Falling out of planes

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Yesterday I fell out of a plane, well on purpose, strapped to someone with a parachute. The whole experience was awesome. The first split second as we tumbled out of the plane were shear terror but after that it was amazing. I'm in Taupo, by the way (or Toe Paw if you want to prenounce it like a local). Today was a sunny clear blue sky day with the snowcapped mountains of Ruapehu and Mount Doom in the distance and beautiful lake Taupo below us so the views were incredible. The freefall was over so quickly, although it lasts about 45 seconds before they pull the chute. After that we did a few tight spiral turns that sent the blood painfully to my feet but not enough to stop the fun and gently floated to the ground. It was probably the best and also most rediculous thing I've ever done but I'd do it again in a flash.

Today I had to get up really early to go and do the Tongariro Crossing, supposedly the 'best one day walk in NZ' or to put it another way to go tramping (that's got nothing to do with smelly old men sleeping under bridges drinking Special Brew by the way). It's all about an hour south of Taupo, walking between Ruapehu and Doom (or whatever its real name is). The scenery as I had already seen from my skydive was amazing even up close. We walked up the valley to the start of the walk towards the first snow I'd seen in NZ. From that point on we were walking up steep snowy and icey slopes, sometimes needing crampons to stay upright. The wind was howling and it was very hard going at times but eventually we got to the top and the views back the way we had come and down into the old volcano craters were amazing (between clouds blowing in). From the top we took the easy way down (well down to the next crater, we were almost 2000m up), that is on our arses sliding down the snow which was wicked, if not really painful and cold in unpadded trousers. From the other side we descended in the sun, almost warming us with views over the valley and Lake Taupo. The walk was well worth it but we were glad to get back to the bus having been walking for around 8 hours, especially when we found a cold beer waiting for us back at the bus.

Tomorrow it's off to the capital (well officially), Wellington

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Photos

Ruapehu and Doom
One's famous, the other erupts

Craters of the Moon
Wierd geothermal stuff, smelly

Mount Doom
Can you spot the orcs?