Taupo is a beautiful city. It's situated on the northeastern shores of Lake Taupo, which is as big as Singapore. Taupo has a population of 22,000 people. The city centre is very small but it has all the shops and eating places you need for a pleasant stay. Again I stayed at the Base hostel. The facilities are good but I didn't like it for one reason. The first floor of this hostel is right above the Base bar. The ceilings must be very thin because I could hear (and sing) along with every song they played at this bar and felt every beat that blasted out of the speakers. Oh, one more thing I didn't like was the movies people in this hostel choosed to show on tv. They must have played at least 5 times "Love Actually" and "Dirty Dancing" during my stay at this hostel.

The activities I've done in Taupo besides the Tongariro Crossing:

Orakei Korako Thermal Cave & Thermal Park. I've met a few people who were planning to go there and they invited me to come along. Orakei Korako means "the place of adorning". It's a thermal area with colourful hot springs, geysers and hot mud pools. We stayed there for about two hours. I have to say that this park is indeed very beautiful and worth to visit. According to the Lonely Planet it is arguably the best thermal area in New Zealand and one of the finest in the world.

Mountainbiking. This is an activity that I've done on my own but in hindsight it wasn't that smart of me to do this alone. There a several mountainbike tracks around Taupo. I rented a bike and went via several side tracks to Aratiatia Lookouts. From here I went to the Huka Falls. I've read there are some challenging sections on this track (grade 4). Well, going up hill was really tough. You couldn't sit on the saddle because you would fall backwards. Walking up these hills was difficult too. Going downhill was really dangerous. Very steep with really tight corners. I have to admit, the first half part of this track was too technical and difficult for me. It's more for the experienced mountainbiker. The part after the Huka Falls was much easier and more suited for my capabilities. This track can be dangerous at certain parts. That's why it would have been better for me to cycle this track with someone else in case something would have gone wrong.

Taupo is the skydiving capital of the world. Well, I couldn't resist the temptation and signed up for jumping out of an airplane. I sat in the airplane with three other passengers. Each passenger had their own jumpmaster. My jumpmaster was Dale. Very cool guy with more than 3,000 jumps, so really experienced. His wife is pregnant so I knew he would do everything tp get us both safe on the ground. I was nervous and really excited for this jump because I've always wanted to do a skydive. At 12,000 feet the first three passengers jumped out. Each time a passenger jumped out of the plane you could here an "umpf" sound. It went really fast. After the three passengers jumped out, the door closed and the plane went up to 15,000 feet. The jumpmaster kept asking me if I was okay and I was. When we reached our designated height I had to open the door and sit on the edge of the door opening. Man, it was windy and cold. I tilted my head back and off we went down. I could see the plane flying away from us. Really cool sight. In all honesty, it didn't feel like I was falling down at +200kph. I could feel the air pressure in my head though. After one minute of freefall the jumpmaster opened the parachute. I had a really nice view of Lake Taupo and the city of Taupo and the volcanoes of Tongariro National Park. Within ten minutes we were back on the ground. Skydiving is one of the best experience I've had in my life. The adrenaline rush will last for a whole day. Seriously, I advise everyone to do a skydive! (See corny video of my skydive .............................)

Taupo is a great city. Besides all the wild activities you can do here, the scenery here is beautiful. Taupo invites you to go out and be active. This city is too beautiful to stay indoors and do nothing.

Next destination: River Valley

DeBretts has always been a favourite of mine. Nothing beats driving down there on one of those chilly winter weekends to soak the bones in the hot water flowing from the earth. The best thing about DeBretts pools are the layout. There are lots of little nooks and crannys that afford you some privacy (should you wish it) away from the eyes of others enjoying the place. The natural setting of the valley adds the perfect touch to the experience. If you really want privacy you can choose one of the half dozen private pools. These are a good size and arranged according to temperature dictated by the flow of water from one end to the other. If you bring the family DeBretts has a great playground/BBQ area, a big ol' hydro slide and some child friendly paddling pools. Sadly (in my opinion) it has become a bit more tourist dollar savvy in the past few years and has been somewhat overhauled. It now has a massage area and the gate price has been raised. DeBretts is still the full package though. Yes, I've stayed in the Hotel, but I usually only visit the pools to soak for a couple of hours before taking my honey back into town for dinner. Many of the people in the pool have stopped there on their way home from Skiing the mountains laying a couple of hours South of Taupo; or they may just be staying in the Holiday Park attached to the complex. In my humble, this pool is the pick of all the hot Pools I've visited in NZ. If you're in Taupo DON"T miss it!

