Days Four & Five - January 5/6 - Taupo

We left Rotorua at 8:45 am to head to Taupo. Our first stop was Te Puia to see active geysers, volcanic mud pools and kiwi birds. Our guide boiled some eggs in one of the boiling springs for us, so cool! We stopped at some other mud pools after a short drive on the bus. There is so much volcanic activity in the North Island - lots to see in quite a small area.
Our next stop was Huka Falls - a brilliantly blue and stunning waterfall near Taupo on the Waikato River. The falls are 11 meters tall, and the channel from the river to the falls looks man-made, however it was actually formed by an earthquake.

Finally we arrived at Taupo, and I waited nervously with some other Kiwi Ex's to sky dive over Lake Taupo. At 2:45 pm a bus picked us up to take us to FreeFall Taupo. They geared us up in red jumpsuits and harnesses were put on us by our tandem guides for the sky dive. I was so nervous at the time that I have completely forgot what my guides name was, however he was an English fellow who had been doing sky diving for over 9 years. (this was fairly reassuring, as I was about to jump out of a plane at 15,000 feet to free fall for 60 seconds before letting the parachute out)  After gearing up, we hopped in a little pink plane.

There were 6 of us from Kiwi Ex jumping, so we were in the plane along with all of our guides and a few camera people filming some of us. There was an awesome quote on the side of the plane - "Fear is temporary, Achievement is permanent". I felt that it was quite fitting for the activity that we were about to do.

The plane took us up to 15,000 feet. We were about 9,000 feet above the clouds. I was last to jump out of the plane, so I got to see all the ridiculously scared faces of each person who jumped before me. My guide and I made it towards the side door at the back of the plane, put our feet out and jumped! The first 5 seconds of the 60 second free fall, my heart was racing and I was trying my hardest to breathe while keeping my hands held tightly onto my harness and trying to stay in "banana" shape. After my guide tapped my shoulders, I could let my arms out. I'm ridiculously scared of heights,  but after letting my arms out, it felt like I was flying! (Instead of what was actually happening - plummeting towards the earth at 200 km/hr.) One of the best feelings I've ever had, and I would definitely do that again! I think I may be an adrenaline junkie now.... We'll see how it pans out...

 After the rush of sky diving, I had a perma-grin on my face for the rest of the day.  Jackie, Morgan and I headed to Mulligan's - and Irish bar near our hostel for a burger and beer with some other Kiwi Ex guys. That evening we headed to Element Bar for Ladies' Night for free drinks. A few of the men on our bus felt that it was appropriate to dress up like ladies to get free drinks as wells, and it actually worked! A great day, all in all.

Our second day in Taupo started bright and early at 4:30 am - at 5:30 we boarded the Tongariro Expeditions bus to head out to Tongariro National Park for a 19 kilometer hike of the Tongariro Alpine crossing. Easily the hardest hike I've ever done in my life!  The first half of the hike was basically all uphill. We started the trek at 7:30 am at an elevation of 1150 meters. The first hour was a nice level walk to Soda Springs.

From there we climbed the Devil's Staircase - which really was the Devil! So difficult. The trek goes up past Mt. Ngauruhoe, which, for you Lord of the Rings fans, is Mt. Doom. It was optional to hike to the top of Mt. Doom, however it was 2.5 hours return, and the first 2 hr ascent was straight up hill on loose rock. I opted out of this, haha.  We hiked up a little bit farther up to finish Devil's Staircase at the South Crater - a large crater caused by a massive volcanic eruption.

The hardest part was the trek up Red Summit Ridge - the most dangerous and steep part of the hike (unless you were crazy and had taken the optional hike up Mt. Doom.)  It was so hot, and it was quite difficult to make it up the hill, because the ground was quite loose with gravel and stones. The Red Summit is the highest point of the trek - at 1886 meter elevation. We were so far above the clouds and the view was so spectacular, it almost didn't feel like real life. After reaching that high point of the trek, I couldn't believe what I had accomplished already.

 From then on, the rest of the trek was basically all down hill. I split up with the rest of the Kiwi Ex group I had been walking with so I could make some better time. The last 10 km of the walk was a lot easier than the first 9 km. I passed the Emerald Lakes (bright green volcanic sulphur lakes just down from Red Summit) and then walked through Central Crater to Blue Lake (another sulphur lake on the top of the mountain range - but was more blue in color)

 

From Blue Lake to Ketetahi Hut (the next major stop) the trek was mostly on the side of the mountains, and was downhill. The farther down you got, it became colder and colder. I had to put my sweater and jacket back on to complete the rest of the trek.  By the time I got to the last 3 km , I was getting pretty tired and sore. I finally completed just before 3:00 pm - it took me just under 7.5 hours to complete the 19 km!

We got back on the bus for the 1.5 hour ride back into Taupo, and basically passed out for the entire ride into town, out of sheer exhaustion.  Of course, when we got back into Taupo, we had to celebrate what we had accomplished! After a quick supper, phone call home and a nap - the Kiwi Ex group headed to Element Bar for a few beverages and we partied until well into the night. We had an excellent couple days in Taupo, and we sure celebrated it in style!