20th Jan 2012

Hello again! How's the weather? Tee hee!

Here's what we've been doing since we last did a blog:

On Tuesday we travelled down to Lake Taupo via Tarawera falls - a pretty spectacular waterfall. The river was beautiful because it was so clear - don't think I've ever seen water like it - a lovely turquoise blue. Dave was very tempted to swim but we had to get going because we had more volcano things to visit - can't do it all! We then went on to Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland and saw some more bubbling mud pools, steamy smells and amazing colours from all the volcanic activity. After that we also managed to fit in a brief visit to Huka Falls - a mahussive waterfall just outside Taupo - again, an amazing sight! Finally we arrived at Lake Taupo and found a campsite where we chilled for the evening with a burger and a beer - yum, yum!

On Wednesday I plucked up the courage to join Dave in doing a sky dive. I was very calm apart from the odd churn in my stomach and sweaty palms while we were waiting and having it all explained to us. Luckily we were up in the air very quickly after making the decision to do it so I didn't have too much time to change my mind or question what the hell I was doing throwing myself out of an aeroplane strapped to a strange man! Dave was very impressed with me and I was with him too as he was the first out of the plane - didn't like watching that one bit! It was fab though - very glad we did it! Got lots of rather amusing photos taken on the way down and an even more amusing video too! I don't think I'll be showing too many of the photos as I look extremely odd - Dave and I keep having fits of giggles just thinking about my face and expressions!After all that excitement we were rewarded with a glass of wine and beer on the edge of the lake accompanied by some well deserved food!

Early Thurs morning we set off about 5.30am to get the ferry across to the south island - a pretty long and uneventful day really - the drive down took about 5 hours and the ferry took 3 so we were shattered last night!

Today we went wine tasting - lush! We hired some bikes and had some advice on the best wineries and route to take. Our first stop was Wither Hills where we tasted lots of yummy wines and bought a lovely sauvignon blanc (very naughty - but was rude not to when we had a discount!). We looked around the grounds and went up the tower to see the vineyards and then chilled on the huge bean bags in the garden area - my kind of morning! Next we went to Villa Maria and tasted some more! Dave even guessed the mysterious wine and won a prize! He secretly enjoyed the day more than me! We were very naughty again and bought a bottle there too! I think Dave was a bit squiffy at this point - tee hee! We then lunched at Highfield Estate which was very relaxing before heading off to visit 2 more wineries! We crashed out after that for a bit on the grass in the sun and then had to cycled back to base for a lift back to the campsite! Another very memorable day!

Right - I'm off! We've got an early start in the morning - we're heading up to Abel Tasman National Park for a spot of kayaking with the seals! Can't wait! x x

Lots of love - will put the photos up now too! x x x x x

Oh...p.s.....we did our first load of clothes washing too - a busy couple of days! X x