me!
We got to the village and were given the traditional entrance ceremony where we were met by three warriors who offered us a token and then were welcomed by the head woman of the tribe. We took a wander round the village and took in the different skills of the Maori people. From getting a talk on the warriors fighting style to the women showing us their skills with the Pois.
We then went to the concert and got some traditional Maori music, dancing, poi skills and Hakas.
Then, my favourite part of the night: THE HANGI! An awesomely huge feast of food cooked in the old style by using an underground oven to steam the stuff till it was ready.
After that the chiefs were hauled up on stage and we were given a small present of necklaces and then we did the All Blacks Haka to finish off the night.
Then we jumped back in our 'Waka' and headed to town where we were told we needed to sing a song from our own country. I, of course, chose to sing the Proclaimers and "I will walk 500 miles" YUSS!
Brilliant day.

Grr...
Spent two days in Waitomo where I SHOULD have been caving and having an awesome time but instead was relegated to being stuck in my cabin with a GODDAMN FLU! Waitomo is a lovely place however and I have to say I was impressed. Even tho it rained constantly, with thunder and lightning as well to sweeten the deal, the place was awesomely picturesque.
After spending two days in bed TRYING to recover I headed to Rotorua to the Hot Rock backpackers hostel. Once I arrived I found I was sharing a room with a quiet Scot by the name of Colin. My other room-mates turned out to be two American girls of hot-ness status. Usually I would've turned on the charm but I have to say a flu is THE least sexy thing known to man... well, maybe not THE least sexy but I couldn't think of anything less sexy at the time. I hit the bar with them anyway since they were a decent chat. The bar turned out to be pretty random: I got talking to a German biker who'd had many random adventures in his time and then ran into a bunch of Kilted Scots and Irish lads on a stag night so ended up talking to them for a bit.
I hit the sack early tho since I was still ill. Hoping I can see a marked improvement by tomorrow or I'll be in a bit of a mood.... again.

The inevitable wine hangover...
Didn't do much today since I was recovering from the wine last night. I spent most of the day chilling out in some of the parks and trying to decide where to go next since it is my last night in Auckland.
I hit up the travel agent and spent a LOT of money buying a bus pass, booking caving, swoop diving, zorbing, argojeting, rafting, a Maori cultural tour and meal and, of course, a sky dive. I'm thinking about doing a canyon swing too but I wanna see how much money I spend over the next few days. Then it was merely a case of packing my bag and getting sorted for my bus to Waitomo tomorrow.
So i guess this is "Seeya later, Auckland"

wow
Exert from Steve's journal 20 mins after doing a skyjump: "OH MY F**KING GOD!!! I MEAN HOLY SH*T THAT WAS GODDAMN F**KING AWESOME!!!" Needless to say I was pretty pumped after the jump.
Started the day with heading to the sky tower to leap off the platform 192m up. I was trussed up in an all in one jump suit and then strapped firmly into my harness. I was lead to the elevator and sent up the tower.
I was met by two of the sky jumps "throwers" who, although they introduced themselves, names I have completely forgotten. I took one look off the edge of the platform and the first words that escaped my mouth were "I can't do this." Luckily the girls had seen this before and began trussing me and strapping me while giving lots of encouragement. Before i knew what was happening I was standing on the edge of the platform facing the building with my heels on the edge. Probably a good thing since it didn't give me time to think about it.
Then they gave me a countdown and I jumped backwards onto open air. I fell around 3 metres before the winch stopped me and the rush just hit me! I was hanging 190 or so metres in air suspended by nothing more than a wire cable looking down at the city of Auckland for a VERY new perspective. I looked up and seen the people all waving on the observation right in front of me. I was so pumped by this point I knew this was gonna be an awesome ride. I gave the crowd a heavy metal gesture and then screamed: "LET'S F**KING ROCK!!!" and BOOM! I was falling at 75 kph towards the ground, the wind flying in my face and the adrenline hitting me like a brick in the face. I landed on the platform and wrapped my arms round my "catcher" and just shouted: "THAT WAS AMAZING!!!" I was buzzing full on by this point.
She smiled: "Enjoy that?"
"Oh aye... that was incredible" I breathed
"Would you go again?"
"Oh yeah"
"Wanna go now... for free?"
"DAMN RIGHT!"
So I was taken back up to the level and told the girls that I was so glad they talked me into that. They trussed me up again and this time there was no pause just a straight fall to the bottom and the rush was just as good.
I spent the rest of the day buzzing and then hit up an All-you-can-eat-pizza-and-all-you-can-drink-wine night. Needless to say it got messy. I don't remember coming back to the hostel but I remember the pizza was good.

