Blogs from Taupo, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 63

hello people, as you might guess from the title we had a great day yesterday chucking ourselves out of a plane! It was fantastic! Having head back into the midlands of new zealand and gone up a mountain the hard way on the crossing we decided it was 'high' time to do the done thing in taupo and skydive. It was a long day waiting for the jump to come, looking up into the sky and wondering just how high 12000 feet was, pretty damn high is the answer. we arrived at the sky diving place at 2pm, feeling excited but with a definate twinge of nerves in the background. after a long wait we were called and strapped into our delightful red jump suits, and trainers which were branded 'British' , only the best eh! ... read more

Being that we managed the Tongariro Crossing we decided to reward ourselves with a jet boating trip. It was wicked! You zoom along the river at great speed and then every so often you do huge 180 degree spins (bit like a handbrake turn) This, needless to say, results in lots of spray. The best thing about it was that the boat went over rapids! The first time we flew through the air but the next time we hit the water at a different angle and we got drenched! It was so much fun though. The other thing with jet boating is that the drivers seem to want to drive VERY close to cliffs and other objects then swerve the boat out of the way at the last second!... read more

woohoo. WE DID IT (I WITH COMPLETE COMPOSURE AND CAITIE WITH NOT SO MUCH). so, after riding on a bus for a full 6 hours from wellington we arrived in taupo. we got to our hostel and were almost immediately off to the air field in taupo to jump. i had been working myself up for a couple of days, trying to get excited but mostly nervous. I ON THE OTHER HAND WAS COMPLETELY COOL AND EXCITED. yeah right. ANYWAY, WE'RE WAITING OUTSIDE OUR HOSTEL FOR THE COMPANY TO COME PICK US UP AND A FREAKIN' LIMO DRIVES INTO THE CARPARK!! we were carted off in style to jump. it was windy so we waited around the hanger for a couple hours. but finally we were getting into our goofy jumpsuits and harnesses....we'd watched 2 groups ... read more

Hello all you intrepid readers of Benji and Abby's blog. Here is the latest installment from the travelers. First off an apology from Benji: There are no stories about the cute kids I let you all down:( Okay now where have we been let's see: Well we tried to leave Tauranga the last location that we updated the blog from, only to find that Benji had leftthe lights on and killed the tiny battery that was in our van. We expected this would happen sooner or later so we quickly hopped in a cab and made3 it to an auto parts store just before closing. We purchased the correct size battery for our van and headed across a bridge to a little town called Mt. Marangui (actually a suburb of Tauranga). This town turned out to ... read more

First, apologies to those who got the email to my last blog 3 times - that wasn't meant to happen. Secondly, to those who may be jealous of me spending Xmas in New Zealand's summer, don't be; up to Tuesday we've been getting freak cold weather here, which is just typical isn't it?! Including giant hailstones in Auckland. Ah well, c'est la vie. Nevertheless, travelling around NZ's north island is starting to get really fun and interesting now. You'll be glad...maybe...to know that I survived the 12000ft skydive. Who'd have thought being strapped to another man would give me such a big adrenaline rush. But I think the jumping (eventually) out of the plane and freefalling park helped. The feeling of freefalling is like no other - full exhileration to the end with a perfect awe-inspiring ... read more