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Published: November 15th 2007
Skydive 1
Amazing amazing amazing!!Kia Ora from Taupo!
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Well, as you can see from the pics I did my skydive! It was absolutely amazing, one of the best things I've done in my entire life - I loved it!!
But first things first. Following on from the last blog, our night in Waitomo was spent tramping through the bush in the pitch dark looking at glow worms and practically crawling through caves which was a bit random but a lot of fun. The next morning was spent lazing about since some of the bus were doing black water rafting, something I gave a miss to save some cash. Then we headed off on a two hour journey to Taupo during which I became more and more depressed because it was raining and I was convinced I'd not get to do my skydive. Luckily though, when we reached Taupo the sun came out so me and four others were whisked away to the airfield - I was sooooo excited! I decided to go for the highest dive I could - 15000 feet - since it's a once in a lifetime kind of thing, so once I was kitted out in yet another
Skydive 2
Getting ready to go fetching outfit and had met the man I was entrusting my life to, I jumped on the plane. It took about 20 mins to reach 15,000 feet and we were so high up we had to put oxygen masks on. I was surprised to find that I didn't have one ounch of fear or nerves, I was too excited!
I was the first out the plane and from the second we jumped I had a huge cheesy grin on my face - it was just an incredible experience. I got a whole minute of freefall which was such a rush, especially when the tandem guy started spinning us around crazily, fab! When the parachute opened I was able to take in the view right across Lake Taupo (which is absolutely stunning and is big enough to fit the whole of Singapore in it!) and chat away to my tandem guy.
I landed no bother and couldn't believe it was over so soon, I wanted to go straight back up and do it again! I loved every second of it!
Once I got back to the hostel I headed straight for the bar but since all the adrenalin
Skydive 3
Not exactly graceful in flight! had left my body I was completely knackered, so I only stayed up for a few then headed to bed as I had a very early start the next day.
Waking up at 5am was not fun but Heather dragged me out of bed and we got ourselves ready for that day's adventure - trekking across the Tongariro Crossing. Classed as one of the top 10 day walks in the world, and the best in New Zealand, the Tongariro Crossing is an 18.5 km hike through some of the most scenic and active volcanic areas of the Tongariro National Park. The track winds up Mongatepopo Valley between Mount Tongariro and Mount Ngauruhoe, and I was very glad I'd gone back to bodypump since climbing the 'Devil's Staircase' was an absolute killer! At the top we got to the Red Crater, which was awesome and the views were stunning - we could see right across to the peak of a mountain 180 km away. You can smell the sulphur, evidence that Red Crater is still active, and we sat on the ground there which was mega hot - I had to jump up because I burned my bum!! We then
Skydive 4
Can you tell I was enjoying myself?! made our way down the volcanic ash (it was like walking through deep snow!) to the gorgeous but very smelly Emerald Lakes whose brilliant greenish colour is caused by minerals which have leached from the adjoining thermal area. From there on in it was a bit of a trudging journey, I was knackered! The views were just stunning though, the landscape there is breath taking.
So it was a tired troop that made our way back to Taupo that afternoon and I was quite happy to spend the rest of the day chilling out in the sun and getting the craic with people at the hostel. Not much more to say on this blog - I'll let the pictures do the talking for me! xx
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Mum
non-member comment
well done you!!!!!
Oh, so pleased for you love, I guess from the comments, the sky dive was just about OK! Take care and come home safe after all these adventures. Lots of love, mum xx