Don't Pee In The Wetsuits! 27th - 31st Dec 06

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Having collected 'The Mumbler', named after our favourite Penguin in Happy Feetand also because it was like 'The Gambler's' smaller, slower (if you'll believe it!) cousin, we drove North to Napier along some stunning but extremely twisty and mountainous roads. After a brief detour to Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotameteaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu - funnily enough the location of the longest place name in the world, we arrived in Napier late afternoon and our first task was to find the two houses that our Grandma and her sister grew up in when they lived in New Zealand as children. Mission accomplished we drove over to the campsite Jo and Becs were staying at to see if there were any cabins available so we could get together for some drinks that evening. There was no room at the inn unfortunately, so we drove over to the girls' pitch to make a plan to meet up once we'd found a hostel. A few beers later we still hadn't left and suddenly it seemed like a great idea for the four of us to sleep in Hugh, the girls' campervan! As the double bed in the back is raised off the ground and there is a small 'lounge area' (kind of!) Jo and Becs would sleep in the bed and Kirsty and I would sleep with our legs under the bed and our heads in the lounge bit - anything for some free accommodation!!! This decided, a few rounds of 3rd man were in order to enable us to pass out and forget about the bizarre sleeping arrangements!
It actually wasn't as uncomfortable a night as we'd thought it would be and we awoke to glorious sunshine, something we hadn't seen in a long time! Whilst Jo and Becs stayed to explore Napier, Kirsty and I drove West to Waitomo as we were going Black Water Rafting there the following day.
We'd booked the Black Labyrinth tour which was awesome! It took us 215 feet underground into Waitomo Cave and we spent 3 hours caving, tubing down the subterranean waterways and jumping backwards off underground waterfalls into the darkness. Our guides were great, especially Dunnie, who demonstrated that if you weren't careful of where you stepped you could fall into deep holes, by doing just that, and not reappearing for ages, sending a small wave of panic through the group! We also got to view the thousands of glowworms that inhabit the cave as we lazily moved down the river in our tubes, although when Dunnie explained that they were actually maggots and it was the poo in their tails that was glowing to attract food, they suddenly didn't seem quite so magical ... but they were so pretty though! The final part of our underground adventure saw us trying to find the exit of the cave in complete darkness, with head torches switched off. Not an easy feat, but we made it in the end! The only downside of the tour was the minging wetsuits. They were damp and horrible when we put them on and had a curious odour of pee and cave water - yuk! We could see now why Dunnie kept saying 'Don't pee in the wetsuits' over and over again like some kind of mantra!
That evening we drove to National Park, a tiny town on the edge of the Tongariro National Park. We both felt ready for a drink after our days rafting, so headed down to the National Park Hotel for a few bevvies. National Park is a very small place, so unfamiliar faces stand out, and as we entered the pub it was like a scene from a film, where everyone stops what they're doing, it goes deadly silent and they all turn to stare at the new people in town! It was a male dominated environment and you would have thought they'd never seen women before! Having made such an entrance though, we could hardly turn around and walk out again, so we decided to have one drink and then scarper. This plan was soon scuppered however, when we were approached by Paul, one of the locals, who asked if we'd like to join him and his mate Paul for a shot - well it would have been rude to say no and so the descent into chaos began! Soon we were stood at the bar, downing shots on a regular basis, playing pool and mixing with the locals, who kept laughing every time we spoke as apparently we sound just like Bridget Jones!
The next morning with heads pounding and extremely dry mouths, the first port of call was the BP garage to buy all the drinks they had before making our way to Taupo via the Tongariro National Park. We drove to Whakapapa Village, the starting point for many of the walks through the park, but as the weather was shockingly bad and we could hardly move, we dodged getting out of the car and checking out the information centre, in favour of getting to Taupo and the comfort of a bed!
We'd booked the Huka Falls Jetboat ride for that afternoon and sincerely hoped this would blow the hangover away - and it did! The ride was great fun, so much so that we did it twice. The driver takes the boat ridiculously close to the rock faces and branches emerging from the water and we couldn't get enough of the 360 spins! We were also taken up to the Huka Falls, which were only at 20% capacity, but when they're running full enough water tumbles over them to fill an olympic sized swimming pool every 4 seconds - that's a whole heap of water! We got to play around in the falls a little bit, showing off to the people on the viewing platforms and feeling the boat sink deeper into the water due to the suction of the falls, before heading back to dry land and meeting up with Jo and Becs as we were going to spend New Years together.
Kirsty and I decided that the best way to see the new year in would be to launch ourselves from a plane at 12,000 feet, so on New Years Eve morning we made our way to Taupo Skydiving club for our leaps of faith. Despite the fact that we'd both done a skydive 5 years previously in Namibia, we were still terrified, although tried not to show it too much as the tandem masters that we were jumping with were hot! I was slightly disconcerted though when I thought that we were more than high enough, but was told that we were only at 3,000 feet - aaargh! The jump, of course, was amazing fun and you just can't beat that feeling of falling through the sky, although it was a bit more like a jumping production line than in Namibia, as they were so busy, so we didn't have much time to prepare and get ourselves comfortable before jumping out of the plane, heightening the fear and shock factors! The freefall was brilliant and when the chute came up the scenery was stunning - massive Lake Taupo (apparently the same size as Singapore!) flanked by the mountains of the Tongariro National Park - we'd been really lucky to have such a clear day.
That afternoon we decided to make the most of the nice weather by chilling out in the hostels garden and taking in the festival type atmosphere - lots of tents as people were camping there for New Years, people playing guitar and kicking back and drinking in the sun.
The 4 of us also took a drive out to the largest rapids in the Southern Hemisphere. Unfortunately they don't run naturally anymore as the river was dammed to direct the water to a power station, but 4 times a day the gates are opened and the rapids are recreated for the tourists benefit. They were an impressive sight and you could see why only 1 person has successfully kayaked through them! We also checked out the Huka Falls from a 'land perspective', before heading back to the hostel to prepare for the New Years festivities.
Dinner was had at Jolly Good Fellows, a lovely English style pub, without being too over the top, and we'd bought tickets for a 'beach party' at a local Irish bar. We didn't buy the tickets because of the terrible beach party theme of course, but because they were the only tickets available, and we were all slightly dubious as to what was in store, and feeling far from 'beachy' as it was pelting it down with rain, when we entered Mulligans. To be honest, it a was a pretty dire state of affairs - the place was half empty and there didn't seem to be much of an atmosphere. As Jo wasn't feeling too well after her very rich dinner we decided to head back to the hostel and bring the New Year in there ... but there wasn't a soul around, so Kirsty and I went back to give Mulligans a 2nd try - it was New Years Eve after all and any party was better than no party! We viewed the beautiful New Years fireworks as we walked back into town and were pleasantly surprised when we got back to Mulligans to see that the place had filled out, the atmosphere had picked up and there were a few familiar faces around, from the hostel and the Stray bus. Most of the night was spent being schmoozed by a couple of Scottish lads who kept buying us drinks so we didn't mind too much, but by 3am we were getting a bit bored of them and did a snidey legger! A good night was had in the end and it was definitely a New Years to remember!
Thanks for stopping by.

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Photos

Easy for you to say!
The longest place name in the world!

So cute
My Grandma's old house in Napier

Amazing
The largest rapids in the Southern Hemisphere

The Huka Jet
From the Huka Falls lookout platforms

Towards the end of the night!
Me and lil sis after a few new years drinks!

At Huka Falls
L-R: Kirsty, Me, Jo and Becs