When we got onto the bus today we were met by a great driver who straight off broke the ice by telling everyone to speak to the people around us as he wouldn't be doing any head counts and would only know if anyone had been left behind if we piped up! By doing this everyone on the bus got chatting early on in the day. First off we visited a mud pool shortly followed by Lady Knox Geyser which spouts water at 10.15 every morning with the little help from Organic soap! This is all a part of Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland, really you want to see this place its something else! The main part of the 'wonderland' is a 75 minute loop walk and features a famous 'Champagne Pool' this is a crated filled with water, its 62mts deep and which the water enters the crater at the bottom reaches temperatures of 230 degree's, well hot should we say, no swimming in that pool, you can see from the pictures that its steamy and trust us its hot.

After Lunch we were given the choice of doing a skydive, me and Aaron had decided yesterday that we would leave the dive until He was sure about doing it and maybe do it on a return trip.As we were blessed with a really good bunch of people off the bus, most of whom were doing the dive and eased Aarons nerves and persuaded him to do it, I was gob smacked when he said he would do it but only if I did one too!About an hour later we found ourselves stood in a jump suit and harness and surprisingly Aaron was very calm, I was a little nervous but really excited. Due to this being my second dive I treated Aaron to the dvd for his birthday, so he will always have that there to re-live it.I'd say that this jump was better than my first, it was 12,000 while my last was at 14,000 but I was able to take it all in and doing the dive here meant an amazing view of the snowcapped mt Ruapehu and the crater filled Lake Taupo, nothing compared to Blackpool really! Its was awesome and if I was rich I would have hopped back onto the plane and done it all again!

The best thing about this was that after getting egged on by the bus and deciding to do it at around dinnertime by 2.30 I was in the place getting kitted up so there wasn't much time to get scared. The only thing that scared me was the guy who I was jumping with sensed I was slightly tense and then just continually winded me up even more especially leaving the plane door open as it was taking off (arse!). But on the way up I felt I was getting calmer somehow and maybe a little excited which was weird, the only thing I was worried about was dangling my feet over the edge of the plane at 12,000ft but seen as I didn't have any control because I was attached to a guy and the only way was down, so I had to just make myself enjoy it and remember to keep my eyes open. After a few waves to the camera the next thing I knew I was on the ground and buzzing, all I need now is a beer!