The Tongariro crossing, a crossing of Mt Tongariro near Turangi, Central North Island is extremely popular. It is crowded in summer with often over 200 people in one day. It is a great crossing in winter but due to snow, alpine skills, ice axe and crampons are essential. In winter, a high standard of navigational skill may be required as the poles marking the track may be buried in snow and mist may reduce visbility to 10m or less. This is a lengthy day walk from Mangatepopo road end to the Ketatahi road. Steep climbs, good views, volcanic terrain and colourful lakes. This is an alpine crossing, dangerous in bad weather. The only water en route is at two huts; one at the start of the track and the other at the end. A side trip to the summit of Ngauruhoe adds two hours of mostly hard, steep walking, but provides excellent views on a good day, and a great run down the scree slopes on the way back. A short and easy side trip (one hour return from Red Crater) can be made to the much less spectacular summit of Tongariro. Red Crater can be entered from near the Emerald Lakes by walking up the steaming slope south of the lakes. Frodo and Sam walked up this slope during their vacation in Mordor. Blue Lake is sacred to Maori and is tapu, so treat him with respect. A short scramble off-track leads to North Crater and a sidle around the massif from near Ketatahi takes you to the Te Maari craters. A better option than the one-day walk is to do the three-day northern circuit. This begins at Mangatepopop or Whakapapa, heads over the crossing (Camping is possible in the north end of South Crater, there is usually water flowing from a spring here, but not in very dry weather), then makes a short detour to Blue Lake, then down to Oturere Hut. Lava formations make Oturere Valley fantastic in miserable weather. Oturere Hut has a great waterfall nearby. From Oturere head across desert, then through beech forest to Waihohonu Hut. Another side trip leads to the stunning Ohinepango cold springs (15 minutes from the hut), then the track heads over the gentle Tama Saddle and back to Whakapapa. A side trip on this section leads to two deep explosion craters which form Tama Lakes. There are good free camping spots by the stream or cold springs (to the north of Waihohonu Hut, not Ohinepango Springs, which are to the south) in Waihohonu Valley, and beside Upper Tama Lake (a bit hard to get to) If hitch-hiking, the easiest way to the circuit is from the Desert Road (State Highway One, the main Auckland-Wellington road), taking the track to Waihohonu Hut (1 to 2 hours). You’ll need a map to know where to find the start of the track. In good weather it’s possible to complete the circuit in two days, but three or four is more sensible. I did myself the one day walk of the Tongariro Crossing! It is really amazing, great views and very pleasure and sometimes dangerous walk! Have fun! It is really a "must to do" thing. Im really glad that I have chosen this crossing. It is one of my best adventures I have done in New Zealand and most enjoyable one. If you have time spend more days! ;)

The Lake Taupo region is full of funky bars. The focus of entertainment is the HOLY COW, upstairs at 11 Tongariro st, mainly because of the personalities of the owners and their selection of music.! Holy Cow is a nightclub where there is a party every night of the week. Dance on the tables, meet travellers from all over the world, have a great time and dance to great music.It hums until late even on the odd winter night. You can get good counter meals at reasonable prices.

When you just want some adventure, but don't have the whole day to spend on an activity, Skydiving is the thing you should do! It was my first time skydiving, but definitely not the last time! What a rush!!! I now just have to see if the bungyjump in Queenstown gonna get me that excitement!

Not so cheap, I asked for a quote for a double for two nights and the owner replied $110 – I thought that was great for two nights, however this was per night. I was a bit cheesed off, but my fault for assuming. The actual room was great, with en-suite and a TV. I made full use of the tea and chocolate (well you have to for $110 a night, right?). The owners will help with booking parachute jumps or whatever you're into. You have to do the Taupo Bungy jump – it's superb. You can also use the laundry, but only after 12pm once the owners have done all their laundry.