Looking Death in the face and spitting in his eye... well... on the 3rd attempt anyway.
What better way to start the day on a lazy Sunday morning than to throw yourself off a 40m high bridge with only a latex cord to hold you up! I mean, GODDAMN! It was amazing!
The guy gave me a countdown from 5 and then i had to jump. I froze on the first two countdowns, looking down from the ledge was just terrifying for me. On the third one I just went for it and powered myself off the board. There was about 2 seconds of freefall where I couldn't think of anything other than the fact I was falling really fast towards the water. Then the cord bit in, I bounced and the rush just hit me! I screamed something along the lines of "OH MY GOD!!!! WOOOO!" and then bounced again. I was buzzing so much. It was awesome! I didn't come down for ages.
In the afternoon I went sailing on the American Cup Yacht, NZ41 which was a nice way to come down from my buzz. I got to work the grinders and steer the boat for a bit. Was a good ride and we got some awesome views of the city. Including going under the bridge I had jumped from that very morning.
The evening was a non-event tho. I just stayed in the hostel and chatted to a couple of folk then hit the sack in preparation for the Skyjump the next day... Rock on I guess.

Goddamn it!
Sailing was cancelled due to high winds! I hit the booking agent (right between the eyes) and cancelled my dolphin and whale safari to be replaced with having another crack at the whole sailing gig... and also booked a bungy jump for early the next morning as I thought it would be a good way to wake myself up.
Not wanting the day to be a waste I took a quick wander up Mt Eden to have a look at Auckland from a different perspective. I met up with Ray in the evening and we hit a mexican place for food. We chatted a bit but I hit the sack fairly early so I was ready for my jump the next morning. The banter was good with Ray at least, Im getting off to a stuttered start here in New Zealand.

Gathering Steam
So today again was a bit of a non-event but to ensure that this didn't happen again I made sure I had something booked for tomorrow. So I booked sailing on the America Cup yachts for tomorrow, Dolphin safari for sun and the Sky Jump for Monday.
After that I took a wander round the town and found a pretty cool Market that I could hang out in and take a look at all the funky wares on sale.
I got back to the hostel and found I had an English speaking room-mate (finally). Don't get me wrong I don't mind guys who don't speak English, but when you share a room with three Korean guys it makes it real difficult to find someone to hang out with. So I got talking to a half-liverpool, half-irish lad by the name of Ray. Then we decided to hit the town. We had a couple of pints then hit up a sushi bar. Afterwards we hit an irish bar to sink a few more and have some toasties. Not forgetting Ray's awesomely funny hassling of the bar-maid when he told her she didn't come from cork because her accent sounded wrong! We then hit a kebab shop and managed (somehow) to get out without paying for our food. We hit another bar and a dance bar for a bit where we got a free shot. But a very drunk guy decided we were his friends so we made a sharp exit to escape the madness. Then it was back to the hostel to watch a really awful movie and laugh our asses off at it.

Planning
Elise and Fiona never showed this morning so by 10 I just headed out to get busy with the days business. I have found Auckland isn't like Japan/China in that wandering round on your own isn't going to turn up much entertainment. However, with a little planning there is a ton of things that you can do. So I set about finding out what I can do. I turned up LOTS of brouchures on adrenaline sports, cruises and tours. I have 7 days in Auckland which to be honest is probably a little too much, already getting antsy and want to move on. Planning to do some trekking so been looking up a lot of equipment stores for some bits and bobs and the DOC for some routes and walks. A boring day but frankly I've been feeling a little under the weather due to sleep lack so here's hoping I feel better after tonight... unless I end up going out drinking again.

...something a little more exciting finally
Looking over my last few blog entries I have decided the last few days of my stories of being on a plane/boat/whatever have probably made for a boring read. But fear not as business is about to pick about again.
I arrived in New Zealand like a thunderstorm and blew through customs like a typhoon. I arrived at my hostel and received my started pack and info on my NZ job search shenanigans. I dumped my stuff and my stomach told me I needed food.
I bought a giant foot long greasy subway sandwich and went to a near by park to eat it.
As soon as I took my first bite of this overflowing tirade of sauce and greasyness, I had a TV crew surround me, a camera pointed at me and a mic shoved in my face.
Usually I would make some effort to be a)witty and b)coherent but I was far too sleep deprived and still a little hungover. But hey, now thats two TV networks Im gonna appear on. Japan and New Zealand... altho I really wish I had a little more warning so I didnt look like a complete mess when I end up in front of these cameras!
Afterwards I hit the hostel and met a couple of girls from Somerset called Fiona and... eh... the blonde one. They were doing some travelling before Uni and we got talking about where we'd been etc and all the funny quirks of travelling. We hit an 'irish' pub and then a japanese bar so they could try Sake and Sashimi. I think I managed to sell Japan to them pretty well since they both seemed keen to go after I told them about it. Gonna meet with them tomorrow morning to visit the Sky tower and a couple of other places. (p.s. If you're reading this Elise don't worry... I do actually remember your name)

A close call and a lesson well learned
So I woke up not only hungover but late. My check in was at 9.15, the airport a good hour away and I woke up at 8.30... goddamn.
Turning into a whirlwind of packing and panicing. I hit the Bus at 8.45 and worried my way to the airport. I arrived at around 9.45 and hit the 'special' counter and managed to get checked in and through customs, immigration and every other damned obstacle in my way to get to my flight... early. HAHA!
The flight to Hong Kong was uneventful so I just slept. Then spent a few hours in the airport and then caught my next flight to New Zealand. I watched a couple of movies on the flight such as Ultraviolet, which needs to be seen drunk to be enjoyed and King Kong, which was mildly entertaining since it was a cut version.