Our next stop on the Kiwi Experience was Lake Taupo, one of the largest lakes in New Zealand. Taupo is known as an activity hub, being a popular choice for skydiving but also as having the amazing Tongariro Crossing, a days trek and something loads of people told us to do.
Before we actually got to Taupo, our driver Arius also had some stops to take us too on the way, one being Huka falls, a beautifully blue waterfall that you can go on a jet boat up to as another activity in Taupo. It was a pretty miserable day but the water fall was still lovely to see.
We also stopped for a soggy walk through a forest with trees that towered over us. On this walk, we got talking to a guy called Archie, an 18 year old on his gap year who would end up being one of our best friends as he was so hilarious, and with him and Mark together, we were destined for some very good times.
We arrived at Taupo and stayed at another Base hostel, Mark and ourselves were sharing a little 3 bed room to ourselves as it was a smaller hostel. Taupo was our first compulsory 2 night stop location, so
that afternoon we walked around Taupo, and went to look at the iconic lake, that could easily be confused as the sea as the other side was not visible.
The next day we planned to do the amazing Tongariro crossing, something we would have to wake up at 5am to start!
We woke up early and got our walking gear on, went downstairs only to be told that the weather was too windy so the walk would be too dangerous to do! We went back to bed feeling relieved, however when we woke up later we were at a loss at what to do, and disappointed that we couldn't do the number one activity for Taupo.
Our friends that we had made on our bus decided to make the most of the day and opt to do a sky dive. Tom and Steph unfortunately didn't have the funds to do a skydive after our jolly in South America however Mark was coming round to the idea and we managed to convince him to literally take the leap!
That day was a very uncertain day. As the weather had been too windy to do the Tongariro crossing, it of course wasn't ideal weather for sky diving either. The sky dive company would turn up in a limo and take all of our friends to go to the sky dive centre, kit them up, then told that the weather wasn't going to make it possible for them to jump, so they would come back. This happened a couple of times, and they must have been knackered from the up and downs of adrenaline. They were still unsure if all this waiting would be worth it, and the sky dive experience was being held in the balance...
Whilst this was going on, Tom and Steph decided to have a look around Taupo itself. We took a walk to the marina and walked along the front of the lake and came across a golfing driving range. They had a small pontoon a few meters out in the lake, and if you managed to get your golf ball in the hole then you would win 10'000 dollars.
With hopes of being able to join our friends up in the air we had loads of motivation to get the hole in one!
Unfortunately after plenty of tries, we didn't manage to get the whole in one, however Steph dramatically improved her golfing skills so it wasn't all bad luck!
We had also read that there were some natural thermal springs along the front of the Lake somewhere, so we took a stroll down only to find an over sized puddle filled with duck poo. This wasn't really what we had envisaged, so we took a sad walk back to the hostel just as it started to rain. Although Taupo has lots to offer in good weather, it is just a quiet town with not much else to do when it rains! We got back to the hostel and drank tea and napped!
We still weren't sure if the others had been able to do the sky dive, so when they got back, we were worried they would have had a whole day wasted waiting around.
Thankfully, they all came back sporting Skydive T shirts and large grins.
We sat down and looked at their photos and laughed at their flapping faces in the videos they had bought. Taupo certainly looked even more impressive from the air, and we were jealous but also so happy for them all.
That night we decided to celebrate with some Kareoke as the Base bar attached was hosting one that evening, We all got sufficiently drunk in order to perform our best and Steph and Iqra took charge of the request list, and added a few suggestions for people who were blissfully unaware. It all got a bit messy.
They managed to get some of the boys up singing Britney Spears, and Arius our driver shocked us all when he smashed 'Baby Got Back'. It wasn't until the girls rendition of the Spice Girls did we realise the speakers were out in the street so any passers by could hear us screeching along inside!
The next day we were to leave Taupo and head to River Valley. Although Taupo wasn't the best it could have been for us, everyone certainly had a great time and it is one of the places we have fond memories of with our friends.