Got one of my  must-do-list items done, for New Zealand - a bungy jump.  Taupo Bungy is where it's at - http://www.taupobungy.co.nz/  cost $99 and my stiff-neck now appears to be much better.

Now, to wait for the clouds to clear enough for a parachute jump.

Basically here to do a parachute jump and a bungy jump. Parachuting doesn't look too good at the moment, as there is lots of cloud around and the weather isn't very nice. I hope to get a bungy in tomorrow, as that's not so reliant on the weather.

Bus from Rotorua to here was $29. Got an apartment room at Silver Fern Lodge for $55 a night, which is a bit of a bargain - comes with en-suite. Post-edit - turns out they quoted me the price per night and not for the two nights - so it came out at $110 a night. Not too happy about that, but my mistake for assuming the price. I could have stayed in a 3* hotel for that price and got a decent breakfast.

The next morning we were away early and en route to Mt. Ruapehu. We visited Wai-o-tapu thermal reserve to see Lady Knox geyser (cheekily set-off artificially at the same time each day) which was very impressive, and the vast array of coloured lakes and mud pools.

I didn’t sleep too well, as we were right next to the main road through town, but at least I wasn’t too grumpy when I was woken up in the morning.

We made our way to Rotarua. We decided our first stop would be the Agrodome. I had heard a little about the place and it seemed like a good introduction to New Zealand.

Once we had parked our campervan, we decided to make some breakfast. It was kinda cool to just start up cooking in the middle of a car park.

We were contemplating to which activity we would do, and settle on the swoop. I wasn’t too nervous at first, but one I was been pulled all the way to the top, with a group of tourists watching, they were beginning to come out. I made sure that I wasn’t the one who had to pull the rip cord.

Once the cord was pulled, it was a pretty cool feeling to be swooping through the air with the rain in our faces. I have to admit though, that my tummy was in knots.

We decided to watch, as after we swooped, a few others decided to do it as well. The first people up were a groups of Japanese, and they were hilarious. I was in stitches, because the guys were screaming their lungs out like little girls. I’m glad I was already sipping on my hot chocolate at that time.

Our next stop was the Rotarua Gondola. The weather was pretty shitty, still drizzling, but we decided to go ahead anyways. As we were heading to the top, we couldn’t see too much, as the clouds were blocking our view, but once we got to the top, some of the clouds lifted for just enough time to take it in, and take a few pictures as well.

While we were up there we had some lunch and watched a few people on the bungy swing. There were only a couple of people who decided to brave the cold and rain though.

Our next stop was the Geothermal Park of Waiotapu. The rain was letting up, and as we arrived we finally smelt the real Rotarua. The funny thing is, we kind of got used to it after a while.

We got our umbrella’s ready, and headed off into the park. There were several walks we could have chosen from, but we decided to do all of them. All of the thermal pools looked amazing. The different colours, the smells, the heat, and their surroundings.

Once we were about half way through the walk, it decided to rain pretty heavily, so we got pretty wet. We soon came to the most famous pool of all, The Champagne Pool. It looked so nice, with its green and orange colours, with the steam floating at the top.

Our next stop along the way was Taupo.  I just have to say that I think this city is amazing! The activities are awesome, and the scenery was just breathtaking.

We had stayed in a caravan in Taupo that overlooked Lake Taupo. We woke up pretty early and made our way to the Taupo airport, as I had decided that I would skydive! I mean, you can’t come to New Zealand and not skydive! So I found the place I wanted to skydive from, and made my appointment. It wasn’t until later that morning, so we headed out again.

We decided to go to the Huka Falls to go in the Huka Jet, but they had already booked out all of the seats for the morning. Next to the Huka Jet they had the Huka Prawn Farm, so we decided to go in and try to catch some Prawns.

Despite how weird that sounds, it was actually quite entertaining. But the little buggers kept getting away with my bait! We didn’t hang around for too long, and soon made our way off to get something to eat.

After that we went back to the skydiving place. I still wasn’t feeling nervous, so I went inside and started talking to the people in there. I was originally going to do the 13,000 ft jump, but I got talked out of that and decided on doing the 15,000 ft jump. There was only me and one girl from Germany who decided to jump from that high. Everyone else in our group were doing the shorter jump.

