Before Taupo we spent one night in a free DOC campsite so Si could have a rest from driving for a while. When we arrived in Taupo Kim was unimpressed with the cloudy sky as she had planned to do a sky dive here. The next morning we visited the I-site to see how much it would be for Kim to do her sky dive as we had been told it was the cheapest place in New Zealand to do it. Later on that day we explored what Taupo had to offer for free, mainly being a few waterfalls and the lake. The most impressive of all the water falls was 'Hukka Falls', which was powerful enough to fill five Olympic swimming pools full with water in twenty seconds.

After we had finished looking at the waterfalls we made our way to a place called 'crators of the moon'. It was a large geothermal field which we walked around. During the tour we looked at hot mud pools and steam vents, which let off the heat of the thermal field below.

That night we found a free campsite and had a few beers, while Kim weighed up whether or not she would do a sky dive the next day. After a few beers and a good feed, Kim decided that she would jump as long as the sky was blue and had good visibility. When we woke up there wasn't a cloud in the sky, so Kim took it as a sign and booked onto the next available jump. We made our way to the small air port on the outskirts of town. When we arrived we were informed that the wind had gotten to strong and all jumps had been postponed for the morning. The wind didn't die down for an hour or so, so we decided to drive back into town and try our luck later. After a few hours in town chilling we drove back to the airport and Kim was given the all clear to do her jump. She was kitted out in a jump suit and also fitted with a life jacket in case her and her co-jumper landed in Lake Taupo. She put on her harness and had to watch a short safety video. Once on the small place she sat on one of the small benches and awaited the thumbs. As Kim had already done her bungee jump she wasn't as scared as I thought she would be. She was told to put her hat and gloves on before being tightly strapped to the instructor. She thought it was way too close to be to a person she had met minutes before! They quickly reached 15,000ft and were ready to jump. She was the second one to go. Sitting on the edge of the plane with her legs dangling over the edge was insane. She was pleased it was only for a brief for second and enjoyed falling out for 60sec free fall. It was amazing! Falling for 60 seconds at over 200kp/h was her highlight. The view of the lake was apparently really good! It was pretty cold up in the air and she said her teeth were freezing - slightly painful! Her chubby cheeks were being blown and squashed making a funny video. After the first few seconds she said she feel as if she was falling. The parachute opened and then she slowly made her way down. I saw her spin in circles and lingered over the road for far too long. Thankfully they landed safely and she was buzzing! She know wants to learn to do it by herself. We spent the evening with some beers and feojias (a NZ fruit given to us - taste them they're magical).