Another weekend away took us to Taupo, one of the main centres of adventure in New Zealand. We stayed in a small, very cold, riverside bach with Tom & Elin, some friends from back in Poole who are also out here working.

We trekked our way to the Huka falls, an impressive waterfall, not due to its height but because of the sheer volume of water that cascades through a narrowing in the river. From there we headed to a thermal park - craters of the moon, where the boys enjoyed stroking the warm earth and making jokes about who farted as sulphurous gas clouds surrounded them.

We had a classy night in Taupo town, with a sophisticated dinner that ended in an Irish pub, we couldn't have asked for more. It was the perfect preparation for our activities the following day. We signed up to a very bizarre mixture of jet boating and canyoning. We were given our appropriately fashionable attire and met our guide - a mixture between a scripted tour guide and a cabaret artist, think cheesy. We all clambered into the jet boat and were advised to keep our sunglasses on as it would be the only way we'd be able to keep our eyes open at the speeds he intended. We shot off, at what was later described as a slow pace, stopping for brief moments to learn a bit about the local area and the history of the river. We then abandoned ship to start our trek up a very small stream, 'the squeeze', that was full of warm thermal water. It was an interesting sensation bobbing along unable to touch the floor while forcing our way in between rock walls and clambering over, or hitting our shins on, the hidden boulders beneath. It was the kind of experience that left you thinking...whoever first did this was an idiot. We were stopped by our guide intermittently to pose by various bits of bush for photos, like a high end tropical calendar shoot. At the end of the stream we emerged into a waterfall which was somewhat like sitting under a jet washer where we had another bizarre photo shoot (clearly the 'Mr December' moment of our tropical calendar). We were even forced to pose for a passionate kiss underneath one of the falls. Not as romantic as it sounds when, completely deprived of all senses by the cascading water, we promptly managed to head butt each other on the first take. We headed back in the jet boat at full speed, complete with spins and turns dangerously close to the canyon walls, all in all very exhilarating. Greg's new long hair came into its own at high speed, leading him to sport a Leo Sayer-esque look.