Ok so this journal is not going to flow as well as others as i am having to write this retrospectively, as the internet has been prettyty god damn awful of late. Hence the distinct lack in contact and photos (most computers accept Sarahs camera but not mine). Anyway, Taupo - our next destination after a brilliant time in Napier (cant remember what i wrote about that, but we met up with Rob and Michelle again on the 2nd night and Rob cooked us all a beautiful chilli con carne, coupled with a few cold beers. Was another really nice night and their house had some wicked views over the bay. The people in the area were really nice, one lady gave us a lift to their house as we got lost and they didnt want to confuse us with any more directions!!!) we made our way West. Taupo really was not very nice!! Very grey and dull, not helped by the lack of sunshine!!! We didnt really care too much as there was only one reason we were there - to do our skydive. Speaking about this well over a week is very difficult - i dont think i have the energy in my fingers to try and recreate the vibe and feeling of doing such a cool thing (as today has been difficult, we fly tomottow to Bali and there is so much to sort out!). But in a nutshell, we were on tenterhooks all morning as to whether we were even going to get up, as the weather was pretty bad. We had to keep calling them every hour o get a progress check, but eventually at about 1pm they came to pick us up in their limo (or so they tell you). Now my idea of a limo is pretty far from theirs i think - this was some knackered 100 yr old, rattling, sqeakin piece of s**t ... but it just about got us there! We arrived at the hangar to be greeted by another hour long wait!!! Sarah was getting pretty agitated and anxious by this point, but all were lost when we got the big nod ... the pink plane pulled up, and we were fitted into our harness and paired up with a skydive buddy. Mine was a pretty cool guy from the UK somewhere, Sarahs (see pics) was a funny, crazy little Hungarian man, with not very good English (just to add to Sar's nerves!!). Anywa, we all jumped in (Sar and I and 2 german girls) all sat on the floor in THE tiniest plane imaginable. We shot down the runway, and took off ... the sun began to shine, and the clouds opened! About 10 mins later i was being shuffled to sit on the edge of the step 12000ft above ground, and the next minute i was falling backwards watching the plane disappear very rapidly!! A couple of seconds later and Sarah was thrown out of the plane to chase us down. Th freefall was amazing!!! Quite a surreal experience as you stop accelerating after about 10 seconds so it almost feels like you are just dangling in mid air (except for the air rushing past your face, and making your mouth so dry that you think you could drink the pacific and still have a paste mouth!!) watching the world come steadily closer.40 seconds later and ..... bang, you slow down an incredible amount as the parachute is released, but all that is made ok as you slowly spiral your was down towards solid ground once more, soaking up the amazing views. Our skydivers even circled each other with the parachutes up so we could have a little chat 2000 ft up - as you do!! And that was Taupo!!! Pretty awesome time in the air, but pretty rubbish on the ground - next stop smelly Rotorua!!