For those who are a bit more adventurous than your normal glow-worm cave trip then check out The Legendary Black Water Rafting Co.
This is defiantly one of the best trips I did on my travels across the land of the long white cloud.

‘Descend into the seemingly bottomless black depths of the glow-worm studded Ruakuri Cave’. This five-hour expedition combines:

1) Spending the morning getting kitted out, and learning to Absail.

2) Abseiling the 35 metres through a hole and down ( unlike the promo in total darkness)

3)  Whiz down an underground flying fox, jump and plunge into the water to Cave tube, following an impressive sky of glow worms

4) Climb through Cave holes, and later slide down head first into the water.

5) Mind your step as you walk through the caves, often finding deep patches.

6) Play with the eels and spiders!

7) Climb a few cave waterfalls back out to Daylight.

‘At every stage you’re accompanied and supported by experienced caving guides from The Legendary Black Water Rafting Co. who know and love this totally unique and mind-blowing environment’

Below is Jed, one our two guides on the flying fox!

Follow the links, and check out what the rest of Waitomo has to offer. There are plenty of other similar trips that from what I hear have had great feedback from fellow backpackers!

The Mummy Sloth was feasting on leaves only a few feet above our heads. Apparently it is quite a rare site to see them so low down, they only come to the floor to do their poops and then head straight back up the tree.

Not only was it a rare site to see her so low but we got a good glimpse at her baby that was clinging on to her stomach. It was so tiny!

If you’re ever in Puerto Vallarta in Mexico, the first thing I’d recommend you do is to get yourself to Old Town, also known as ‘Zona Romantica’ or ‘the gay bit’ because there’s a lot of gay clubs (which, after going to a lot of clubs in Puerto Vallarta, tend to be the best).

The second thing I’d recommend you do is to get yourself to Nacho Daddy for the daddy of Mexican cocktails, the Margarita. Why? Because they’re the size of your freaking head, that’s why! After two of these, we didn’t really need to drink for the rest of the evening – although we did, obviously.

Nacho Daddy is a bit of a gringo bar, so if you’re into that then that’s cool but otherwise we’d recommend eating at one of the nearby Mexican places, which are a little cheaper too.

It’s the middle of the night and I’m drunk as hell and I bump into some dudes skating down a mammouth hill in Mazatlan.

Obviously my Spanish is awesome when I’m drunk so I chatted to these guys for a while and found out that even though they’re not all friends, they all meet at the same time every single night to skate down these series of hills at super speeds – screeching round corners and reverting all over the shop.

Some of these slides were reaching almost 5 metres and as they rolled out you could hear the flat spots as they rolled away – I swear they must be wearing down sets of wheels each and every night.

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So this post is a little late but now that I’m a surfer all I feel is the wind and the waves so the last thing on my mind is blogging, alright? Anyway, check out the RAD fish board above and the other cool shit below all taken in the old part of Mazatlan in Mexico.

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Check out how rad these sting rays are in Mexico. There we are sitting on the deck of the yacht having dinner and some beers and we hear a slapping sound as if one of the nearby yachties has belly flopped off their cruiser into the drink. We turned round and saw some whopping great big rays launching themselves out of the water, flapping their wings like a bird and then slapping down to the surface with an almighty slap and splash. Cool huh? All shots are owned by Yaz and you can see more on her Flickr soon.

Go check them out in Bahia Los Frailles, Baja California, Mexico if you’re ever there.

Well I made it to Sydney twice over my travels. I have come to the conclusion that the city, no doubt has bi-polar weather. It just so happened  whilst I was in Australia, the worst summer they have had in 50 years. Some days I admit it rained, however I also found myself  caught up in a heat wave that scorched up to 37°C.

Arriving from Hong Kong, but back to a western style of living I still experienced some culture changes. The biggest things I picked up on were:

1. You can’t by alcohol in supermarkets. You have to go to a ‘bottle shop’. A lot of these are in fact Drive-Thru boozers. Does that make any sense?

2. Woolworth‘s is a thriving supermarket that sells absolutely everything you need, and not a run down sweets and toy shop.

3. Without any warning at 2 am a nightclub transforms into a Football loving pub. I went to the toilet and returned to the music off, the clubbers gone, and Arsenal v Norwich kicking off. Not only is it strange watching your team scrap a win at 2am, it’s even weirder following a heavy session of Jagerbombs.

4. The cost of living in Sydney is very expensive. For example,  $3.90 (£2.70) for a small bottle of coke, not on my watch sonny boy! On the other hand, buy a bigger bottle and get your name on it!

Places I recommend:

New South Wales Art Gallery

The Rocks, Sydney Harbour Front.(below) A great place to stop for a drink, enjoy the harbour views, explore some unique market stalls and buy a kangaroo bollocks bottle opener.

Wake Up! Hostel near Central Station. – Out of all the hostels I stayed at in Oz. Wake Up was certainly one of the best, cleanest, and spacious. I stayed in a 10 man room and had my own lockers, loads of space and no waiting time for the bathroom. It’s quite pricey, but believe me sometimes it’s not always better to go cheaper in Sydney.

Hyde Park Barracks ( below)

Take an interesting, and quite cheap (with a student/young persons card) tour of the old prisoner barracks restored to its prime. See how the UK’s prisoners lived and were distrubuted into developing Sydney.

Hyde Park – It’s not as big as ours but its just as epic!

The one that gets me most excited? The Cubify 3D printer.

Picture Via the www.theverge.com

Want to see your ideas realised, replace a few lost chess pieces, or simply create something fun and unique? Design your own objects using simple apps for your phone, tablet, computer or Kinect. Send them wirelessly to the printer then see it printing your creation right in front of your eyes. Bringing the world of 3D modelling straight to your doorstep. It’s small, it’s easy to use and it’s not too expensive. Hurrah!

They have even created an online Cubify community to find out more about apps, designs, ideas and sell you creations. Also, Cloud 3D Print; it brings this all to you without the need to purchase a unit for yourself. Just send off your ideas and specifications online then wait eagerly by your door for the postman!

If it hadn’t just been Christmas I would be putting this right at the top of my wish list to Santa!

Yeah I know, totally random right? Yaz got a little carried away and started choking one of them for a bit of a laugh too – think it must be the influence of all the Mexican Wrestling around here.