March 17, 1998
Subject:  From Marlborough, New Zealand

Hey all,

Well, the weather is a little cooler here in New Zealand, with lots of clouds 
and the occasional rain.  It's a far cry from North Queensland, but I'm not 
complaining.

From where I left off....

I was staying with Ann in Cairns.  She was able to weasel a day off from work 
so we rented a cute little Suzuki 4x4 convertible and drove up to Cape 
Tribulation.  It was beautiful up there.

The following day, after a tearful goodbye, I left Cairns on my way to 
Auckland, New Zealand.  I got into New Zealand at about 12:30am and ended 
up sleeping in the Airport.  The following day I rented a car and drove to 
Rotorua, which smells like rotten eggs 'cause of all the sulfur volcanoes.  
I went white water rafting on a grade 5 river which culminated with a 7m 
(25 ft) waterfall.  Needless to say, we got pretty soaked.  I then toured 
Whakarewarewa (pronounced fuk-a-reywa-reywa) park.  For you Queens's people, 
you'll understand the meaning behind this.

The next day, I drove to Waitomo to go caving and blackwater rafting.  It was 
a 6-hour expedition and it started with a 35m (100 ft) abseil into the cave.  
We then went spelunking through anywhere from ankle deep to shoulder deep 
water in the caves.  The glowworms were spectacular and we turned off all the 
lights and it looked like a city at night.

The next day I drove to Whakapapa (pronounced fuk-a-papa) in Tongariro 
National Park.  I ended up climbing to the top of Mt. Ruapehu, which is an 
active volcano last erupting in Sept 1995.  Afterwards I drove to Wellington 
where I returned the car and took the ferry over to the south island.  I'm 
now currently in Picton and tomorrow I start my Kiwi Experience trip.

Anyways, that's all for now.  Till next time.

Rob