Week 5 Part 1 - New Zealand North Island

29th October - We woke up fairly refreshed given the sleeping conditions of the previous night! The ferry to Wellington was delayed by an hour and I suppose when the check-in lady suggested we would be able to buy sea sickness tablets in the shop upstairs we probably should have known we could be in for a rough ride. The ferry started off lovely and smooth as we moved through Queen Charlotte sound. Unfortunately, we then went out into the Cook straight where the storm that had hit the car last night had left the sea with a swell that was averaging 4.5 metres. It was very very rough, half the passengers were at the back being sick where we both had to join them - the only way we could stop feeling terribly sick was to lie on the floor with our eyes shut looking like idiots , but no one seemed to mind as this was very unusual weather for them and even some of the staff looked a little green!





We eventually arrived 2 hours late very green and wobbly. We drove around New Zealands capital city Wellington and decided to go to the TePapa national museum which has free entry (something cheap yay!) Highlights were the giant squid and the earthquake room which simulates a real earthquake. We found out all about how New Zealand sits on a fault line (might explain all those mountains in the south and the geysers we are expecting to see in the north I suppose !)


In the afternoon we drove north to Palmerston North which is a university town. To our relief the roads seem to contain a few more cars in the north island and be decidedly less on the sides of mountains!

30th October -  James got up about 7.30am and trotted off to see the start of a rally that had filled the town square with cars parked overnight  - and took LOTS of photos. On the plus side at least I got a nice cup of tea brought to me when he got back!



James then had the 'great' idea to go for a drive to see a wind farm and a gorge which turned out to be not that exciting and an hour later left us outside the backpackers hostel again having accidentally managed to go in a big circle!

Once we finally found our way out of the city we continued north towards our planned stop at Lake Taupo passing a national park with 3 volcanoes, one of which is active and also a ski area during winter. We found out when we got nearer to the volcanoes that one of the ski areas, on the side of the active volcano Mount Ruhpea was still open, however we had just driven right past it to the other ski area on the other side of the volcano which had closed 5 days ago!





Spur of the moment we decided to rearrange our plans and booked into a hostel in Okahine, at the foot of the ski area which was open so that we could go skiing the following day as we were told the weather was looking good and there could be some fresh snow! Of course the downside to all this is that it tends to be rather cold near ski resorts and we didn't exactly bring ski wear - its freezing!!!



31st October - Today we got up early and headed out to hire ski clothing and gear. Then we headed up the somewhat treacherous mountain road to the slopes for a days skiing (or snowboarding for James)!! It was fabulous - very very very cold but beautiful blue skies and spectacular views. The slopes were all very intermediate so it was a bit scary for me as I am not quite so fearless as James and annoyingly he can now beat me down a slope on his snowboard (grrr!)







We skiied (and snowboarded) until the slopes closed at 4pm and then headed up to Taupo. On the way we stopped at some thermal pools and were able to relax in 40 degree mineral rich water before wandering around the area to see the bubbling pools and steam - the perfect end to the day for our tired muscles! We made it to Taupo by late evening and after a quick trip to a bar as it was halloween we gave in and went to bed absolutely shattered!





1st November - Today we were planning on heading up to Rotorua early in the morning but we never quite made it. For some unknown reason which I may never fully understand we ended up at a Skydive centre (just to ask a few questions) and the next thing I knew we were booked in for a skydive from 15,000 ft at 2pm - apparently a great way to celebrate being exactly a month into our trip!

To distract me in the meantime (i.e. stop me from screaming and running away) we went to see Huka Falls, which turned out to be pretty spectacular.



Soon enough 2pm came round and somehow I was back at the skydive centre, put in a jump suit, strapped in and introduced to the guy I would be strapped to, Brad. James had a guy called Michael Holmes, who it later turned out is quite famous around New Zealand and the rest of the world - put him in google and you'll see why!

Before I knew it I was squashed in a tiny plane (with a propellor) with 13 other people and headed to 15,000 ft, which is the highest commercial jump you can do. Halfway up I realised the sky dive would not be a problem - I would do almost anything to get out of the tiny noisy scary plane! Brad was great with me though, he really calmed me down and was very soothing - he was telling me that he had done 12,000 jumps and was a dropzone manager, both of which were good as I was about to put my life in his hands!

15,000 ft is very very very high! James was first to go, and when he sat on the edge strapped to an instructor I thought 'this is it' - I knew once he had gone there was no chance I was turning back! The initial second or so is stomach curdling - then you feel as though the air is holding you up, even though you're plummeting at around 200kph towards the ground. We got 1 minute of freefall before the parachute was deployed at 4000 ft and then it was a few minutes to the ground. When we landed I couldn't stand up - I was wobbling all over the place. However the thrill and adrenaline rush from the jump was phenomenal - during free fall there didnt seem to be any feeling of fear just 'wow'

JAMES








STEPH








After recovering from the skydive we drove to Rotorua, stopping off at a thermal area to see steam escaping from the ground and boiling mud on the way, which was very cool. We made it to Rotorua in early evening and settled down for an early night - the least a girl deserves after jumping out of a perfectly good plane with just a man and a scrap of material strapped to her!