Cascades Motor Lodge Taupo

The All Whites make it in to the World Cup of soccer. What a fan-freaking-tastic game. We just watched them make history in New Zealand. It's been 27 years since NZ has been in the world cup of soccer. 1-0 and our keeper saved a penalty kick in the late second half! LEGEND!

... of stairs into the darkness.

In the first room, everyone sits down and turns off their lights to get our eyes adjusted to the dark. We then introduce ourselves as we each turn on our helmet lights. Then, a 100 foot walk or so on muddy, slippery ground to the next chamber. Off go the lights again, and you can see glowworms all over the ceiling--they look like stars in the night sky.

More walking until we get to a place where ...

... they didnt regret it!!
The company we decided to dive with were called Freefall and were really excellent.
We arrived and were shown a dvd of the different jumps we could do etc and were given prices etc...
We decided to do the 15,000ft dive which is the highest you can tandem dive. Apparently after 5000 ft the mind cannot tell whether you are higher or not so 15,000 ft was a better bet as we would get more of a freefall- the parachute opens at 5,000 ft.
We got ...

... up to do the Tongariro crossing the day after I arrived. It's one of the best one day walks in NZ, but it got cancelled due to alpine conditions in the mountains. I'd also signed up to do the skydive, which was very dependant on the weater. I'd been told to sky dive whereever I got the opportunity, but I wanted to wait for Taupo because it's famous and one of the cheaper sky dives. This meant I was relying on good weather when I was there. On the first day, it was ...

... I had too. Soon the guy was strapping up my legs and attaching the bungy cord and I thought again...too late to change my mind now and walk away looking like a total chicken. So I stood up and waddled over to the edge of the platform trying to not look down (which is impossible when you're trying to find the edge). I saw the massive drop to the river below me and thought F*!K, Sh!t and all sorts of other foul words. I looked up at the camera for my 'I'm a total eejit, what am I ...

... song than Bobby Jindal could have ever written also.) The "tatoos" were magic marker. And one of the guys in traditional garb as a part of the show changed into an Addidas jumpsuit afterwards to serve the food. (Again, signs of the "Americanization" of the world everywhere.) It was just so funny the disconnect between the words and discussions of "culture" and the fact it was all a show. I, of course, shot off an e-mail to ...

... WHOOSH! when the parachute was opened, the only reason i knew it was happening is because my camera man became very very tiny very very quickly!!

We start to float and i realise whats just happened, im light headed and giddy and sound like a complete fool in my video, but i do dare anyone else to think of something better to say! I suddenly feel a jolt downwards..'What the f.....' he laughs, i do not find this amusing, he loosened, yes i said ...

... showed us to our room. The room (they call it a luxury suite) was clean, a good size and very nice BUT it was on the second floor and we had booked a 3rd (top) floor room - Jayne having done her research and identified that these rooms had much better views across the lake and weren't overlooked by the apartments between us and the lake front. So, back to reception, to be told that ...

... 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 ...

... scoops. We had great craic in one of the pubs where we met a group of local lads from a rugby team. When we asked them did they know the haka they were only to glad to rustle up the rest of their team, whip of their shirts and gave us an impromtu rendition. They were a great bunch of young fellas and we had many a rendition of Ireland's call and much chat about the upcoming All Blacks game. After a few towers of beer too many we were fit for our respective leabas and ...