Blogs from Taupo, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 55

well, i'm a little behind in my blogging, and i've kind of lost track of the days. guess i'll just report on what i can recall... btw, i'm sitting in a gaming/internet shop in what appears to be auckland's chinatown. the keys might be arranged funny and i can't read the chinese characters on the screen... anyways, after we pulled in to taupo we spent two nights there. i've already complained about how we couldn't find a place to eat the first night. but the next day was kind of pleasant. it was another down day for us and i managed to get a little more souvenir shopping done. for all you fishermen out there (john), taupo's a popular destination for trout fishing. there are several stores with gear for fly fishing, and excursions out on ... read more

Whilst in Taupo we were feeling rather adventurous and took advantage of the best place to skydive in NZ as the views are spectacular. We planned on doing the jump from 12,000 feet and not buy any of the photos or dvd, but we were soon convinced that 15,000 feet was the way to go as the freefall was longer and of course we had to have photographic evidence!! Well worth it. The most intense rush of our lives! Clay was Mr. Cool Cucumber, until we hit about 13,000 feet....then it him too! So scary approaching that door and just falling out of it. The freefall was the most amazing/petrifying experience. Once you realize that you probably aren't going to die you look around and enjoy the view. As soon as the chute was pulled I ... read more

Today was supposed to start with another trip underground (black water rafting) in the morning, followed by driving south in the afternoon and evening. Unfortunately it had rained very heavily overnight and most of the caves had flooded - so black water rafter was cancelled. Being a bit stuck on time and ideas on what to do we decided to head over to Lake Taupo to see what we could do. By the time we'd got there it was too late to do any of the trips so we visted the natural hot baths at Taupo. We had our private hot pool for a short while before going into the outside pools. They were hot! We decided to continue driving south as our ferry to the south island is on the 17th. We drove around Mt ... read more

You really haven't seen the world until you have seen it at 15,000 ft and falling out of a plane!... read more

Finally I'v remembered the photos!! the one as I'm about to jump out of the plane is a bit cheesy. Dont be fooled by the grin, I'm pooing my pants!!!! The scenery is amazing. Its a lake in the north Island called Taupo. As I'll keep saying, the photo's really dont do it justice! but you get an idea of the total awesomeness (is that a word or did I make that up?!) We went out in the evening with a couple of the instructors and met up with a few rafting instructors too. Wasn't really paying attention during the day as to what they looked like though, as I was so petrified about the jump, so when they said hello in the bar I thought they were randoms trying to pick us up! didn't even ... read more