On to Taupo! We had a nice lie in this morning and others went to see the caves or did some quad biking. Even though Waitomo was such a small town greg and I did find a place on the side of the road which sheared angora rabbits. In the cages outside there were some beautiful fluffy rabbits and then the two in the last cages were so naked, but still with gorgeous fluffy ears! we went in and saw them strach out a rabbit, with its arms and legs tied outwards and then the lady was taking all the rabbits tummy fluff off!

After that exciting experiance we went back and got onto the coach and headed of to Taupo, stopping on the way for some lunch and I had one of the best hot chocolates EVER! It had a spoon filled with dark chocolate and dark chocolate flakes, and it was really scrummy!

We arrived in Taupoa and stopped off at the skydive centre, with Mount doom from the Lord of the rings in the background and all booked our skydives! We were'nt sure whether we could all do ours that day or we would have to come bakc and the nerves were mounting! One plane went off and they all came down really happy and alive and then Greg and I heard our names being called so we stepped forward to put on a nice all in one boiler suit! I twas really cold and was going to be colder at 12000ft so we had gloves aswell. Our tandem jumpers who we'd be (hopefully) attached to came over to see us and told us only about three instructions and hten we were getting on the plane! AHH! it was a little plane with two beches down either side and everyone squidged in with people on the floor, it worried me that we weren't yet attached and i may fall out! but the plane door closed and we seemed safe... for a while! Greg seemed to be coping much better than me. I looked down and realised i could probably jump at this height...that was only 1000ft high! So once we reached 12000 there wasn't much left to do but jump! I was 2nd and greg 3rd, and when someone else jumps out of a plane and they've just tied themselves to you, thats not much you can do but fall with them! We fell for 45 seconds freefall and then the parachute gets pulled when you're at 5000 feet. My man on my back loosened my straps and I htought i was falling away from him...not a nice feeling for a second! but we landed on the ground, some of us graciously, some of us not so much, but it was awesome and we both loved every terrifying minute!! Fiwas in the plane after us, and we all survived! That night we were exhausted after such an adrenaline filled day but still thought we deserved a celerbration which was a good night.

The next day we stayed in Taupo instead of moving on and all walked to some natural hot springs just out of town. On the way we had to stop off at McDonalds, purely for the fact that they have a PLANE in their (childrens) play area, which you can actually eat in!! We wandered down to Lake Taupo and could see the other side of the lake snowcapped mountains, one of which was Mount Doom from Lord of the rings!

The onto the hot srpings. Which happened to jsut be a river that you went and sat in which was so warm, almost hotter than bath temperature! after a river swim we all walked back past pac and save, to get some supplies for supper and then had a good night watching our skydive videos and a few movies.