The Huka Lodge Taupo

The land where dreams are made, this is the home where i had the day of my life to date!<br> We arrived late afternoon and decided to cook a group meal for 10 of us, for a change it<br>was the guys cooking and the girls cleaning. Myself, Glen and James got started on the<br>pasta bolognaise, it was difficult to judge but it tasted pretty damn awesome and we had a<br>perfect amount of food....GO ON THE BOYS!<br> It was going to be a quiet night but Laura ...

... what that really means so it didn't scare me. Good old, easily fooled brain!<br><br>As soon as you jump out of the plane you actually feel like you're falling for about five seconds and then you just feel like you're floating on the air. Most of it is a blur except I remember being annoyed at the camera man shoving his feet in my face during the free-fall and then it was five minutes of parachuting down to earth. That actually proved queasier than the free-fall as ...

... go. The walk back was long but pleasant. I listened to my brand new ipod shuffle that Kristen got me for the trip. Highlights included Blues Traveler's "Run Around" on repeat, half of Santana's Supernatural, and, of course, Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" and half of Blonde on Blonde. When Dylan came on as I walked down the side of the highway I wished I'd read "On The Road" rather than just loving the Keroauc kid... though I'm ...

... and customer service. The river itself had about 7-10 grade 3 and 3+ rapids with the remainder being 2 and 2+ but given we had Eli it was spot on. Silla wanted some larger rapids but hey, that just gives us an excuse to go again on another day. Overall, it was an awesome activity and well worth the money and time. Post rafting we had Burger King and organised to meet up with my brother Ben and his partner Jazz. We met up at the motel ...

... gap so the power when it shoots out at the end is pretty spectacular. You begin to smell Rotorua long before you arrive as it is a hot bed of geo thermal activity with geysers and all that sort of malarky so the smell of sulphur is at times unbearable. We headed out for a wander around lake Rotorua and went to check out the old bath house before the smell got too much for us so we retreated back to Auckland.

Next up we were off to Taupo. This is a cool little town in the middle of the north island where you can partake in lots of activities and sample the local hostileries. We met up with Trev and Neas here for the weekend and booked ourselfs a cool little house avec BBQ and garden. Myself and Murph arrived first and picked up the keys in a shop in town. When we got to the house we realised that there was a number of other houses with the same address, only diference being an ...

... what was going on! The 40 second freefall was the most amazing (and terrifying) thing I have ever done - and the view was bloody beauitful too! After watching the others do their jumps, we got driven back to town in a limo! In celebration of our birthdays, we decided to go out tonight and I felt I'd earnt a drink - I was on a high! So after a shower to wash away the smell of rotten eggs, we went to a Mexican restaurant nextdoor and the whole group came out, which ...

... terug richting de aarde. Adem! Ik kreeg geen lucht!! Damit! De enige manier om lucht te happen, was door mijn kin op mijn borst te leggen, maar zo gauw ik mijn hoofd weer tegen zijn schouder legde, werd me de adem alweer benomen... Gelukkig wist ik, dat mijn vrije val maar zo'n 45 seconden zou duren, dus terwijl ik wanhopig naar adem snakte en wenste dat die 45 seconden eindelijk voorbij waren en de parachute open zou gaan, probeerde ik toch wat te zien. Het enige wat ...