Taupo, River Valley, Wellington, Kaiteriteri, Westport, Lake Mahinapua, Franz Josef and Wanaka

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I left Rotorua and moved on to Taupo on Friday 11th November, after a very messy night out in Rotorua. I did manage to catch 11am and got the bus to have a 2 minute silence for Armistice Day, and we were probably the first people in the world to have a silence. Taupo is in the centre of the North Island and Lake Taupo is the biggest lake in New Zealand. The lake is surrounded by mountains (one of which was used as Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings films) and the scenery is absolutely beautiful. However, as I was disgustingly hungover, I spent the day attempting to wander around town before giving up and spending the afternoon asleep. The hangover then turned into a full-blown run-down cold, cough and general lergy, and so my whole experience of Taupo was rather a miserable one where I realised I'd been burning the candle at both ends for 4 months and my body had just given up. I took myself off to bed, had lots of soup and actually looked after myself for 3 days.

We moved on to River Valley on Monday, with a stop in Tongariro National Park for a walk around the area where Mordor was filmed in the Lord of the Rings films. You could really see why they picked here to film Mordor, especially with the miserable weather we had. Unfortunately, we didn't have particularly good views of Mount Doom due to the weather, but the clouds did make it all the more eerie. We then drove on to River Valley, which is a lodge in the middle of nowhere at the bottom of a valley - an absolutely beautiful location even in the pouring rain. We had a roast that evening in a huge room with sofas and a log fire - it really did feel like luxury. That is until we got to the bedrooms... we were all in a bunkroom - essentially two huge bunk beds with 8 mattresses on the top and 8 on the bottom. It was definitely a cosy night!

The next day the weather completely cheered up for us and a few of us had a yoga class in a room looking out over the valley. This was exactly what I needed as I was still feeling a little ill, and was really relaxing. We enjoyed the sunshine over lunch and then got back on the bus and headed to Wellington. We arrived about 6pm, and went for dinner and a few drinks with everyone that evening.

I spent the next two days in Wellington exploring New Zealand's capital. Wellington is right on a plate fault line and so has a lot of earthquakes. We were told we would probably feel a tiny shake while we were there, and some quakes are so small you don't even feel them, but we didn't feel anything while there. The Te Papa museum in Wellington is one of the best museums I've ever been to - full of exhibits about earthquakes, Maori culture and New Zealand through different ages. I also did a Lord of the Rings tour of the different sets around Wellington, which was absolutely fantastic. As the filming was quite environmentally friendly, and as the makers didn't quite realise the amount of hype the films would receive, none of the sets still exist, but we were taken to the landscapes where different parts were filmed. On the way to the different areas we were shown movie clips to help us visualise what they added and what's naturally part of the landscape. We saw Isengard, Rivendell, Minas Tirith and Helms Deep. It was surprisingly easy to imagine the different places being filmed in the areas we went to, which reflects why Peter Jackson chose New Zealand to film. Apologies for those of you not interested in LOTR, but I had to mention it at some point! We went to the spot where Aragorn gets washed up in a river bank after being dragged off a cliff in the second film and I had my picture taken lying where the lovely Viggo Mortensen lay. When we were in Rivendell we were given elf ears, a cape and a bow and arrow and posed as Legolas. Very, very geeky moments, but so much fun.

The next day I got the ferry across to the South Island. This took three hours and the views were absolutely beautiful, particularly when coming in to the South Island. We got off the ferry at Picton and drove to a very small town called Kaiteriteri. This was absolutely beautiful and right on the beach. It's the closest town to Abel Tasman National Park which is only accessible by boat or foot. That evening we had a few drinks in the bar and then a few of us went for a walk on the beach. The stars were unlike anything I've ever seen; so many of them and they were so bright. We saw a few shooting stars and were lucky enough to see some blue penguins - the world's smallest. They were just plodding along the beach from a cave and then went for a little swim. We managed to get really close to them; it really was one of those, 'I am so lucky' moments.

The next morning we went on a half day walk through the park with some stunning views of the beach. The weather was incredible and the rainforest was beautiful. We then got back on the bus and drove to Westport where we stayed for a night. This is home to a gorgeous river tucked between huge mountains and we went for a jet boat ride here. It was so much fun and we got absolutely soaked. We then headed to the beach for a bonfire, drinks and some fireworks with the whole bus.

The next day we drove to Lake Mahinapua, supposedly one of the most beautiful lakes in New Zealand, but unfortunately the heavens opened and it poured down with rain all day. Luckily we were dressing up that night so we had the afternoon to busy ourselves with making costumes for the theme ABC - Anything But Clothing. I went for the tried and tested bin bag dress, and ended up making them for about 5 other girls. It was a really good night and people really made an effort with their costumes.

It hadn't cheered up the next day when we headed to Franz Josef and so we once again spent the afternoon in the hostel with soup and tea. The next day was a little better and we went for a full day hike on Franz Josef glacier, which is the fastest moving glacier in the world. It has a 20 year advancing and retreating cycle and is currently retreating after being fully advanced in 2008. It was absolutely beautiful - huge blocks of ice of different blues and greens and walking on it was so much fun. We went through completely natural ice tunnels, carved by running water melting the ice, one of which was so blue inside and so small we had to crawl through. I could have quite happily stayed in the tunnel for quite a while! We went up and down steps carved into the ice, some of which were so big and steep I had to climb up on my hands and knees, and quite often went back down them on my bum! This did make it more fun though, even if everyone was laughing at me. We sat and had our lunch on the glacier, looking out over mountains and ice. That was the first time I actually felt cold; it was surprising how warm it got when walking on it. We walked for about 7 hours in total, with our guide always ahead with a pickaxe to create a safe path. We were all exhausted by the time we finished and went and put our aching bodies in the naturally heated hot pools near our hostel - it was like a giant bath. The glacier hike was one of the best things I've done on my trip and it's definitely a must-see for any traveller.

The next day we drove to Wanaka, where I suddenly had an urge to jump out of a plane from 12,000 feet. I honestly can't explain why I suddenly decided I wanted to do this - I had chickened out of so many before but was starting to regret it. Luckily as we came into Wanaka the weather completely changed and was beautiful and so I was able to do my skydive. Wanaka is a little town on Lake Wanaka which is surrounded by mountains and is truly one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. I managed to not be scared at all until we got into the plane and started getting higher and higher. My instructor showed me his altitude watch so I could see how high we were, and I was amazing how high up even 4,000 feet seemed. The views out of the window were stunning and it helped distract me from what I was about to do. My instructor kept joking around with me about how my harness was too big and that he hoped it would hold me, so I must have seemed fairly calm for him to have felt he could have a joke. When they opened the door I suddenly realised what I was doing and I was terrified, still very excited, but terrified. I had to stick my legs out and tuck them under the plane and then he just jumped. Freefalling was the best feeling in the world and I loved every second of it. When the parachute went up I wasn't so happy as it jerked me, but then floating down, taking in the view was amazing. We had a pretty much perfect landing and I just wanted to do it again. I was on a high for the rest of the day and even dreamt about it that night. I got the dvd and photos so you will all have to watch it when I'm home!

That evening we went to the cinema in Wanaka to see the Guard. It was a really quirky cinema with sofas and even half a car for seating. It was a really nice night and got me very chilled ready for Queenstown - the party capital of New Zealand.

Love to you all x

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Photos

The Bunkroom
Affectionately known as the Orgy Pit...