More Stray-ing around the North Island (Days 4- 8)
Trip Start
Nov 11, 2007
1
21
26
Trip End
Feb 11, 2007
Wellington,
New Zealand
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Well I am still having the most awesome time and have been very extreme of late - some of you may already know! So to carry on where I left off:
DAY 4
Staying in Rotorua for the night which is the geothermal hotspot of New Zealand. The smell of the place hit us before we even arrived, it's yummy lol! Smells like reall rotten eggs which is pleasant. We arrives at our hostel and were too early to check in so we headed across the road to the free thermal reserve to see some steaming water and bubbling mud. Why we decided to go to the source of the smells I have no idea! The bubbling mud was pretty cool, some of it looked like melted chocolate and it was made a groovy 'bloop, bloop' noise. I couldn't believe how violently some of the stuff was bubbling, it's crazy. The smell soon overtook the coolness though and we went back to the hostel. We went out for a sandwich in the town and then I basically spent the rest of the day on the computer catching up with my blog and photos (pretty much like now).
That evening we went to our hostel bar and ended up having our first night out of new zealand there. It was a good night, we had a few drinks - I only had three on account of the next day's activity - and a boogie as they were playing some cheesey tunes. Ended up having a really fun night.
DAY 5
On thursday it was time for me to be a very brave girl once again. I was going to throw myself out of a plane 15,000ft in the air (on my mum's birthday too - hope you had a good one mum)!! We left for Lake Taupo. the largest lake in new zealand as this was where I was going to be jumping out. We left Rotorua around 12:30pm with our new driver Dodgy (don't ask lol) and headed off to Taupo. We stopped off at the thermal pools at Wai-o-tapu and then did a bridge jump - I didn't - into the Waikoto river before finally getting to Taupo at half 3. I know some of you will already be aware of this but this is what we got told on the way to Taupo. A british backpacker called Karen Aims had been killed the night before we got to Taupo, about 5 minutes walk from our hostel. She was due to start work at the hostel on the day we arrived (thurs) and was friendly with alot of the staff there. Consequently all the staff were pretty shaken and many of them were crying when we got there. It was business as usual for us though and they checked us all in. I can't believe it had happened there the night before, I was a little freaked out. And so sorry for everyone in Taupo. I know it's been on the news at home cos mum's told me but I don't know what you know about it. She died from massive head injuries, there were no bodily injuries at all. When the police found her she was barely conscious but managed to tell them her name before dying on the way to hospital. A guy from the hostel that knew her had to go and indentify her, which is terrible. Such a shitty thing to happen as Taupo is such a cute little place and doesn't look like somewhere that would happen. Anyway that's what happened and it can't be changed unfortunately. It just brought it to home that it could have been anyone.
After all this drama it was time to be extreme! We got picked up by the free limo from the hostel and taken to the 'drop zone'. I couldn't stop talking as I was so nervous! We were shown a dvd of someone who had just done his 15,000ft skydive a few minutes ago. It hyped me up so much I was wired! We were taken through the pricing options and then fitted with our kit. The harness was a little uncomfortable as it was very tight but I didn't care as long as it did it's job! I got introduced to Dale, my tandem master, who was a great guy and made me feel at ease and, most importantly, safe. As I was flming a dvd I had to do a mini interview before we went up to the plane which was so funny! Then we headed out the hanger and into the little tiny pink plane. It was onyl when I was in the plane that it hit what I was about to do! I would be throwing myself into a load of nothing with just a bloke and a bit of material strapped to me! Crazy! I can't really remember much of the ride up to be honest. I was running through the falling out of the door procedure in my head loads. The adrenaline had already kicked in I think. Nick jumped first and then we were shuffling towards the edge and my feet were over the edge. Before I could even think about screaming I was off, tumbling into the air and with the air rushing past my ears. I could hardly breathe we were falling so fast it was mental. I was in freefall for about 60 seconds and then dale opened the parachute and we began to take a look around at the scenery. It was the most beautiful ride I've ever taken in my life. So gorgeous all around the lake and towards the national park. All too soon the landing spot came rushing towards me and I landed, none too gracefully on my bum and skidded to a stop. It was one of the most amazing experiences in my life and definitely one I would do again. Maybe with the boyfriend in tow next time!? ;o)
We watched our dvds which are so funny - if you see it when I get back you've got a treat in store lol! And then I got my free t-shirt and we were taken back to the hostel. I was so exhilerated and couldn't stop grinning. We went out for a meal with Dodgy, our driver, to celebrate at which point my adrenaline disappeared and I slumped and nearly fell asleep at the table. I went back after my meal, rang mum to wish her happy birthday and had about a 2 hour sleep and woke up at 11pm when my alarm went off to call Jack and tell him about my jump. So good to speak to him and I'm seeing him so soon! Wooooop! Went back off to sleep at midnight.
