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Thursday 20th Nov
Well, i've had a busy and expensive week! Got the ferry last saturday afternoon, was really warm, sat on the sun deck for the first hour while going out through the sounds, got a bit windy after that so went in and fell asleep in one of the chairs. Stayed the night in wellington, didn't get there till gone 6 so didn't see anymore than the Hostel. Sunday we drove up to Napier, a red hot day, we stopped at a nature reserve on the way to see a real live Kiwi, not allowed to take any photos, had to go in this dark hut that simulated night time, you could only see the Kiwi after your eyes adjusted to the light. Glad i got to see one, quite an odd looking thing. arrived in Napier about 3, a really nice place, it's known as the Art Deco city as lots of the buildings are from that period, although most of them were destroyed in an earth quake in the 1930's. Spent nearly 3 hours walking around town and the sea front, really nice.
Monday left Napier for Taupo, stayed there on the way down, but stayed again as wanted to do the Tongariro Crossing (New Zealands best one day hike). My plan was to stay 2 nights and do the hike on Tuesday, but it was closed due to bad weather. Really wanted to do it as lots of people have said how good it is, so ended up staying an extra night in Taupo, which i didn't mind as it is a really nice lakeside town, but it meant having to pay for a public bus today to Rotorua as the Magic Bus doesn't do thursdays! Had to do this to keep to my tight schedule!
Anyway, you might want to sit down for this bit mum, as i had an extra day in taupo i was wondering what to do, you can let Pap know that i spent his money (and a bit more!) on skydiving out of a plane at 15,000ft!!!!! Again had been speaking to lots of people who had done it and saying how great it was, so while in Rome and all that. I wasn't that nervous about it, until we were up in the plane, it was a tandom dive so you are strapped to your instructor, it was a bit odd as you had to sit in their lap so can be fastened as tight as possible, it was so cold we were given gloves, you could feel the temp drop as the plane was going up, i didn't realise 15,000 foot was so high. i was second out so didn't really have time to panic too much, the instructor sits on the edge of the plane, and you are just dangling from him, then he lets go, i can't describe the feeling of falling through the air for what seemed like forever, (it was actually a minute i think) i couldn't even scream although i wanted to, and then he pulled the parachute and we just flew up in the air, which is when i started screaming and swearing for about a minute, an absolute amazing feeling, it then took ages to float down, amazing views out over the lake and the national park, he started twirling us around and it felt like i was on the walzters at the fair, landing just kind of floated to the floor, i just sat for a while, not beleiving what i had down or that i had survived, i must admit it took me the rest of the day to recover, had to have a lie down when at the hostel, couldn't even eat my lunch! Needless to say you can experieance the whole thing on the DVD when i get home!
Luckily yesterday the crossing was open so i could do my hike, i had visions of being in Taupo for a week just waiting. The alarm went of at 5.30 as bus pickup was 6.15, took an hour to get to the carpark where they drop you. Although it was a lovely morning, up on the national park we were pretty much in the low morning cloud, it was bloody freezing, luckily had my hat, but yet again regretted not having gloves, at several point during the day i lost feeling in my hands, and i swear my the end of it my fingers had swollen up like pasty's but it was worth it. A 19.5km hike, took me 6 and half hours. You basically climb up one of the 3 volcanoes in the park, walk across the crators, then down the other side, it was hard work, i even broke out into a sweat. the first 2 hours was walking up through the cloud, but once through that the views were amazing, well worth the hard work, although didn't always think it at the time, had to go through snow, ice, clay type sludge, down shale which was interesting, no idea how i didn't end up on my arse, lots of others did. My shoes just about survived. It was actually harder i think coming down then going up, didn't think i'd be able to move this morning, but okay, just my back a bit stiff. Got back to Hostel just gone 5, needless to say slept well last night!
Got the Bus to Rotorua this morning, cost about 7quid, so not that bad, todays activity was white water rafting, on a grade 5 river, which is apparantly the highest, went down a 7 metre waterfall at one point which was interesting to say the least, boat was vertical, just had to hold on! didn't fall in at all which was good, we had wet suits but it was still cold, probably wasn't the best thing for me do do as have a cold on the way, had a hot shower when got back.
So thats my last few days, i don't have anything else mad planned for the next week, so don't worry, i'm done i think! Not sure that i can beat the Sky Dive. Only 9 nights left here, i can't beleive how quick the time has gone, maybe i'll stay longer - only joking! 4 of the nights i have left is in 1 place, Paihia in the Bay of Islands, It's meant to be beautiful up there, its where lots of locals go for their holidays, it will give me a few days rest before the last leg of my trip.
I sent off postcards to everyone today, so they should get them at some point, not sure how long they take, Ian if you could send me a quid, i'll put it in a slot machine in Vegas, otherwise christmas is cancelled!
Are they showing the All Blacks games over there, i must admit last sunday i did get up at 6am to watch some of the Ireland game, the hostel were showing it in the bar area, had some funny looks as i was the only girl!
That's all for now, hope you haven't fallen asleep during my essay.
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