After breakfast we left Waitomo and started drving towards Taupo which is home of New Zealands largest lake.  On the drive into town, Mum got her first sighting of a snow covered mountain.  We had lunch in Taupo then Andrew went off in search of a golf course whilst Mum and I walked around the lake a little bit.  The first time I was in Taupo with Contiki, I don't think I had ever really noticed the view but the scenery here is beautiful.  You can stand by the lake and look over at the snow covered mountains on the other side.  It was a sunny day so they were no clouds blocking the view.  We had dinner at Finn MacCuhal's, one of Taupo's Irish bars and I got to watch some rugby whilst we were eating. 19/08/06Andrew and I were booked to go skydiving at 10.30am.  I was feeling really nervous but the Boy seemed fairly calm.  I was much more nervous then when I did my first jump, I think its because I knew exactly what was going to happen.  We got out to the dropzone only to be told that it was too cloudy for skydiving and it was cancelled.  I was both disappointed and a little relieved.  Andrew was very disappointed but when we got back to the hostel to find Mum, it was obvious how relieved she was that we hadn't jumped.  We got our money back from the skydive and decided to go jetboating instead so we went out to the Huka Falls.  After a quick look at the falls we drove to the Huka jet.  Jetboating is great fun, I've done it in Quenstown, the Bay of Islands and in Sydney but it was Mum's first time.  The boat takes you along the river to the base of the Huka Falls.  On the way, the driver does all sorts of spins and 360 degree turns.  We got soaked!!We had some lunch then drove in search of Orakei Korako, the hidden valley which was a geaothermal area.  The place was definately well hidden.  We took a few wrong turns but did eventually find the place after a few arguements!!  We took a short boat ride across Lake Ohakuri and had an hour to look around at the caves and geysers.  Unfortunately none of the geysers were active whilst we were there so we didn't get to see them erupt.  When we got back to Taupo, I went straight to Finn's to watch the All Blacks play the Wallabies in the Tri Nations.  Then it was time for dinner so we found a nice Italian restaurant.