Skydiving and screaming were on the agenda so we hopped to making breakfast and left our huge campsite sharpish.

Chelsea had tentatively booked herself in for a skydive with Taupo Tandem Skydives and was slowly but surely getting more nervous as the minutes slid by.

Sitting in the skydive facility, in a neat row on some leather benches, we watched a brief video regarding safety and then of course the different photography packages you can buy to go along with your skydive. These are always grotesquely over priced and really put my back up, if someone is already paying through the nose for your services just let them have a bloody video for £30-£50, not £150. Selfish.

With the pale people all putting their hands up in order to show that they were the ones diving, I got to lethargically sit back and watch them all get suited and booted. Everyone was suddenly serenely laconic as the plane could be heard motoring away on the tarmac outside and some final strap tightening was taking place.

After the plane had taken off with Chelsea nestled in there somewhere like a little jelly bean I felt a mild sense of worry, though this quickly abated when I realised that I could get free hot chocolate from a drinks machine.

All in all, even on the ground the experience was over relatively quickly. Chelsea, like a true battle axe, had opted for the biggest height possible, a rather impressive 15000 feet! Looking up at the sky I suddenly realised that there were about ten yellow parachutes in the air zipping around the sky like small bananas. I strained my eyes for a Chelsea shaped person but it was impossible.

Waving frantically, I finally spotted Chelsea and she landed surprisingly gracefully in a sort of juddering canter. With high fives and smiles all round it was a fantastic experience that she was absolutely thrilled with!

Life threatening scenarios behind us we headed back to the northern tip of Lake Taupo - I had some Maori carvings to find and a pink woggle to help me!

Walking as far as I could around the treacherously slippery rocks I roused my few shreds of masculinity and jumped in. The water wasn't too bad but it was very deep and a little eerie. I had two French boys for company which made the whole thing a bit of a laugh and had a sense of adventure about it as none of us actually knew where we were supposed to go or how our excursion would end.

Feeling slightly bashful about my pink swimming aid, complete with snorkel and mask, I struck out around the corner of the nearest inlet. The water was crystal clear but faintly creepy as its depths hide the bottom. There were also no fish what so ever to be seen, Taupo is famous for its trout fishing so to not see so much as a fin was surprising.

After swimming 200 metres in what was slowly becoming choppier waters I shouted back to tell the boys that I could see the carvings! Swimming with a little more gusto I got closer to the carvings and was dazzled by the size of them, just sitting there at he waters' edge. A Maori war face stole the show with its towering, fourteen metre high image immortalising the Maori skill and care on solid rock. To the left of it were various animals and mermaids carved as 3D models rather than flat pieces of art.

A few boats were skimming up to the carvings (like absolute queens I thought) and looked equally marvelled by their ominous presence.

Feeling slightly perturbed at the thought of it, I started kicking back towards were I had started, another 200 metres back. On this leg of the journey I was infinitely grateful for my emasculating woggle. My legs were tiring and I felt a lot more comfortable with it in my possession! The two French boys had opted to stay a little longer but I had an hour curfew with Chelsea and didn't want her to worry that I'd drowned.

When I got back I was absolutely shattered and my legs were like jelly as I clambered back up onto the rocks. Kissing my woggle affectionately, I waved at Chelsea and danced back like a hero.

We then saddled up with an ice cream each (peaches and cream is the absolute boy) and made our way to the Tongariro National Park for an 8 hour alpine crossing on the morning.