Crazy Girls' Geothermal Road Trip: Day 1

It was almost two years since I last saw my Aussie mate Janine, and in a matter of three days I think we more than made up for lost time! I think we packed in as much adventure as possible in the few days we had. I picked her up from the airport on Monday afternoon and we headed to Taupo, a town in the central part of the north island which is located on New Zealand's largest lake (it's bigger than Singapore!) and surrounded by mountains (including Mt Ngauruhoe which featured as Mt Doom in the Lord of the Rings). The area is a centre of volcanic and geothermal activity. In fact the lake sits in a caldera formed by a huge volcanic eruption. It's a stunningly beautiful area which we intended to get a great view of from 15000 feet! After years of wanting to skydive, I had finally found a willing partner and a beautiful location to do it. The only thing left was to conquer my fear of heights! Well, I'm not sure I did that, as I was apprehensive the whole morning before the jump, and I was a ball of nerves the entire way up in the plane. Maybe not as nervous as poor Janine who turned slightly green, but my jump guy, Reno, the essential part of Team Canada, was kind enough to give me some oxygen on the way up. Janine was not so lucky. Perhaps it was a little altitude sickness, or too much spinning on the way down, but Janine's stomach revolted on her after the jump. If I wasn't attached to Reno, I am not sure I would have been able to convince myself to jump. Although oddly, when you are sitting on the edge of a plane with your feet dangling out, it feels so surreal, that you can convince yourself of just about anything, including that everything will be alright... and that maybe you CAN fly! Jumping from 15000 feet gives you over a minute of freefall before the chute is pulled. That was the part I was worried about, the falling at over 200 km/h. I knew once the chute was pulled that I would be calm. It was nothing like I thought or feared. Falling through the sky at 200 km/h is not scary at all!! It just feels like floating. It was exhilirating, yes, incredible, yes, but scary, no. It was the fastest minute of my life. The rest of the fall was a chance to check out the surrounding scenery which was breathtaking. And of course trying to appease Reno who was trying to get some entertaining video footage for my personalized DVD. (If anyone knows how to convert a Video_TS folder into an uploadable video file, please let me know!) Sadly, the entire thing was over far too soon.

The rest of Day 1 consisted of going to check out nearby Huka Falls and taking a relaxing sailboat ride out on Lake Taupo to check out a series of Maori carvings on the cliffs. The boat ride was just what we needed to unwind from our adrenalin packed morning. It was fun to watch the skydivers fall to earth as well, knowing that I have now done it! And probably not for the last time. I absolutely LOVED it.