Our nights sleep in the free-camping car park was hampered by several things, the raucous wedding party in the yacht club, the Alcatraz style search lamp which shone straight through the rear windscreen of the camper and the knowledge that the next day I was throwing myself out of a plane at 15,000 feet.

Never the less I very much enjoyed my 8km run along the sleepy lakeside the next morning, before returning to freshen up in the facilities (the lake) and put the kettle on. Bob had pointed out some men looking suspiciously like they were in the final throws of training for the NZ Ironman, which is being held here in Taupo in a weeks time, so I offered them some tips...

A slight navigational error lead to us missing the morning release of the Ariata dam so I finally went shopping for some new jandles but before long the monstrous yellow hummer arrived to take us to the skydiving centre!

Bob, adamant that she did not need to do a skydive seemed unconcerned as I signed my life away and was briefed, suited and strapped to a very jolly kiwi called Ryan who was thrilled about the prospect of jumping out of an aircraft with me attached to him...

We piled into the Cessna and roared into the sky, making irrelevant small talk about nothing in particular until at 12,000ft one of our number was jettisoned ground wards. This was the first point at which I realised that I was about to jump out of an aircraft at 15,000ft, Free fall for just under a minute and then somehow not spread myself across the airstrip below us. The buzzer went and my 3 fellow jumpers disappeared through the door, I was unceremoniously 'humped' down the plane and plonked with my legs dangling over the edge, I looked down.

Amazingly my stomach stayed put as my eyes took in the map which lay spread out beneath me, were I could just make out the wake of waterski boats on the lake, the airstrip from which we had taken off and in the distance WOAHHH WE'RE FREEFALLING!!!

The adrenaline rush was incredible as the plane shot away into the sky and my cheeks tried to merge into my ears. It was impossible not to try and grin, laugh and woop all at the same time as the ground hurtled towards us. After an age I noticed chutes appearing below us and soon my belly button was yanked skywards and my face returned to its normal dimensions. I was allowed to control the spins and pirouettes on our way to the ground before Ryan took over for a textbook landing. Buzzing we parted company and I tried desperately to get my 'yeah I suppose it was alright' face on to greet Bob who immediately told me that she had booked a place on the next plane!

As a skydiving expert I tried to impart some tricks and tips to Bob but she seemed more interested in the relaxed company of her 6ft4 South African ex-army event rider 'Brad' who picked her up and carried her off to the waiting plane. 20 minutes later, as she untangled herself from the springboks wit, charm and parachute, I could see the grin stretching across her face and knew that she felt the same buzz that I did.

After a celebratory lunch of left over fajitas and toffee-pops (do you remember these Granny?) we were just in time to get to the very impressive afternoon release of the Ariata dam. On our way back we picked up hokey-pokey and boiseberry ripple icecreams from the kebab house and heading to the beach for Bob to 'get her tan on...'

Inspired by watching the arrival and set up of the racking for the ironman transition I headed out for a short 1km swim in the lake. Eventually I made it back to shore, my fitness and directional ability both having failed completely so it was Bob who piloted us South, along the beautiful lakeshore to our campsite in Turangi which had the luxury of hot showers and a BBQ, on which I cooked steak for supper. The man-meal received a rating of 2 times thumbs up before I decided to smash most of the crockery on my way to the washing up station. Pillock.

In the meantime as Mosquitos nibbled on both of my elbows the air raid style volcano siren went off. I was in the car with the engine running ready to make our escape before Bob emerged from the shower block un-ruffled suggesting that as nobody else had gone into a blind panic 'maybe it was just a practice dear?!'

We packed our bags and made a feast of a picnic for our attempt at the Tongariro crossing tomorrow. This required an early start so we were soon tucked up in the camper, reflecting on what an awesome day it had been.