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Luckily the bus didn't leave until 9.30am from Waitomo so I got a bit of a lie in which was nice as we went out and had a bit of a late night! We travelled down to Taupo which took a couple of hours, and went on a quick walk to a waterfall called Huka Falls. It was absolutely beautiful, extremely blue and very very strong! Apparently 200,000 litres of water falls every second, and every 3 seconds falls enough water to fill an olympic swimming pool! It was stunning. I then jumped into a minibus and headed off for the scariest yet most exhilarating experience of my life - a skydive!
When I got to the Freefall Skydive centre, I found out that it only cost an extra 27pounds to go from 15,000 feet instead of 12,000, so I though I might aswell go all out! It meant that I got over a minute of freefall as opposed to only 45 seconds. Getting into the plane to go up I was starting to shake slightly with nerves, and on top of being nervous about the dive I felt a little claustrophobic as it was a very small plane with lots of people squished into it! I was the second from last to jump out so by that time I was even more nervous as I had heard everyones screams as they went! I paid for photos and a video of my jump, so the guy who was taking them climbed up the edge of the plane and jumped down infront of us, my legs were over the edge of the plane and I was saying "No no no!!" but I no longer had a choice as the tandem guy I was attached to was going to jump whether I liked it or not! The first couple seconds of the fall was the scariest, it's like the start of a drop on a rollercoaster, your stomach really feels like it's coming out above your body, especially when the guy was doing somersaults and all sorts! Once we reached terminal velocity (which only took 3 or 4 seconds) I really started to enjoy it! The wind was very strong so I couldnt really move my arms, they were forced backwards, and my mouth was stuck open too haha. It was a beautiful day, I think we had the best day of the year to do a skydive, there was literally not one single cloud in the sky and the views were gorgeous of Lake Taupo and the surrounding countryside. The freefall lasted 10,000 feet and was the most exhilarating experience of my life I think! It was soooo much fun. at 5,000 feet the tandem guy (who was called Rhys) opened the parachute, and I knew it would be a big change in speed but I wasn't expecting it to be such a jerk! It was funny watching the camera guy carry on falling. The parachute part of the jump was pretty cool, a lot more relaxed and you can take in the scenery a lot more. When we were landing Rhys touched town then told me to stand up, so I did, but as we were still moving at the time I just fell flat on my face, it was a pretty hilarious landing, a tad embarassing but hey ho who cares! hahaha. AMAZING. I'd definitely do it again.... if I had the money.
The next day we had an early start, as all of our group minus 3 people had decided to do the 18.5km Tongariro Crossing hike. We got picked up outside our hostel at 6am and drove the roughly 2 hour drive over to the Tongariro National Park watching a beautiful sunrise as we went. I have to admit, I am not normally a big walker or mountaineer, my dad and my oldest brother both love hiking and whatnot, but I generally don't. The reason I agreed to do this hike, other than the fact that I thought it would be good for me to really get my teeth into the country, the hike goes through massive Lord of the Rings territory and I am an AVID Lord of the Rings fan, as the majority of my friends or anyone who knows me well will be aware! Even if you don't like the films (weirdos) I would recommend doing this hike because the landscape everywhere is just stunning, around literally every corner I was shocked by just how beautiful New Zealand is. The Tongariro National Park is one of the most tectonically active areas in New Zealand, situated in the Central Plateau on the North Island, so it was pretty much walking through a load of volcano craters. Awesome! We walked extremely close past Mount Ngauruhoe, affectionately known as Mount Doom!! It was very exciting! We didn't climb to the summit though as the people who drove us over there told us not to because of the winter conditions up there; it wouldn't have been safe and would have added another 3 or so hours to a hike that already took us 7 hours! After the initial ascent (the part I liked the least; hundreds and hundreds of steps!) we walked across a plateau called Soda Springs which was pretty cool, then started the second ascent up to the South Crater, which was pretty challanging in the snow and ice. I'm glad I had my hiking boots, let's put it that way! Some of my friends went up in trainers and were complaining about having no grip and worrying about slipping down the mountain! Believe it or not, when we were climbing up the iciest part, we saw one man walking back down in flip flops. Yes. Flip flops. Mentalist! When we were at our highest point, the top of Red Crater, we looked around us and the views were just breathtaking. We definitely had the best day of the year to do the hike, it was sunny and beautiful, and the next day the hike got cancelled because the weather was bad, so we were lucky to be in Taupo when we were! It was an incredible hike, seeing gorgeous snow-capped mountains, iced-over lakes, emerald-green lakes, and the whole time I felt like I was walking through various parts of Middle Earth! It was so surreal, and I'd definitely do it again! My friend Diddi who dislocated her shoulder just 2 days before even did it! Impressive stuff.
By the time we got back to the bus to go back to Taupo, we were all exhausted, my legs and feet ached like crazy, but it was well worth it. All we had energy for that evening was a fish and chips dinner at the Irish pub over the road, one drink in the hostel bar, then bed!
I think it was quite possibly the best 2 days of the trip so far, especially since I have become such good friends with everyone on the bus, particularly Sinead and Diddi. Bring on the rest of the trip!!!!
Joelle
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