Lake Taupo: Reach for the skies!

The town of Taupo sits right on the edge of New Zealands largest lake, also named Taupo. The focal point here is definitely the lake and the surrounding glorious volcanic landscape. The lake itself is apparently the size of Singapore so you can imagine its scale! Taupo had a real small town vibe but was a very popular tourist destination for fishing, rafting and skydiving. Very spontaneously I decided to do a skydive as its supposed to be one of the best places in the world for it. We checked with a company and luckily they had a space in the afternoon. A few hours were spent walking off the nerves and trying to relax around the lake, before it was time to be picked up.

Before I knew it I was wearing the red jump suit, leather hat, gloves and goggles and was being marched to the small yellow plane with a painted grin on the front of it. I was the last one on board, which meant I was the first one out! The nerves had gone for now but as the plane took off and the ground disappeared it hit me what I was about to do. My instructor kept letting me know our altitude and when we were almost at 15,000 feet, he strapped me on tight and explained what was going to happen. I couldn't believe I was about to jump out of a plane but in a strange way, felt more ready than ever and after what felt like forever the plane door opened and we shuffled to the edge arghhh!

I had to bear a grin for the camera, put my head back and feet under the plane and then the next few seconds are a bit of a blur, all I can remember is that we tumbled through the sky upside down and all over, my heart in my mouth the feeling of plummeting was so powerful and I could barely move my arms due to the force of the wind.

Free falling was a feeling I cannot explain but after a few seconds I began to enjoy the fall. The view was amazing, the sound deafening, temperature freezing and my goggles felt like they were coming off and whilst all this is going on I was trying to smile for the camera with no successful attempt. Before I knew it, the madness of free falling was over and the parachute was deployed. Wow! What an amazing experience and the views of the lake and mountains below was awesome. Floating down to the ground was lovely and peaceful. I felt so chuffed to have conquered another dream. Ari was really proud too (and happy to see me in one piece!).

That evening was Bonfire Night and luckily the Kiwi's celebrate it so we went to Taupo's public display. There was no bonfire but there was a good Kiwi band and the fireworks were actually quite good. Our final day we did the riverside walk from town to Huka Falls on the Waikato river which flows out of lake Taupo. The power creates some really impressive falls and some very fast looking rapids.