On my return to Rotorua I decided a nice relaxing mud bath was in order. I checked myself in and was shown to the room and left to savour half an hour of a thermal water mud mix! It was very pleasurable (if a little too hot!) I then caught up with Ra, Kath and their son Woody. Ra first gave me a drive around the neighbourhood detailing the Aunt, Uncle, cousin, niece, nephew or some other relation that lived there. It really is a family community. I guess that's i...

I set off early (for me, these Kiwi's like early mornings!) North from Rotorua to the Coromandel. This is a peninsular at the top right of the North island. I met up with Alex for the plan of walking up to the Pinnacles. Despite our best intentions the walk was cancelled due it teaming down with rain so we caught up over lunch instead and then headed off in opposite directions! Alex back to Auckland and I contiued up the peninsular. I pretty much followed a map i...

Once I had suitably come down from my skydive I headed North to Rotorua. Just on the outskirts of Taupo I picked up a young Maori named Jason hoping from some conversation on the jouney up through the thermal area. This didn't quite worked out as I had hoped as after saying thanks for the ride and telling me his name and giving one word answers to every other conversation starter he said nothing for about 20 minutes and then proceeded to fall asleep! About an hou...

More people hurl themselves out of a plane for no good reason in Taupo than anywhere else in NZ. I felt I should join them! There was the option of jumping from 12,000 ft (40 seconds of free-fall) or 15,000 ft (65 seconds of free-fall). I thought if I was going to do it I may as well make the most of it! Taupo itself is about 1,000 ft above sea level so the jump was from 16,000 ft above seas level. As we approached the jump height we were given Oxygen masks! I wa...

An early start of 6:30 the following day to get breakfast and prepare for my 20km walk over the Tongariro Crossing, advertised as the best day walk in NZ - a fair claim given the countryside I had already seen on the South Island! The bus journey to the start of the crossing took around 1/2 hr and the bus was freezing! There was a hard frost and I was glad of my layers! I started off on the walk and the 1st hour or so was pretty level easy walking. This soon chan...