I've had a jam-packed few days recently and have been trying to update my blog all week but have struggled to find any decent internet cafes so I won't waste time dilly-dallying and I'll get straight into what I've been up to...
Luckily the weather cleared up in Taupo after my last post and I was able to do my skydive last Thursday which has got to be one of the best things I've ever done! Most of the people I'm travelling with have already been skydiving so I went by myself - it was odd how relaxed I felt about the whole thing really - I think the bungy jump was a lot more nerve-wracking because of physically having to make yourself jump, whereas I knew that with skydiving I didn't really have to do anything as I'd be strapped to a guy who would pull me out of the plane with him. There were another four people doing the skydive at the same time so we all got kitted out in overalls, hats and goggles and climbed into the tiny plane. I opted for the 15,000ft option rather than the 12,000ft because it meant that I got an extra 15 seconds of freefall (i.e. the bit before the parachute opens) - definitely worth the extra money! The plane ride itself was quite surreal and I couldn't quite get my head around the fact that I was about to be jumping out of it! The guy that I did my skydive with was really nice and made me feel safe though so I wasn't too nervous about it. I was second out of the plane and it all seemed to happen really quickly so I didn't have time to get scared which was probably a good thing! The skydive itself was absolutely breathtaking - there's nothing quite like it! I had about a minute of freefalling which was simply amazing and then the parachute opened and we had about a three minute gentle descent to the ground which was great because it gave me chance to admire the gorgeous scenery. My skydive was over Lake Taupo which is New Zealand's largest lake (606sq km) and it was a beautiful day too - I couldn't have asked for more! I bought the DVD so I'll have to show everyone when I get back home.
The following day we had to crawl out of bed stupidly early to catch a bus at 5:40am which would take us to the start of the Tongariro Crossing, located in the Tongariro National Park and widely rated as the best one day walk in New Zealand. We arrived at the start of the track at 7am, hired some walking boots, put on all of our extra layers because it was freeeeezing and set out at about 7:40am to start the 18.5km walk. The start of the track was fairly easy-going but we soon found ourselves climbing up the Devil's Staircase which is where I learnt the meaning of the word steep - it was horrible! That took us about 45 minutes and at the top we walked through the South Crater of one of the volcanoes, which was then followed by another climb up to the top of the Red Crater where we stopped for lunch. The view from the top was amazing and we could see for miles around us - an added benefit was that we had warm bums from sitting on the hot spots on the ground as the volcano itself is still active. After lunch we were glad to find that most of the rest of the track was downhill - what a relief! We soon reached the Emerald Lakes, three turquoise-coloured lakes, which were beautiful and so we stopped for a few photos. Soon after the Emerald Lakes, we walked past the Blue Lake and then continued walking for about an hour an a half where we stopped for a much needed break. The scenery changed dramatically and we had a great view because of being so high up. It took us another couple of hours or so of walking through a forest before we reached the end of the track at about 3pm. We all collapsed on to the bus and fell asleep on the journey back - it had been such an exhausting day but totally worth it! I think I'd have to agree with whoever quoted the walk as being the best in New Zealand - we got to see so many different amazing sights that day and I'll never forget it (partially because it was so stunning, partially because I went a bit mad with my camera!).
I woke up the next day feeling a little achey but not half as bad as I had expected which was a huge relief. After having a bit of a lie in, we all ventured out of the hostel and took a walk to a nearby park where we went to see the Huka Falls - I even saw a crazy guy in a kayak trying to battle his way through the water!
In the evening we had a few drinks in the hostel bar and then headed out to a couple of watering holes in town. We somehow got ourselves into a rather competitive table football match between the seven of us which resulted in some really funny victory songs and dances.
The following morning we all jumped back on the bus and headed for Rotorua, often referred to as Rotten-Rua due to the rotten egg smell that dominates the streets because of the sulphur and thermal activity in the area. Luckily our hostel seemed to be in a smell-free zone, thank goodness! In the afternoon we took the gondola up one of the mountains and went luging - it was a similar set up to the one in Queenstown, except for the tracks were much longer - wahey!
Later on we all went to a Maori (indigineous people of New Zealand) evening which was a little pricey but one of the best things I've done in New Zealand. The bus driver instructed us on the rules and protocol of entering the Maori village which worried us all slightly as we were told that it was considered very rude to laugh or smile during the opening ceremony. We soon arrived at the venue and watched the performance of the formal welcome which was quite a sight - a couple of warriors performed some intimidatory gestures which were really difficult not to giggle at (I've got a great video of this!). After the welcoming we entered the mock-up Maori village and were able to see some demonstrations of various Maori traditions such as weaponry displays and clothes-making. We then moved into the meeting house where we watched a number of songs, dances and the famous Haka. After that we moved into the dining room where we had a buffet dinner which was cooked traditional Hangi style, whereby the food is cooked under the earth on hot rocks for 3-4 hours. The food was delicious and we all made sure that we got our money's worth being true backpackers!
On Monday we all went zorbing which involved getting into a giant inflatable ball and rolling down a hill in it - such good fun! I did my first zorb with Jenna and a bucket of water - luckily it was warm rather than cold! We started off standing up and had to run forward to get the ball to start rolling, but once it picked up a bit of speed we were on the floor and sliding around everywhere in the water. We all enjoyed it so much that we had to have another go - I went in a zorb with Adam and Lizzie on the second run which was great but I think Lizzie suffered a bit as she was in the middle and got a bit knocked about by Adam and me - difficult to avoid when you're slipping around so much!
The following day we got up early and jumped on a bus to Waitomo for the day to visit the famous glowworm caves. We opted for a trip called the Black Abyss which gave us about 3 hours down in the caves and was the most adventurous out of all of the packages (if you're gonna do it, you may as well do it properly!). After getting kitted out with wetsuits, helmets, boots and harnesses we jumped on a bus and headed for the caves. Before entering the caves we were given a bit of abseiling training as to get into the cave we had to do a 35m abseil through a very tight gap - yikes! Luckily we all managed to get through without a problem. Soon afterwards we had to jump on a zip wire into complete darkness - they didn't call it the Black Abyss for nothing! The only lights in the caves were those on our helmets and the guides made us turn those off when we flew down the zip wire so none of knew where we were heading - crazy! After surviving that ordeal we stopped for a much needed hot drink and were then handed a black rubber tube each and told to jump into the water below, using the tube as a seat. We all got absolutely soaked in doing that but it was such good fun that I think we stopped thinking about the temperatures down there soon afterwards. We all jumped into our tubes and were guided through the caves and saw thousands of glowworms which were amazing! I wish I could remember all the sciency bits about why they glow but I think I was too busy admiring them all twinkling up above me at the time. After seeing all of the glowworms we had a good walk through more of the caves and then climbed up a couple of the waterfalls and soon found ourselves back outside again. It was a really enjoyable trip and everyone had a great time.
This morning we left Rotorua and caught the bus to Auckland which meant quite a long journey so we didn't arrive at the hostel until about 5pm. We're staying here tonight, moving up to the Bay of Islands tomorrow for a couple of nights, and then I'll be back in Auckland until my flight to Oz on the 19th - I can't believe how quickly my time in New Zealand has gone!
Anyway, I think I'll leave it at that for this blog post as it's gotten pretty long! I've added some photos from my adventures in Taupo and Rotorua at
http://nottinghamac.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2137818&l=75a81&id=199707669 and
http://nottinghamac.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2137824&l=50cb0&id=199707669
Bye for now!
xxx
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