I decided that I couldn’t do the skydive without any evidence, so forked out even more money to get some pictures and a video taken of me doing it all.

So we all got fitted to our lovely red jumpsuits, with a black bum patch. How lovely. Then we watched a short video explaining what we needed to do exactly, and then met the guys we were going to be jumping with. I had this German guy, who was pretty cool.

I felt only a slight flicker of nerves as I boarded the plane, and then they were gone again. I could see the look of fear on some people’s faces, while others looked fine. Once we were at 13,000 ft, we watched as the first jumpers took off. It was so cool to see them all going through the air. It was soon time for us to jump. I still wasn’t nervous, until I was sitting with my body out of the plane waiting for my guy to jump.

Once we took the leap, all of the nerves disappeared again, and it was the most amazing feeling, and to top that off I had a minute of freefall with the most amazing views of Lake Taupo below me.

Once we had all landed, they made us do a bunch of goofy stuff for the dvd. It was a laugh watching it at the end though.

After the skydive, we headed to Lake Taupo. This is the largest lake in New Zealand. I just can’t describe how beautiful it is. It wasn’t a very warm day, in fact it was freezing, but the sun was out. So with the cold, it was pretty nice to pretty much have the whole place to ourselves.

despues de algunas caminatas a la mañana en el camino desde rotorura al lago taupo, llegue al hostel, y estubo lloviendo todo el tiempo... razon por la cual pude subir desde este cyber algunas fotos para que vean.

las ultimas fotos no se subieron bien, por lo que me canse y dejo ahora para ir a buscar algo para cenar.

toy viendo ahora si hago skydive, que sale unos 220dolares de por aqui... que es algo asi como 170 uss y es bastante... pero bueno. aca es todo para turistas, y todo bastante...

el lugar que queria hacer un paso por unas montañas cercanas, no se puede hacer de momento, porque tienen vientos pronosticados de 180 km/h asi que hay que esperar... aunque es lo unico que hacemos, por la lluvia tambien.

fuera de eso, los lugares bastante lindos. me gusta. y parece que me quedo solo por la isla norte... los fiordos seran en otra decada :)

February 8, 2008

So it's only been a few days, but I'm finally settling in.

Hawaii was amazing. Completely crawling with tourists. But amazing. Picked up a shuttle to a nearby Waikiki hotel and strolled a bit before being picked up by Cherry, my surf partner for the day. Cherry was comfortable and grounded, short and stocky, with beautiful brown, brown skin and a big smile. It was perfect, and finally all of that time at the gym paid off. Definitely a few wipe outs here and there,. Definitely let out a huge scream of happiness or two. I also managed to perfectly exhaust myself to the point where I don't even remember my flight to New Zealand taking off. I woke up about four times throughout the entire flight, which wasn't as bad as I had imagined. Then, finally, I landed.

Let me just say that travel is only as stressful as you allow it to be, and luckily (as someone who tends to get a bit overwhelmed a bit easily) travel doesn't make me as crazy as I'd expect it to.

except while going through customs. sorry. it just makes me nervous. and this time wasn't any different. through all my research i managed to look over a few things. like, say, the fact that I have to have documentation of my flight home.

flight home?

what flight home?

damnit.

This is the part where my bags all of a sudden feel 300lbs heavier, my fingers slip and fumble through my papers and bookings, my cheeks and ears burn, while I suddenly can't comprehend a word this man is saying to me, nor can I find an answer to any of his questions. For all I know, he is speaking German. Finally he slams down the stamp on my passport, throws me my papers, and reluctantly says I can pass.

So I passed. And sat down. Or, was pulled down, really, from the weight of my bags. And still didn't really believe that I had made it.

Finally, things really began. I managed to hitch a ride to Auckland City from the airport with two Canadians my age, Julie and Kyle, who were equally hilarious and awesome. I could have stayed with them the whole trip as far as I was concerned, but we exchanged numbers and waved goodbye.

After a successful and long bus ride, I made it to Taupo, checked into my first hostel, booked a shuttle to a 9 hour hike for the morning, and fell fast asleep.

