Yesterday I did something I never thought I'd do in a million years; sky dived. I'd not really thought about what I was doing till I was up in the plane. It was a 15,000 ft jump over Lake Taupo which is the largest lake in NZ. I couldn't decide whether to do one or not but I ended up tagging along with a guy called Marius who we'd been on the bus with for a few days. He'd done one before and was doing his best to persuade me it would be incredible. He was correct and I can't thank him enough for not letting me wuss out. It was a tandem dive so I was attached to a man called JP but i told myself it was Jude Law to make me feel better. Going up in the plane was fine. In fact, the views were pretty amazing. At 8,000ft everyone had to wear an oxygen mask until we reached the top. When it came to opening the door, it wouldn't open which added to the already present element of fear. I was the last one out of the plane and as JP is sliding us towards the door I'm screaming " I CAN'T DO IT. DONT MAKE ME DO IT PLEASE!" But he slides me to the door with my feet hanging out of the plane anyway. You have to lean your head back onto the guys shoulder so you end up in a banana shape. I was still trying to persuade him that maybe this wasn't a good idea but then he just jumps out of the plane. He does a flip as we leap out and then we're just free falling. Its the strangest sensation, I was completely disoriented for the first 10 seconds and couldn't catch my breath properly but when I realised what was going on it was the coolest thing. After about a minute of free fall the parachute was released and I got to appreciate the views over the lake and it was the most spectacular sight. It was possibly one of the best things I've ever done and I'd definitely do it again just to appreciate even more. After being out till the early hours the night before we also discovered its a pretty good hang over cure too! The afternoon was spent as a big group down by the hot springs next to a river with a picnic. We went quite extravagant and had brie and ham baguettes.
On Sunday 7 of us were on a bus at 5:30am to do the Tongariro Crossing which is a 20km hike. Its supposed to be the best day hike in New Zealand. We started at about 7:30 and managed to achieve the first 2km quite quickly as they were on flat terrain but this is obviously to give everyone a false sense of security. Quite honestly, the rest of it is a bitch and definitely a challenge. Everything's uphill which just makes it more difficult. There are signs along the way basically telling you to turn back. Its so difficult to explain but take a look at some of the pictures to see what i mean. The crossing is home to Mount Doom from the Lord of the Rings movies. The lads climbed up and down that which took them 2/3 hours while the girls went The Emerald Lakes which was actually quite a dangerous walk. We had to clamber up rocks in incredibly strong winds, at some points I was genuinely worried about getting blown over. We kept on tripping and there were points when we considered just turning back. It took us about an hour and a half to walk up but the views over the lakes was beautiful. Its weird thinking that what we were walking over used to be molten rock. We were really lucky with the weather as it was clear and gloriously sunny. We made it back to the bus for 3:30 so it was a long day. It was the most difficult walk and I am genuinely so proud of us all for completing it in one piece. But would I do it again? Absolutely not. There were some crazy Germans who carried their bikes up to the summit of the volcano and cycled all the way down. Needless to say we were all absolutely shattered when we got back and in desperate need of a foot massage. I slept like a baby.
We got the bus at 9 the next morning only to be dragged out on a 2 hour walk to Taranaki Falls so my hips and feet are pretty sore. We headed off to somewhere called River Valley which is literally in the middle of nowhere. It would have been the perfect place to relax and go for a swim in the river but the weather has been terrible. It rained a bit yesterday then was over cast for the rest of it and this morning we woke up to heavy down pours so white water rafting was cancelled. The best thing was we got a roast dinner last night, but the Yorkshire puddings left a lot to the imagination. There's 5 of us heading off to Wellington and I think I might stay there for afew nights as it should be quite nice. Theyve got a fantastic museum, a mountain, good nightlife and I quite fancy some retail therapy.
I've been eating a lot of chocolate over here simply because they do $1.99 massive slabs of cadburys chocolate. The best is a Rocky Road bar which is incredible and I shall definitely be bringing some of that bad boy home.
Xxx
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