Lakeland Resort Taupo

... fall, before the shute was popped and the initial rush is over...but oh my<br>what a feeling! then you get to take in the scenery and spiralling down to the ground!<br>Lucky for you guys i bought the video and pictures so check them out and you'll see the<br>absolute delight on my face.<br> The day couldn't get any better...or could it! Everyone was absolutley buzzing after a day<br>full of activities which meant there was only 1 thing left to do ...

... out of Saigon. We, on the other hand, had a cup of tea and spoke to the owner of the hostel and it transpired that a minor tsunami warning had been issued for a few islands off New Zealand and a town further up the coast. It was nothing to worry about and a fairly regular occurrence. This was supposed to reach maybe one meter in hight and hit at 10.45. we waited until 09.45 to hear if there had been any problems further up the coast and the radio reported surfers ...

Today we headed out to check out the walkway from Taupo past the Huka Falls and to the Dam along the Waikato River. It was a bit longer than we had expected and ended up being about a 20k tramp! It was beautiful though and the company was fabulous. We're getting ready for a quiet evening and planning our adventure to Auckland tomorrow.

... with us and it was a really good night. Only downside was when a ******** barman thought Dan had called him an ******** and had him chucked out. But Dan being Dan he just walked straight back in about 10 minutes later. All in all a very good birthday indeed. Thanks for the messages people have emailed me and hope you enjoy the blog and I'll probably see you all in the next 1-2months as money running low but I'm still having a great time!

... you don't know :P)), we now went overboard at Wai-O-Tapu. And, after we noticed that an area that at first glance LOOKS drab and grey has in fact a lot of colourful details, we both went hunting for all the interesting and intriguing little things in this quite elaborate park. Just outside the main park there is a mud pool that, eventhough it is all grey and drab in colour, is actually rather entertaining and mesmerizing to observe. Since the pressure ...

... eventually arrived at our accommodation (Reef Resort Motel) at just after 1pm. Realising we might be too early to check in, we thought we went to reception and were greeted by a "battleaxe" with an expression which said "what are you doing here?". Jayne asked if she could use a toilet and was directed up the road to the public toilets and a coffee shop. We drove back up the road to ...

... we were able to eat our breakfast outside looking to the distant summits of Mount Ruapehu (erupted again relatively recently) and Mount Ngaurinhoe in the Tongariro National Park. (As I type these notes on Thursday, 18th December, I am sitting in our bedroom in the highest hotel in New Zealand looking out across the great expanse of the Tongariro National Park, one of the most potentially active volcanic areas in the world. John left early this morning to ...

... the next day's suckers out of their sponds. Watch out the lakes of Killarney, here we come. On the way to our bus, myself and Murph ran into an old acquaintance we didnt think we would see again, and certaintly not on the north island but there he was, our camper van itself. We were very tempted to hang around to meet the new owners and exchange stories but we had a bus to catch with the possibility of catching the Canada v. Ireland rugby match in Rotaurua when we got there.

... room 18! So good news that the trek is still on... but by 7:30am only 2 of the 5 Stray passengers were ready to go and eventually the driver went and roused the three Irish (including the one I saw going to bed as I was getting up!) We finally left an hour late and I was amazed how lively the boys were - they were indeed still drunk and I knew then I wasn't in for a quiet day! We therefore arrived at the NP an hour late to find the guide Stu and a few others ...