Before we actually got to Taupo, our driver Arius also had some stops to take us too on the way, one being Huka falls, a beautifully blue waterfall that you can go on a jet boat up to as another activity in Taupo. It was a pretty miserable day but the water fall was still lovely to see.
We also stopped for a soggy walk through a forest with trees that towered over us. On this walk, we got talking to a guy called Archie, an 18 year old on his gap year who would end up being one of our best friends as he was so hilarious, and with him and Mark together, we were destined for some very good times.
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| Mark, Tom, Archie, Iqra and Steph |
We arrived at Taupo and stayed at another Base hostel, Mark and ourselves were sharing a little 3 bed room to ourselves as it was a smaller hostel. Taupo was our first compulsory 2 night stop location, so
that afternoon we walked around Taupo, and went to look at the iconic lake, that could easily be confused as the sea as the other side was not visible.
The next day we planned to do the amazing Tongariro crossing, something we would have to wake up at 5am to start!
We woke up early and got our walking gear on, went downstairs only to be told that the weather was too windy so the walk would be too dangerous to do! We went back to bed feeling relieved, however when we woke up later we were at a loss at what to do, and disappointed that we couldn't do the number one activity for Taupo.
Our friends that we had made on our bus decided to make the most of the day and opt to do a sky dive. Tom and Steph unfortunately didn't have the funds to do a skydive after our jolly in South America however Mark was coming round to the idea and we managed to convince him to literally take the leap!
That day was a very uncertain day. As the weather had been too windy to do the Tongariro crossing, it of course wasn't ideal weather for sky diving either. The sky dive company would turn up in a limo and take all of our friends to go to the sky dive centre, kit them up, then told that the weather wasn't going to make it possible for them to jump, so they would come back. This happened a couple of times, and they must have been knackered from the up and downs of adrenaline. They were still unsure if all this waiting would be worth it, and the sky dive experience was being held in the balance...
Whilst this was going on, Tom and Steph decided to have a look around Taupo itself. We took a walk to the marina and walked along the front of the lake and came across a golfing driving range. They had a small pontoon a few meters out in the lake, and if you managed to get your golf ball in the hole then you would win 10'000 dollars.
With hopes of being able to join our friends up in the air we had loads of motivation to get the hole in one!
Unfortunately after plenty of tries, we didn't manage to get the whole in one, however Steph dramatically improved her golfing skills so it wasn't all bad luck!
We had also read that there were some natural thermal springs along the front of the Lake somewhere, so we took a stroll down only to find an over sized puddle filled with duck poo. This wasn't really what we had envisaged, so we took a sad walk back to the hostel just as it started to rain. Although Taupo has lots to offer in good weather, it is just a quiet town with not much else to do when it rains! We got back to the hostel and drank tea and napped!
We still weren't sure if the others had been able to do the sky dive, so when they got back, we were worried they would have had a whole day wasted waiting around.
Thankfully, they all came back sporting Skydive T shirts and large grins.
We sat down and looked at their photos and laughed at their flapping faces in the videos they had bought. Taupo certainly looked even more impressive from the air, and we were jealous but also so happy for them all.
 |
| Our friend Amy skydiving over Lake Taupo |
That night we decided to celebrate with some Kareoke as the Base bar attached was hosting one that evening, We all got sufficiently drunk in order to perform our best and Steph and Iqra took charge of the request list, and added a few suggestions for people who were blissfully unaware. It all got a bit messy.
They managed to get some of the boys up singing Britney Spears, and Arius our driver shocked us all when he smashed 'Baby Got Back'. It wasn't until the girls rendition of the Spice Girls did we realise the speakers were out in the street so any passers by could hear us screeching along inside!
The next day we were to leave Taupo and head to River Valley. Although Taupo wasn't the best it could have been for us, everyone certainly had a great time and it is one of the places we have fond memories of with our friends.
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