Sports Lodge Motel Wanganui

Dimecres XI - II - MMIX El cel esta molt tapat. Anirem al Mt. Taranaki. Com que no fa gaire bon temps no val la pena anar fins al mirador, per tant, farem una caminada d'uns 30 min pel bosc tropical. Aquests arbres son preciosos, semblen de pel.licula. Seguirem la marxa fins a Hawera on dinarem a una de les arees de pic-nic. Nova Zelanda te arees de picnic cada dos per tres, estan molt preparats pel turisme. Hi ha molts campings, tot es molt nou... Al arribar a ...

... we had been warned to be quite security conscious, but we hadn't expected to become a crime-statistic quite so early on. Putting this behind us, we bid good morning to vampire-hating, dairy-loving Les and caught the train into Wellington centre for a day of mooching. Wellington is a lovely city, and I'd spent a fun Christmas there some years back, so it was nice to revisit some old haunts with Andy. Nothing much had changed, a few more swanky-looking ...

... be leaving the travel team. He has not done very well so far, and he says that if he reaches target this week he will stay on with the team, but if he doesn't he will resign. Robert who is my cooking mentor (and never laughs at me), and Robert who always brings a portable speaker around with him, because he can't live without music, and Robert who always forgets his folder. I am really going to miss him. I signed up this girl today who just came out of prison. She didn't ...

... point of interest, called 'Soda Springs'.

We could see a nice little waterfall but it looked fairly boring so we avoided the short detour to get closer and ploughed on.



Shortly afterwards we hit the first steep climb of the day, which would take us up to the ...

... then (each no older than 12 I'd say). Cadzer was egging him on, having already done Nevis (134m high) and 'The Ledge' himself, but to no avail, and we were on our way again. Next place of any interest was Wanaka. And yes, they've cashed in on the name of the place to the max "Wan-a-cab? Then call this number" Ugh! Here, we got to do what all blokes secretly (or not) want to do at some stage...fire some guns! Yee haw! Pulled into this firing range and got to grips with the ...

... were actually doing this! Once we had finally reach the top, it soon became apparent what all the fuss was about and why we were putting ourselves through this pain, the views were nothing like we have ever seen before and there were even lakes filled with the bluest water you have ever seen, it really was incredible! The pain in our feet and knees kicked in after about 6 hours and the ...

... so we played a lot of silly games and sang and danced to keep us entertained - until sarah fell over whilst dancing and got a whole host of cuts and bruises.....so we tried to be sensible after that. Finished whole walk in 6 hrs which we were v impressed with - then back to the hostel for a much deserved bottle of wine.....and of course chocolate!

Trying to think of something witty, deep and or meaningful to say about the white water rafting today but I can't. So instead.... WOW, rafting was awesome!!! Although none of us fell out accidentally I've somehow ended up with bruises on both arms. More jumping off stupidly high rocks, and nearly freezing to death (seems to be the new holiday theme after volcanoes). Can't wait to get back up and convince someone to take me down it in a kayak.

Had lovely lie in, god I miss lie-ins, we're always checking out at 10am so the chance to wake up naturally was lovely. We had breakfast then I went to enquire about a skydive. My Sister did hers here and she survived so I thought it would be a good place to do it too. About 2 minutes after asking Kai, the guy on reception, about a sky dive he'd booked me onto the 2pm skydive. Apparently the weather had been really bad and today was the first day they were jumping so I thought why ...

... petrified fever! Then I reached the edge - it was really cold as I hung out of the plane (did I mention it was at 15,000ft?!) then we went on three and I entered a state of bliss for about 2 seconds, then that levelled out to adrenaline fuelled glee for about 45 seconds as I fell through the air, which in turn was swapped for utter calm as we floated to earth. It was absolutely amazing! Much patting of backs and smiles followed. Next stop Rotorua.