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The drive from Wellington to Taupo was a pretty long one by New Zealand standards, as nowhere is really very far. But the six hours gave me plenty of time to contemplate the day ahead - much as I was trying to ignore it...For some reason I had a temporary lapse of sanity during this part of the trip - remember my comment about the bungy jumping - no way never ever, not me. Well no I didn't do a bungy?jump, but?despite my morbid fear of heights, so much in fact that I even get nervous walking along a pier and looking down at the water (!), for some reason I let myself get talked into a skydive. Yes I really did it, I hurled myself out of a plane at 12,000ft, all in the name of fun! Why, why, why....?!
Well basically becuase I thought this was a great opportunity and with many of the others doing it too I knew I wouldn't wimp out. It was actually easier than I thought as it all happened so quickly. As soon as we got off the bus and had signed in we were shown a quick video about what to expect and then the next thing I knew they were calling our names and we had to get ready as we were going up in the first plane. Jumpsuits, safety harnesses and an attractive biggles-style hat and googles contraption later I found myself clambering into a small plane strapped very tightly to my tandem 'dive master'! By this time the fear had kicked in, but one look straight ahead and there was someone in a much worse state than me. The guy who was set to jump out first was physically shaking with fear, so somehow that helped to reassure me!!! 12,00ft arrived and suddenly I was sat on the edge of the plane...and then gone, plunging up to 200km an hour towards the floor, but surprisingly I didn't feel like I was about to die, and that was really quite a nice feeling. The air was so cold though and while my tandem was trying to make me do all sorts of actions with my arms, I was struggling just to feel them still attached to my body! The freefall was about 45 seconds and before I knew it the parachute was released and we were dramatically pulled back up and then slowly flew down admiring the beautiful Lake Taupo from above. In fact this was probably the scariest part as now you could see the ground getting ever closer and the perception of height was much more real. But back on the ground I finally stopped shaking and recovered enough to laugh at the dvd of my escapades - definitely one for the family album. Not sure I'd be talked into doing another one anytime soon, but it was definitely something I'll never forget!
But like I said the skydive did give me a great view over?Lake Taupo. This is the largest lake in New Zealand, 40km long and 30km wide at it's widest point. It's so big in fact that you could fit the whole island of Singapore inside it - that's a whole 4 million people..!
After my adrenalin rush I embarked upon another landmark activity the next day as I walked the Tongariro Crossing, one of the most scenic walks in the world. It's 17km long, so it was a 5am start for the 80km bus ride out to the starting point. This allowed us to beat the rush and start the walk ahead of the crowds, taking our first steps at about 7.20am! At this time in the morning it was more than just a little chilly and I was togged up in my thermals, several layers, my coat, hat and gloves - and I thought holidays were all about lazing around in the sun! But you soon warmed up once the legs were moving. The first part of the walk was flat and easy going, so there was time to gaze around at the landscape and you could even see as far over as one of the mountains on the west coast - a fairly rare occurence we were told.
But all too soon the terrain changed and flat walking turned into a huge mountain - aptly names the Devil's staircase. The next 45 minutes were?a gruelling climb up and up and up, real muscle burn, with?frequent urges to?stop and rest but knowing that this would also make it even harder to get going again. So we ploughed on with no rest until we reached the top and how good did that feel, finally with the opportunity to sit down and rest and have a quick snack to build up the energy reserves. Thankfully there was then a relatively flat part again before a shorter climb up to the top of the red crater, at the highest point of the walk at 1886m. You are able to take detours off the track to climb up some of the mountain peaks, such as Mount Doom (from Lord of the Rings fame), but we were advised not to on this particular day as there was quite a lot of snow around higher up and with no real track to follow it would be fairly treacherous. So instead we carried on around the edge of the crater, which in itself looked fantastic with the red rock contrasting beautifully with other black rock and crisp white snow. By this time we were well ahead of the schedule they'd given to us so we started the downward climb with plenty of shorter stops along the way. It was difficult to stop for too long as despite the lovely sunshine it was still really cold when you stopped moving. Over the top and starting downhill we had great views of the Emerald pools and Blue lake and got out first whiff of the thermal geisers and their wonderful sulphur odour. It really helps you to lose those hunger pangs for a while, unless of course you happen to have some egg sandwiches in your bag! The next major landmark was Ketahi hut, with a great verandah to rest at overlooking the awe-inspiring Lake Taupo and then it was all downhill, for more thigh burn as the next 2 hours were all steps, through a final bit of forest and out to the car park where our return bus was waiting to return us to our hostel and a wonderfully warm shower and a very early night. I was so worn out that by 8.30pm I was fast asleep and didn't awake until 12 hours later!
But after my mammoth sleep, rather than rest and relax I set off on yet another walk, although this one was only half as far as the previous day. Just outside Taupo is a thermal spa park where you can sit and enjoy many an hour in a boiling hot spa pool - or more accurately you can sit there until you feel almost faint becuase the water is so hot and then leap out in search of your towel! I also walked up to the Huka falls, which after some of the waterfalls I've seen so far were really a bit of a disappointment. The amount of water flowing through them was immense, but there was hardly much of a 'fall' at the end, it was really more a channelling of water that created the power. But anyway it was a nice walk and the spa pool at the end was very welcome.
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