Needless to say, since I last updated I have NOT jumped out of any aeroplanes, and the more I think about it, the less likely it is becoming! After a night dancing on the tables in Taupo, getting up at 7am to rain was such a relief as it meant the skydives were once again cancelled! There was a point later on in the day when Noddy jumped on the bus and announced he'd NEARLY had us skydiving - poor Nicola dropped her sandwich in sheer terror! So thats definitely off for now, and quite possibly permanently!! From Taupo we headed to Whakapapa, at the end of the Tongariro Crossing. As we drove cross country we were able to see just how appalling the weather was up there - mainly by the fact that we couldn't even see the mountains! Although the next day it was quite bright in the morning, the Crossing is unlikely to reopen for quite a few days, so thats one to postpone to my next visit to NZ! On the way from Taupo to Whakapapa, we stopped at Tokaanu thermal pools. I know I'm repeating myself here, but the actual mineral pools were closed due to bad weather, so we had to make do with swimming in a normal pool that was heated by geothermal energy. Not quite the same, but still very pleasant! Or at least it was until I overheated a bit.... When we got to Whakapapa we decided to make up for not doing the Tongariro Crossing by doing the 2 hour walk to Taranaki Falls. This was nice, the sun stayed out so it was really quite pleasant. On the way back we walked across what I can only describe as a moor and it was absolutely spectacular. The light was beautiful, although we were sensing rain in the wind so it was quite a speedy return! After a long day, the hostel's extremely comfy beds were more than welcome, and we all slept like logs! And then yesterday was our last day on the Stray Bus - a day of mostly driving as we had to get all the way down to Wellington. We did manage to make a quick stop in a hysterical little town called Bulls though, where everything is something-a-bull - ie. the Fire Station is Extinguish-a-bull, the Police Station is Const-a-bull, and the parking is Afford-a-bull! It was so funny, sadly we didn't quite have time to see them all! We didn't get up to much yesterday afternoon in Wellington, as we're going to be here a few days. We've booked a flight to Christchurch on Saturday - we had booked the ferry but it turned out to be only $5 to cancel the ferry and book the flights, and it saves us a whole days travelling! So we've got plenty of time to explore, which may explain why today we've had a pretty lazy day! We got up late, enjoying our first chance for a lie in for a while! Everyone else in our room got up though to get the Ferry - it was quite sad to see the bus carrying on without us! Apart from that we've had a wander of the city, and we've even managed to find time to get a haircut - was looking a bit caveman-ish after all the time in South America! My hair hasn't been this straight for months! We're planning to go out and enjoy Wellington's famous night life tonight, and hopefully even meet some real life Kiwis as so far the only people we've met have been fellow backpackers!! Hope all is well at home...... Caroline x