Back-to-Back Amazing Experiences
Trip Start
Mar 10, 2005
1
21
24
Trip End
Aug 02, 2005
North Island,
New Zealand
Sunday, June 12, 2005
June 8
======
Wellington --> Napier
We woke up in Wellington and took a bit of a walking tour around town before heading off to Napier and Hawke's Bay wine region. In Wellington, we did a bit of shopping and cruising around town during the morning. Then we saw the Treaty of Waitangi, where the Maori Chiefs allowed New Zealand to become part of the British Empire in the 1840s in return for full ownership of their lands
01 - Nervous smiles
.After our morning in Wellington, we made our way up to Napier, the largest town in the Hawke's Bay wine region for some more twirling, swishing, and tasting of wine. First, a long drive of twists, turns, sheep, and more sheep.
June 9
======
Napier --> Lake Taupo
We visited the first Hawke's Bay winery, Mission Estate, while some Billy Idol-wannabe was also sipping wine with some groupies. He must have been someone important because after he was done tasting and talking on his cellphone, the helicopter picked his group up and they went to the next. We humbly went back to our campervan, made some roast beef sandwiches and ate them in the parking lot.
We stopped at two other wineries, Esk Valley and Esk River, on our way up to Lake Taupo. We bought a bottle of Savignon Blanc at Esk Valley for the yummy sausages we BBQ'd up that night for dinner after hundreds more kilometers up to Lake Taupo
02 - Coming in for a landing
.Lake Taupo is dead in the center of the North Island and is a sunken crater from a volcano that is now filled with water. The scenery is beautiful, but it stinks (literally). This is one of the most geothermically active areas in the world and sulfurous steam was spewing everywhere out of rocks. We visited the "Craters of the Moon", that looked like...well you can imagine what it looked like... and featured bubbling mud, steaming craters, nasty smelling air, and good views.
We settled for a night at the motor park with sausages in our stomachs and sulfur in our noses. Great combo, huh?
June 10 - Adrenaline Rush #1
============================
Lake Taupo --> Auckland
We decided before we arrived in New Zealand that we were going to skydive at Lake Taupo because the views are fantastic, the price is relatively cheap, and it is the "skydiving capital of New Zealand", or so the pamphlet (and our friends Laura and Steve) said. Thanks guys!
After the first few flights were called off at Taupo Tandem Skydiving because of the foggy morning conditions, we were finally tapped for our drop on the 12:50 flight. We were thankful to see two other groups go before us (and come back safely)
03 - Last chance to turn back...
. Alex watched the safety video three times. Then it was our turn to suit up in our skydiving suits. This is tandem skydiving, so we were literally strapped to our tandem skydiving master's belly as they did all the hard work of keeping us stable and pulling the chute. After we were in our outfits, we saw our two tandem masters parachute in from the last round of skydivers, strip off their parachute backpacks, put on new ones, and rush over to us for safety checks. We were quickly ushered into the little plane and were on our way up to 12,000 feet for the drop. Alex was the first to go and got the "window seat" which meant he got to sit next to the flimsy door as we circled up to the proper altitude.
Alex's tandem master strapped him all in, opened the door and then flipped the switch taking Alex's picture with his legs dangling over a lake at 12,000 feet travelling over 200 miles per hour. One second after the flash went off, Amy was watching her husband sail toward the ground and she was up next. Not concentrating on the exit photo or where Alex might be, she took a deep breath and jumped.
We both agree that there are two ways to explain the feeling of skydiving
05 - Smiling with legs dangling outside plane
. On your face, you feel the wind of a cold Rochester-style extremely frosty gust or like someone had just opened a scuba diving airtank on your face. Our forty-five seconds of freefall was a strange sensation -- we did not really feel like we were falling, but just hovering at a high altitude above the ground. Alex tried to make it a point to relax and take in the sights of the lake as did Amy. Then it was time for the chute. After our "masters" pulled the rip cord, there was a jerk upward and we drifted back towards the airport. Alex's tandem master did some quick twirls after Alex assured him that he had a strong stomach. Sailing down in the parachute was peaceful and refreshing after the blustering freefall, and were both adrenaline-filled. Amy didn't get quite the personal interaction from her tandem master that Alex did but enjoyed the "ride", twirls over the airport and all, immensely. About four minutes after we dropped out of the plane door, we were safely on the ground giving each other high-fives. An amazing experience for an amazing trip.
June 11 -- Adrenaline Rush #2
=============================
Auckland --> Bay of Islands
You may remember that we struck out trying to swim with the dolphins in Kaikoura and ended up with more of a bird-watching cruise
06 - Cool as a cucumber at 12000 feet
. This time we struck gold up at the Bay of Islands at the top of the North Island with Dolphin Discoveries. The conditions were absolutely beautiful and it was not long before the spotter on our extremely fast catamaran had spotted a pod, or group, of bottle-nosed dolphins frolicking nearby. We motored up to them and took some pictures, but were not allowed to swim with them because there was a baby in their group. Apparently, the baby dolphins nurse about 20 times an hour and any disruptions/distractions to their feeding schedule leaves them in a dangerous position. Their blubber has not yet built to protect them from the cold so they rely on near constant feedings to keep them warm.After checking out a few more islands, including where Captain Cook had his first run-in with the Maori locals when he first "discovered" the area, we happened along another pod. This time, we saw that another nearby boat had already suited up for swimming with them and it was confirmed that they were a group of adolescents, with no babies!
We were the first two to strip off our clothes and put on our wetsuits to slip into the 64 degree water. These are wild dolphins, so our encounter with them was unlike a SeaWorld experience where dolphins are tamed, fed, and held captive to swim with tourists
07 - Looking for snorkelers acting like lunatics
. These were wild dolphins who were letting us swim with them for their own entertainment value. In order to keep their attention, we were instructed to sing or chirp to them through our snorkels, swim in circles, and to dive down to them. Our small group of five chirped, sang, and swam like lunatics and the dolphins ate it up. They came up from under us, swam beside us for a look, and circled around our group. As we stayed longer, the dolphins became more comfortable with us. Of the group of 10-15 that we saw, about four were really interested in interacting with us. We could literally hear them chirping back to us underwater in response to the strange noises we were making through our snorkels. They also seemed to like it when you shook your head to imitate their shaking their own heads. As some of the divers got cold, we had more of the dolphins' attention. They nearly skimmed our skin and brushed our shoulders as they swam by. It was a really exhilarating feeling when you could get and hold eye contact underwater. One dolphin had a dead fish that it was showing off to us and it played fetch with itself, hurling the fish into the air.
Eventually, Alex was the only one in the water and he got a very close and intimate time with this pod
08 - Our playmates
. While Amy was snapping pictures on-board, Alex got to play with four or five different playmates. They checked him out and then would swim straight at him, as if playing chicken, and then would skim right by on one side. The few minutes alone with the wild dolphins was something that he will never forget. What an amazing experience!!!After our swim we continued out to Cape Brett and Hole in the Rock. It is a huge limestone outcropping off Cape Brett that has had a huge hole worn through it by the ocean currents. It was a perfect way to end the trip with watching the sunset through the hole.
Next...further exploration of the North Island, a trip back to Auckland, and off to Fiji...
