Ipod Recovery
Well, after the awesome owners of the hostel had helped me out I managed to recover most of my music, some of video and none of my documents. Go figure. I’m pretty pleased with what I got back plus I stole some music off the PCs at the hostel. I guess I am now ready to move on from New Plymouth. Although I will have to come back since I want to pay my respects to the Maori Queen and Stuart said he'd give me a lift to the place.

Stunned silence
I have the best parents ever... that is all I have to say.

Even more Grr...
Bit pissed off today. My Ipod isn’t ready yet, and they didn’t even call me to try and let me know. I’m getting a little sick of this. And to be honest, the way they are talking, I doubt I'll get any data back.

Another day waiting
Took a pretty chilled out day. Did a light gym session then took a walk around town checking out the park properly. Is a really odd place. But really cool to hang in. Chilled in the evening with the guys from the hostel and said bye to Anna and said we’d meet again in Wellington.

CRAZY GERMAN GIRL!
Hit the gym this morning then chilled out until I got a pleasant surprise in the evening. Anna, the Crazy German Girl, who I met in Paihia, arrived in the hostel. It was really cool to see her again and we sank some whiskeys and a few beers and went for a quiet walk down to the waterfront. It’s always awesome meeting folk again and hopefully we can meet in Wellington.

Grr
I put my Ipod in to get fixed 5 days ago after being told that it would only take 2-3 days and now I am being told it won’t be ready till at least Monday. I like New Plymouth and all but I really want to move on and I don’t like the way this store is giving me really vague details.
So I am just continuing to chill with the locals and do exercise.

4th to the 10th
Been exercising every day either running the coast walk or going to the gym. I’ve became quite friendly with a guy in the hostel named Andy who is cool. I put my Ipod into a store to see if they could do some data recovery on it and save it. They said it would take 2-3 days which means that it should be ready for when I head off.
Andy even invited me out to play some basketball with the folk from his course which was a good blast although it nearly descended into prison rules at some point.
I like the town and it's good to get some chill out time.

New Plymouth
Arrived in New Plymouth which an awesomely pretty little coastal town. I headed out to do the coast walk but was driven back by rain. I chilled in the excessively cool Sunflower lodge, the hostel I am staying in.

Moving on
Came up to Rotorua the night before to hit up a hot spa bath as after my month of adrenaline sports I wanted to cool off a little, rest up, relax and get myself back to neutral. I started the day with the hot spa then decided to head to Hamilton and see what it was like for some R 'n' R. When I got there I decided it didn't have the right atmosphere for me so I had to find somewhere else. On a whim I booked passage to New Plymouth.

JUMP!
Took an early morning jog to the obstacle course by the Huka falls and realizing how unfit I had become (definitely no Prince of Persia anymore).
I hung out a little with folk round the hostel and then made a 2.30 call in to see if the skydive was happening... IT WAS ON! The adrenaline kicked in almost instantly and I swung from feeling sheer fear to unstoppable excitement. I got totally psyched. I was ready for it.
Got a lift from the company to the take-off area and got kitted up into our jumpsuits, harnesses and flightcaps. I met my 'pilot' who would be strapped to my back on the way up and he seemed to be a bit of a joker. We bundled into the plane and at 8000ft Roy began strapping and fastening our harnesses together. At 12000ft it was time to jump. The door opened and I watched the first few folk leap out the plane. As we slid along to the door I turned over my shoulder and shouted:
"Hey buddy!... What's the difference between a Ferrari and an erection!?!"
Roy laughed: "HAHA! Damn right! I DON'T have a ferrari! Let's go!" and we flipped out the plane.
There was a couple seconds of disorientation as we tumbled and then leveled out into freefall. I can't even describe what it was like as we fell. I've never felt anything like that before. The wind rushing and me screaming. After around 45 seconds the chute opened and we glided gracefully into the landing area. Was buzzing for so long after it.