Well....on the way to taupo i was gonna stop off in river valley for a couple of days to do some white water rafting there but when we rang up the place in taihepe they said there was no white water due to lack of rain (only bloody time that i wanted it to rain!) so in the end i decided to go straight to taupo which = sky dive day! So we turned up at the sky dive place and watched a video and all this time i thought that something must have been wrong as i wasnt panicked nor scared nor worried about doing it - weird huh?! So i signed up and got my kit on - i guess it helped that i had just joined a new bus so didnt know anyone there so i had no-one reminding me constantly that i was about to jump out of a plane. The plane ride up was really scenic but i was shocked at one point to discover that we were only 6,000ft up and had another 6,000 to go!! So eventually my guide strapped me to him (these guys must love their jobs!) then the next minute i know the plane slows then boom, boom ,boom everyone is out of the plane. I dont even really remember now jumping - i think i was pushed by the guy behind but the freefall was amazing - so much fun. It kinda feels like you're floating then suddenly you get pulled up when the open the chute! The rest of it was really relaxing and enjoyable as we descended back to base. So all in all i loved it and would so do it again. The rest of the day i had a look around taupo ie at the lake and i saw fior again, a girl who i did the franz josef with who was to do the tongoriro crossing the following day as was i. So the next day i had to get up real early as the bus was to leave at 5.40am - luckily for me the clocks went back an hour that night so i had an extra hours sleep so it was more like 6.40! So kinda dosed the hour and a bit trip to the national park (mordor in LOTR). Got to the park and walked with fior (who had 10 stitches in her leg after a wk in fiji) and some of the ppl from her hostel. The first hr wasnt too bad as it was kinda flat. The next part was the devils staircase - aptly named as after i felt like i was in hell - man that was a killer of a hike which took just over an hour. After that we had a few more ups and downs - mainly ups before reaching the red crater. The next part was down hill which you may think would be easy but it was down hill on gravel so kinda slid half of it as well as falling on my arse a couple of times too! Thats the part where we saw the emerald lakes which were really cool. It was then another couple of hours until the hut where we stopped for a breather before the last 2 hrs. The last 2 hrs were the worst part as it was all down hill and by that point our feet were killing us so it seemed like it would never end. But we did finally make it after 7hr30. Ppl normally do it between 6-8 hrs but we went a lil slower cos of fiors stitches and to be honest i dont think i wouldve gone any faster anyway!! The walk was really good and as well as being mordor and mount dome in LOTR it is also classed as NZs finest 1 day hike. The landscape is really varied - up rocks, along boardwalks, round countryside style turns, down gravel paths, thru forest - so although it was long i really enjoyed it!! That night when i got back was too tired to do anything so me and lisa (a girl from my dorm) drank red wine and ate popcorn in the dorm. That was pretty much my time in taupo even though i didnt do that many activities in taupo itself. Next stop is the east as trip around a more rural part of NZ and home to many maori tribes. nikki xxx