By 5:40am I was on my way to Tongariro Crossing. It was pitch black outside as we (myself and a 35 year old bank employee from Holland) went crawling through the mountainside with about 25 other half asleep travellers.

This is the part where I basically can't even begin to describe the next 7 hours of my life. My pictures will have to suffice. It truly was unreal. I hiked, climbed, slid, and practically crawled, up, over, through and between two volcanoes. Black and red rock, orange clay, emerald pools of water smelling of sulfur, steam, leading to streams, and finally, the other side of the mountain—life. The same plant life that was ankle high on one side was now well over my head—black, brown, and red, turned to greens, purple, and white, culminating in rainforest. There were points where I would look up to a higher point, see black, moving specks, realize that they were actually people, and that I had to make it to that point as well.














































Overall it was unbelievably humbling. It's now February 8th and my legs are still sore.

Quick stop in Taupo while making our way down to Wellington . . . Just long enough to get a few shots of Lake Taupo, which is NZ's largest lake, and, of course, catch a glimpse of Mount Ruapehu, NZ's largest active Volcano.  

It's really too bad that we didn't have much time to spend here because there are lots of neat places in the vicinity of Taupo (ie. Wairakei and NZ's most spectacular waterfalls, the Huka Falls close to Waikato River).

We did, however, have a bit of excitement as we left this place though . . . So, let me fill you in on what occured that day . . .

Ok so, after having walked a good ways to make our way outside of the city, we decided to set our bags down and wait for our next ride to pull over and pick us up . . . Wait wait wait, but not too long, because shortly after putting down our bags, this little old man stops to give us a lift . . . little did we know that it would be a trip never to be forgotten.

To make a long story short, we nearly died that day in this old man's car!!!  We were practically at our destination, when out of nowhere we find ourselves skidding all over the road, just waiting for a deadly accident to occur!!

You see, this little grandpa, got distracted by who knows what, and slightly went off the road which was a bit slanted at the edge!  Anyway, when he swirved to get back on the road, that's when all hell broke loose pretty much!!  It had just drizzled a bit, and well the road was pretty slippery causing us to go all over the place! 

Luckily, though, this elderly man, handled the situation pretty well, and managed to avoid hitting anything, including the ongoing traffic!! Well, I think, we were being watch over by the Big Fella upstairs, because during those 10-seconds of craziness, the traffic stopped completely for the most part.  We were blessed, really, because had there been speeding traffic on both sides, we would have been gonners!!

CRA-ZY!!!  We got out of Latin America without a scratch; through all the chaos and dangerous incidents, common to developing countries, only to be faced with fatality in a wealthy, developed country like New Zealand!!! Una locura!!

Fortunately, though, we weren't harmed and came out of that experience A-OK!!  Funny thing is that we got back in the car after that!!  Are we nuts or what??!!  Well, we did only have a few kilometers left to go, so we hopped back on in, and hoped for the best!! ;)

Anyway, we got to our destination just fine and were thrilled to have made it there safely.  Just hope that this man is ok!!

Voila quelques photos durant une journee de stop.

If you are looking to try your luck at catching trout in New Zealand on Lake Taupo, you won't go wrong with White Striker Charters. We went on the White Striker IV, a beautiful charter boat operated by owner Richard Staines. Richard's a Taupo native that knows Lake Taupo like the back of his hand. The boat was awesome, lake beautiful, the beer cold, and the fishing was good. Richard can even spin a few fishing tales as you are out on the water fishing for rainbow trout. He helps net the catch, gets it on board, cleans it, bags it, puts it on ice and sends you home with trout ready to eat.

We were referred to the Clearwater Motor Lodge by a friend who stays here every year when he competes in the Iron Man New Zealand competition. The Clearwater is right on the edge of Lake Taupo, with a great view of the water. The rooms are large, comfortable and very clean. The owners of the property treated us like long lost family, and we really felt at home staying here. Breakfast is a real treat at the Clearwater. You place your order the night before, and the owners deliver fresh hot breakfasts right to your room! Eggs, waffles, fruit, and muesli were some of the items we tried, and all were prepared with care and skill. I highly recommend the Clearwater when in Taupo.