DAY 6
We left early the next day for Tongariro National Park, home to 3 live volcanoes; Mt Tongariro, Mt. Ruapehu (the biggest and snow capped) and Mt. Ngaurauhoe, otherwise known as Mt.Doom from LOTR trilogy. Some people were going to do a 16km, 7-8 hr walk over Mt Tongariro but that wasn't for me. I opted to do a shorter 6km walk through the park to the Taranaki falls. The drive towards the 3 mountains was nothing short of spectacular. Mt Doom looked the most sinister and I don't know if this is because I'm relating it to the films being the evil home of Sauron or because it's the one that looks most like a volcano being a typical conical shape. These are all live and Ruapehu actually erupted about 20 months ago, taking out 2 ski seasons in a row and crippling the local economy.
We dropped off the crazy walkers (jen and mel included) and turned and went to the start of our walk further in the park. We stopped off at Mahui falls for some photo taking. They seen to call any fast flowing stretch of water that goes slightly downhill 'falls' here. They were really just like white water rapids, but cool nonethless. After clambering down o so gracefully and back up again we went to the start of our walk. I changed into my trainers as I wasn;t attempting 6km in thongs! The first part of our walk was all out in the open and pretty flat and it was only when we got to the trees that it began to climb pretty steeply. Being a hot day the sun and the climb combined to make me one hot girly! It was a welcome paddle when we finally reached the waterfall as the pool it fell into was ice cold. Nice on the feet and particularly on my ankle. On the way back, which was nicer and downhill, we filled our water bottles with the best tasting water I've ever had from the mountain stream that fed the waterfall. We got back to the bus and set off to our hostel in the national park. We stopped off for another photo at a kiwi sign hehehe and then arrived at our hostel and got checked in.
The nicest hostel by far of the whole trip. The views did help though but the rooms were far superior to anything so far. Plus they had a lovely husky doggy to play with. I spent the afternoon having a 3 hour nap and then waiting for the weary walkers to arrive, eating with them and then jumping in the hot tub. Great day and I had lots of sleep.!
DAY 7
Saturday and it was time to head for the capital of wellington for a few nights. The drive was pretty much an express route through to the city with no stop offs for anything other than the loo lol. The drive in was pretty impressive and we passed Kaptiti Island, very important to bird conservation. We got put in a girls only 'sanctuary' room at a Base backpackers hostel which is nice as it means we get free champagne at happy hour. wooop! The plan was to go to the supermarket and buy food for nick to cook us for our tea - spag bol and it was yum - and then meet everyone in our hostel bar for happy hour and a night out. We ended up having a great night in our hostel bar getting cheap drinks then ending up dancing the night away at a bar in town that played the cheesiest tunes ever (think barbie girl and c'est la vie lol)! I love this group they'r esuch a fab bunch of people!
DAY 8
Today I've had a very cultural day. We spent the morning chilling in bed as we didn't have to get up at stupid o clock! Hooray! Then we got ready and went to the National Museum of New Zealand or Te Papa (Our Place) and checked out some wicked exhibits. Lots of stuff about how new zealand was formed and about the fault lines it sits on. Very environmental and lots of stuff about the maoris too which was cool. After this we had heard there was a little concert going on in the Frank Kitts park and we wanted to check it out! It was supposed to be african and reggae music lol but it sounded good to us to just chill in the park with some tuneage. It was a lovely few hours spent doing nothing. The music was african, very reggae, but so cool and the weather was awesome! I bopped a little bit to the beats. We bought curry from a stand after and came back to the hostel and now just chillin out.
Tomorrow we're leaving the north island and going to the south on the ferry. Looking forward to less city and more gorgeous scenery. Plus the possibility of the NEVIS bungy jump in Queenstown (look it up on google lol)!
Lots of love! 3 weeks and counting baby, I love you!
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