Blogs from Taupo, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 53

As you can imagine, after our triumphant trek over the Tongariro yesterday, none of us felt like doing anything too strenuous today. We celebrated our achievement last night with a couple of beers but it wasn't long before our eyelids felt as heavy as our legs and we retreated off to bed. This morning, we felt that a generous lie in was well deserved and it was midday before we really got going anywhere. It was our last day with the hire car so we decided to treat Lina to a bit of a tour all of that we've been enjoying since arriving in Taupo. We did manage to include one attarction that Glynn and I haven't seen yet - the Huka Falls. We were planning to do the 2 hour walk from town at some ... read more

Went for the walk again to Haka falls and hot springs with Sarah. I think it was a good thing as my knee was suffering a bit from yesterday.... read more

Hi People: here is my sky-dive story: I was in a good mood today, after 4 days in New Zealand, I had been re-united with my luggage! : I was going to Taupo to-do a sky-dive. As I settle into my seat on the coach to take me to Taupo and said sky-dive, I glance at a paper laying there on the seat next too me and especially the headlines of that morning's paper, . I grab the paper, but the bus driver fills' me in on the details!: it turns' out that the sky-diver/cameraman's 1st and 2nd chute's didn't open fully, other sky-divers could see he was in trouble and frantically went to aid him, but they couldn't! The now sticken sky-diver is knowing that his life is going to end starts to record his ... read more

Other than skydiving, one of the things that Taupo is famous for is the great Tongariro Crossing. The common room at Rainbow Lodge is full of exhausted trekkers (or trampers as the Kiwis like to call them) telling tales of extraordinary adventure and out-of-this world scenery. We had heard about the crossing back in Rotorua and we mentioned it to Lina, our Japanese friend when we were there. When we said we were hoping to do the crossing ourselves while we were staying in Taupo, she said she wanted to do it too and why didn't we all go together? An excellent idea indeed! The Tongariro Crossing is actually quite a distance away from Taupo and to get there you need transport. Glynn and I checked out a number of private shuttle buses that drop you ... read more

Moved hostels to a cheaper one, which was friendlier. Rainbow LOdge. Highly recommend it very clean and friendly. Went for a walk to the Haka Falls along river and on the way back stopped in the hot springs. They were hot. Very stange as the non hot spots and very cold. It was a lovely day so chilled there for a bit.... read more