Lake Taupo

This weekend was definitely the adventure that I signed up for. This past friday was Waitangi Day, which is a national holiday in New Zealand. This was a big benefit for us because it gave us a 3 day weekend to go to the destination of our choice and explore. After much deliberation and indifference, Hannah and I decided to go to Lake Taupo. We rented a car from Thames, which is about half an hour away, and Friday morning made the drive down to Taupo. It took us about 3 hours to get there, driving on the left hand side of the road. Once we arrived, I was instantly excited about our choice. The lake is actually a crater lake that formed somewhere around 500 years ago, but because of this, there is a variety of landscape around it. One side was a nice town/residental area, the other side was rolling farm hills, and behind it was 3 snow covered mountains (which I couldn't get a good picture of).

Once we arrived we got some lunch and explored the town of Taupo. Afterwards we went to the grocery store to get some BBQ materials. (Just to explain how many cows there are here, a pound of ground beef fillet was $3.84 NZ which is about $1.60 US). Then we checked into our hostel and made some dinner on the roof, which was actually a really nice, big patio area. This was my first time staying in a hostel, and I was a little nervous, but really ended up enjoying it. You meet so many travellers that are on their own adventures, and just want to meet lots of peole on the way. The coolest person was definitely Tony, a guy from Ireland, who was just travelling between Australia and NZ. Then, after dinner, we ended up hanging out with some people from Costa Rica and Argentina, which was an experience in itself.

The next morning was our day of adventure. We got up, had some breakfast, walked around the lake, and then...WENT SKYDIVING!!!!!! It was by far one of the coolest things I've ever done.

I expected to get nervous while I was going up in the plane, but it never really set in. I was flying with a Tandem Instructor named Alan, who has spent his whole life in Taupo, and has been skydiving for 9 years. We were the first people to jump from the plane at 12,000 feet. So I was sitting with my legs hanging from the plane, and then he (gently) pushed us from the plane. That instant was the most intense moment because your stomach drops and your heart leaps at the same time. We were first falling upside down so we saw the plane fly away, which was actually pretty cool. Then he flipped us over for 45 seconds of free fall. This was such an insane feeling, its just this constant, intense air pressure pushing up against your entire body. Once we reached an elevation of 5,000 ft. he opened the parachute, which I thought was going to be an intense jerking feeling, but it actually wasn't. Then we got to float down over the lake, which was probably one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. And, at one point during our desent, he let me operate the parachute!! It was surprisingly really hard with the air pressure and the weight of two people, but definitely very cool. Then we gradually spiraled down to the ground, and landed very softly right next to the airport.
I'm ecstatic that I had the opportunity to do this and in such a beautiful place. If anyone is thinking about doing it, I HIGHLY recommend it.

The rest of the day we just spent eating, swimming in the lake, and sleeping/tanning on the beach. Then, in celebration, we decided to go out to a nice dinner. Afterwards we went back to the hostel and hung out with some of the friends we had met the night before. This eventually led to a night of dancing and bar hopping.

Sunday morning we woke up and had to check ourselves out of the hostel. After eating breakfast we decided to go swimming in a hot spring. It is a geothermal area that heats water to an insanely high temperature, and then dumps it into a river, which eventually feeds into the lake.

This was the river the hot spring lead into--the spring was directly behind the tree on the right.

So we were right up in the area where the water was feeding into the river, and it was such a weird sensation swimming there. It is basically a natural hot tub, so all the water sitting on the top is very warm. However, the water from probably 3 ft. and below is cold, so your upper body is experiencing this hot water, while your lower body is in cold water. Because of that, everyone tries to sit on the rocks that are right near the hot spring entrance into the river. After we got our turn on the rocks, we got out, got some lunch, and headed back to EcoQuest.

This was definitely an amazing weekend, and I'm so happy I got the chance to do it. Hannah and I travelled really well together, and got to know each other much better in the process. Also, it was really nice to get out and meet so many different kinds of people. Sometimes while were on campus it's hard to remember we're in NZ, beacuse it's just a group of Americans all hanging out. But I think this weekend was good for everyone, and now we're all happy to be back together. Tomorrow we're heading out again, as a group, to do some sea kayaking and studies on estuaries. Once we get back from that trip I can update once again!

I love and miss you all, keep the email/facebook updates coming!!