Hi y'all!
So its been another pretty busy week for me out in sunny New Zealand. And the next stop on my trip was to visit the Waitomo glow worm caves. This involved going caving (not my favourite activity) but something that I feel that I would like and actually did! But normally, like most people, I avoid dark small places!! But I had a really super group of people doing it with me, a couple who were on their honeymoon from India, an English couple and a family from New Zealand and me! We were first given a quick briefing and then had to get into the lovely wet wetsuits and rather sexy white boots before making our way to the caves.
And these caves just blew my mind! we were crawling, wading and walking our way through the caves with only headlamps to lead the way and at some points we just turned them off for jokes! And we also went over 2 waterfalls and had to jump backwards sitting in a rubber ring into ice freezing water! loved every moment! Had some hilarious guides who were really funny and sweet and totally enjoyed myself. It was the first activity of adventure NZ and it defintately set me up for the next few days in Taupo.
So left Waitomo Caves and headed south for Taupo which is a gorgeous little town right on the edge of the lake and known for its adventure activities. I started off my time slowly with a gentle walk up to Huku Falls which turned out to be not very gentle- a 3 hrs walk later I was pretty tired and very hot. So jumped into the river and managed to find my own little patch and had my own little beach to myself which was very nice indeed!
The second day was the SKYDIVE day!!! Yes its something that I have wanted to do for a while and why not eh? For those of you that haven't already watched the video here is the link again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
It was one of the most exhilarating things I have ever done and I wasn't actually that scared about it at all. I was with a fellow traveller who had done one in Abel Tasmen so was telling me a little about it. But to be honest I was far too excited to be scared. I had a really nice guy called Mikey as my tandem skydive person i.e. the person strapped to the back of me. And despite only talking to him for roughly 10 mins before he strapped me into the harness and lead me out to the plane I was pretty relaxed and put my trust in him completly! So we had a fun little plane ride up to the jump point. And as you can see in the video i spent most of that talking to the tandem skydivers around me!! Then we launched ourselves out of a moving plane at 15,000 ft!
The freefall was AMAZING! I didn't want it to stop but nor did i want the ground to be the thing stopping me! But seeing Taupo from that point and just everything about the skydive is addictive and one of the best things I have ever done!
Here are some of the pics.
So it was pretty hard after the skydive day to top any day after that.!!! But the next day me and 2 other travellers I had met on the bus to Taupo, Conner and Steph joined me in walking the Tongariro crossing. This is a pretty hard walk and we had to get up early to get a bus out there but we all had a wicked day. You essentially walk right by an active volcano and up one. We scrambled our way up Mount Doom ( from Lord of the RIngs) and slide down it again! And walked up to see the Emerald Lakes but couldn't complete the whole walk because the path has been shut due to recent volancic activity. It is currently still smoking away!
So its been a pretty adventurous few days. Skydiving, river swimming, volcano climbing. And the next stop is Wellington to see a first cousin once removed for a brief stay before getting on a ferry to the south island. Enjoy...All for now. J xxxx
So its been another pretty busy week for me out in sunny New Zealand. And the next stop on my trip was to visit the Waitomo glow worm caves. This involved going caving (not my favourite activity) but something that I feel that I would like and actually did! But normally, like most people, I avoid dark small places!! But I had a really super group of people doing it with me, a couple who were on their honeymoon from India, an English couple and a family from New Zealand and me! We were first given a quick briefing and then had to get into the lovely wet wetsuits and rather sexy white boots before making our way to the caves.
And these caves just blew my mind! we were crawling, wading and walking our way through the caves with only headlamps to lead the way and at some points we just turned them off for jokes! And we also went over 2 waterfalls and had to jump backwards sitting in a rubber ring into ice freezing water! loved every moment! Had some hilarious guides who were really funny and sweet and totally enjoyed myself. It was the first activity of adventure NZ and it defintately set me up for the next few days in Taupo.
 |
| in the caves |
 |
| practise jump...the water was a rather cold shock! |
So left Waitomo Caves and headed south for Taupo which is a gorgeous little town right on the edge of the lake and known for its adventure activities. I started off my time slowly with a gentle walk up to Huku Falls which turned out to be not very gentle- a 3 hrs walk later I was pretty tired and very hot. So jumped into the river and managed to find my own little patch and had my own little beach to myself which was very nice indeed!
 |
| Huka Falls |
 |
| my own little beach by the river |
The second day was the SKYDIVE day!!! Yes its something that I have wanted to do for a while and why not eh? For those of you that haven't already watched the video here is the link again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
It was one of the most exhilarating things I have ever done and I wasn't actually that scared about it at all. I was with a fellow traveller who had done one in Abel Tasmen so was telling me a little about it. But to be honest I was far too excited to be scared. I had a really nice guy called Mikey as my tandem skydive person i.e. the person strapped to the back of me. And despite only talking to him for roughly 10 mins before he strapped me into the harness and lead me out to the plane I was pretty relaxed and put my trust in him completly! So we had a fun little plane ride up to the jump point. And as you can see in the video i spent most of that talking to the tandem skydivers around me!! Then we launched ourselves out of a moving plane at 15,000 ft!
The freefall was AMAZING! I didn't want it to stop but nor did i want the ground to be the thing stopping me! But seeing Taupo from that point and just everything about the skydive is addictive and one of the best things I have ever done!
Here are some of the pics.
 |
| me and Mikey post jump...you can see that Leo joined me for the jump! |
 |
| and as you can see i am pretty much smiling the whole way down! |
So it was pretty hard after the skydive day to top any day after that.!!! But the next day me and 2 other travellers I had met on the bus to Taupo, Conner and Steph joined me in walking the Tongariro crossing. This is a pretty hard walk and we had to get up early to get a bus out there but we all had a wicked day. You essentially walk right by an active volcano and up one. We scrambled our way up Mount Doom ( from Lord of the RIngs) and slide down it again! And walked up to see the Emerald Lakes but couldn't complete the whole walk because the path has been shut due to recent volancic activity. It is currently still smoking away!
 |
| top of mount doom |
 |
| the gang! |
 |
| Mount Doom itself! the white part is where we slide down it! |
So its been a pretty adventurous few days. Skydiving, river swimming, volcano climbing. And the next stop is Wellington to see a first cousin once removed for a brief stay before getting on a ferry to the south island. Enjoy...All for now. J xxxx
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