Lake Taupo is known for is extreme sports but it is especially popular for Skydiving. We had decided to brave it and booked to do a Skydive over the lake. We arrived at Skydive Taupo and were shown a quick DVD of what to expect. After a long wait we were introduced to our Skydiving partners - Dale and Reno. I was partnered with Dale and Mand with the slightly crazy and excitable Reno! We were kitted up, told what we had to do once we had jumped from the plane - getting into a banana position with our heads against the professionals right shoulder and our legs tucked underneath - and then lead to our PINK plane. We were taken 12,000ft up into the air in just a matter of minutes and the view was spectacular. Luckily we had a clear day and the sun was shining. Mand jumped first and I was third. The initial tumbling through the air made me feel quite sick but after that the freefall was amazing. After just less than a minute Dale released the parachute and gave me the handles to let me guide where I wanted to go. Even though I felt pretty sick for an hour afterwards and Mand went slightly deaf it was an amazing experience that we would definitely both do again!!! We left the next day to begin our journey up to Auckland. We stopped just outside Taupo to visit Huka Falls took a few piccies then headed on up to Orakei Korako - a thermal village known as the Hidden Valley. Here a little boat took us accross to the valley where there was bubbling mud pools, geysers and a magical Maori cave. Jumped back into the Mushroom and made a pit stop in Rotorua before heading to Mt Maunganui for the night. Here we found a beautiful beach but before we had chance to take any photos the sky opened and it poured down. As we were already wet we decided to take a dip in the hot saltwater pools next to the campsite we were parked at for the night. Next stop Auckland...