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Published: August 5th 2007
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After spending a few days in Kaikoura chilling out in the hot tub and sauna we jumped on the bus heading to Picton and the Interislander ferry to Wellington and the North Island. We arrived in New Zealand's capital after a fairly smooth journey across the Cook Strait, supposedly one of the worlds roughest crossings. We were met at the ferry terminal by Hubbard, a good friend of Ben's uncle Jerry, who had kindly offered to put us up for our stay in Wellington. He gave us a quick tour of the city whilst it was still light and it didn't take long before we were hit by the famous Wellington wind! It was difficult to get a decent photo of the city as the whole time we were there it seemed to be covered by a huge grey cloud! We took a trip on Wellington's much loved cable car, spent a day wandering around Te Papa, the national museum, went for a few drives around the harbour and had a few nights out on the town. After 5 days in and around the steep hills of Wellington we jumped back on the Kiwi bus to our next stop, Taupo. The
town lies on the North Eastern corner of Lake Taupo, which is 606 sq km making it New Zealands largest lake. The lake itself was formed by one of the greatest volcanic explosions of all time which took place 26,500 years ago. We felt the only way we could fully appreciate the immense size of the lake was to take to the air for a scenic flight with a twist... it was skydive time! After some initial worries about the weather we awoke to clear blue skies and perfect conditions for throwing yourself out of a plane! We took a short ride out to Taupo's small airport and got ourselves kitted out in red jumpsuits, hats and goggles. It all happened a bit quick and before we knew what was going on we were aboard the plane and slowly climbing to 15,000 ft... at 12,000 ft the door was opened and three nervous looking jumpers fell to the earth... we continued to climb. We finally reached 15,000 ft and before Ben knew it he was out the door closely followed by me! It was an amazing rush with a one minute freefall, spiralling down, trying to take in the awesome
views. In no time at all the parachute was pulled shooting us upwards, allowing us to appreciate the views some more as we slowly drifted back towards the ground. It was something we had both wanted to do for years and it was well worth the wait! Our remaining time in Taupo was spent doing a lot of walking and cycling. We visited the Aratiatia Dam and the Huka Falls, both on the Waikato river. After 7 months of waiting, Ben finally got the chance to play some golf but unfortunately didn't manage to win $5000 by hitting a hole in win on the floating target, 100 metres out into the lake.
The next stop on our journey North was Rotorua, nicknamed 'Sulphur City' it has the most energetic thermal activity in the country with bubbling mud pools, steaming hot springs, gushing geysers and evil eggy smells hovering in the air! The small city has a larger than average Maori population which makes it a good place to experience some Maori culture with a traditional hangi and concert. We went along to one of these theme nights and although heavily commercialised it did give us a chance to see how
the original inhabitants lived their lives. After a warrior welcome, some singing, dancing and huka entertainment we were treated to a hangi dinner where the food is cooked traditionally in an underground oven made of wood and rocks.
The following day we were up early for the last adventure on our 'to do list' - we were going Black Water Rafting. We took a 2 hour ride to Waitomo home of over 300 underground cave systems and streams, which make the small village one of the North Islands premier attractions. It's not just the caves that draw in the crowds, it's the millions of glowworms that have set up home there! We'd booked ourselves onto a 5 hour Black Abyss trip in the Ruakuria cave. We were given some basic abseil training before lowering ourselves down the 35 metre shaft into the cave below. We were led through the cave passages until we reached an underground zip wire that we flew down in total darkness into a cave full of glowworms. We were then given a rubber ring and had to launch ourselves off a ledge into a freezing cold underground river. We drifted along the river admiring the glowworms
above us, stopping briefly to paint each others faces with mud from the cave walls. We then walked and swam down the river, climbing up and sliding down waterfalls until we reached the daylight through a fast flowing waterfall. We spent about 3 hours underground and Ben couldn't help but think he was one of the Goonies and kept looking behind him to check that the Fratellis weren't chasing him!
We are still in egg central, slowly getting used to the smell and planning to relax in one of the town's many thermal pools. We'll be back on the bus on Monday heading for Auckland.
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Michael Orange Head
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Eye Brows
Malc you need to trim those Brows fella !! Perhaps I can do it for you as i'm a fully qualified gardener now ! x