Rotorua to Taupo

I'm backing up a touch to the morning of the skydive. I was still in Rotorua when I got on the Magic bus to Taupo. It's one of the short legs of the bus route so we made several stops. We were still in a very active volcanic region so we started with a look at a boiling, bubbling mud pool. It's more fascinating than it sounds. Next was a geyser that goes off every morning at 10:15. This was actually rather cheesy because it turns out it's not like Yellowstone's Old Faithful. It goes off because at 10:15 a park ranger gives a little talk and then pours a small bag of bicarbonated soap into the geyser to set it off. It would still erupt on it's on but on an irregular pattern of 36 to 48 hours. Still it entertained me ... briefly.

To round out the natural phenomenon tour the bus stopped at the Wai-o-Tapu Thermal Reserve (or Thermal Wonderland as it says on the gift shop). It's a one and a half hour walk around a whole series of formations and pools that are coloured and affected by the underground heat and minerals being pushed to the surface. It was awash in strange hues. There were bright mint green and butter yellow pools. Rocks trimmed in near day-glo green from sulphur and trees painted rust by mineral leaching. Some may call it sacrilege but I enjoyed it with my headphones on and myiPod playing. It was cool to step away from the group and witness it from inside my own head space.

From there it was off to Taupo and skydiving. I was let off the bus outside town at Taupo Tandem Skydiving along with 5 others. after our safety instruction they suited us up and we loaded onto the plain. My skydiver was an Israeli dude namedElad . He was cool and confident but not gruff, so that worked for me. I must have been getting quiet from the nervousness because he kept checking on me.

The strange thing about skydiving is the first five seconds. You body has an amazing visceral reaction. "Holy Crap I'm Falling!" but after that you brain is confused and says, "well if I was falling, I'd be done by know, right? So I must not be falling, everything is OK!" It really is wild and you barely have time to appreciate it. The free fall was almost over by the time I remembered I didn't have to look straight down and could check out the scenery. But for me it was less about the view than the sensation. If you have the means and can screw up just a bit of extra courage, I highly recommend it.

After that I was up for a relaxing evening. At the hostel I manged to collect a group and we sauntered into town to check it out and grab some dinner. We were 3 Canadians and 2 Brits. Our youngest was just a year from graduating college and our oldest was the mother of 2 boys in their 20s. Two teachers, a horseback trainer, a helicopterpilot and me, an animator. I definitely like the social aspect of backpacking.

Taupo was hosting an A-1 car race that weekend so their were no accommodations to be found anywhere in town. Luckily our bus driver warned us and we were allpre -booked. This all resulted in a "big" street party on the main drag. Frankly I expected more. It wasn't very crowded and a sort of mediocre 80's/90's cover band was on stage but the the atmosphere was good and the combination of a superb dinner and entertaining company was a perfect close to a great day.