To explain these photographs you have to travel back in time 24 hours before they were taken to a Mexican-themed bar that has a 2-4-1 happy hour on Sangria. Sangria is a mix of wine and fruit, and it is a little known fact that it contains precisely the right amount of alcohol to give 4 friends the Dutch courage to book a Skydive for the next afternoon. Great plan.
On the day in question, we had a few hours to kill before ‘the event’ (this was code to avoid directly acknowledging our fate) so we jumped in Finny & Stu’s campervan & headed to see Aratiatia dam. Aratiatia creates hydroelectric power by opening its gates 4 times a day, which releases water at 90000 litres/second to fill the rocky valley below.
Pretty damn good.
Following that we stopped off in a Bee farm. Frances overcame her first fear of the day taking a surprising interest in learning the intricacies of a bee colony, despite being petrified of flying insects (distraction was the key before ‘the event’).
2.30pm came around and our really subtle limo ride pulled up to take us to the airfield. At the skydive centre we suited up and became acquainted with the men who we would be strapped to at 15000 feet. We also had an opportunity to write some messages on our hand. Frances went for a standard NZ 19, whereas Andrew couldn’t pass up an opportunity to make a niche reference (which his cameraman did appreciate).
The ascent to altitude took about 20 minutes, but felt like a lifetime. Many anxious facial expressions were exchanged, especially when the oxygen masks were given out.
Finally the time came. Heads back, knees and feet together, eyes open. Frances’ feet did not stay together. Andrew’s eyes did not stay open. The feeling of free falling for 10000 feet is difficult to describe, and in the first 5 seconds there is much confusion. After that it’s all adrenaline. The parachutes were opened at 5000ft (for Andrew this was bang in the middle of cloud), and we had beautiful views of Lake Taupo and the Tongariro mountains on the ride down.
That evening, still buzzing with adrenaline, we treated ourselves to a BBQ and beers at Finny & Stu’s campsite. Frances won an unprecedented 4 consecutive games of Monopoly Deal. Wild.
The next day we decided to take the pace down a notch. We visited some more fast water in small spaces at Huka Falls. And took a dunk in the natural thermal pools of Waikato river.
It was an early night before another busy day of adventure; the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. We caught a 5am shuttle bus to the start of the 19.4km track. One of the highlights of the track is Mount Ngauruhoe, which plays Mount Doom in the Lord of The Rings, and it was looking particulatly Doomy that day. That probably should’ve been the first sign.
It turns out it was a good job we had started so early as the weather had turned drastically as we reached the climb to the red crater summit. Visibility was poor, we were surrounded by cloud and the wind was picking up, nearly taking Frances with it off the side of the mountain.
Thankfully, the cloud cleared just as we came over the summit and we had awesome views of the emerald lakes. We stopped for a 10am lunch to enjoy the beautiful scenery and relax…
Until Andrew’s Sprite bottle fell out of his rucksack and tumbled at great speed down the dirt track towards the emerald lakes. The crowds watched as Andrew was about to become known as the tourist that sullied the sacred waters. Luckily a well placed rock stopped the bottle just in time, and he was able to carefully retrieve it while the rest of us disowned him.
We continued on, there was view after view of varying volcanic landscape.
6 hours 25 minutes later, we made it to the finish to discover this handy sign had been placed after we’d started the track.
Our legs were dead. We were definitely in need of a drink. We hobbled towards a local Brewery called the Crafty Trout where Andrew stuck to an earlier ambitious promise of trying their whole range.
Finny & Frances on the other hand had a much lower alcohol tolerance, and were done for after one cider and in bed by 8.30pm.
Unfortunately our time in Taupo came to an end quickly, and we had to say goodbye to more good friends. We had our last coffee stop and a monopoly deal finale (where Frances invincible streak was broken) whilst watching the Taupo Ironman event across the road.
We’ve now arrived in Napier where we were hoping to have a chilled couple of days of recovery after all the action in Taupo. Unfortunately we’ve quickly discovered that, as with most of New Zealand, Napier is full of hills. We also discovered that our accomodation is at the top of the biggest hill in Napier. Sigh.
That’s everything for now. We are grateful for all your skydive-themed additions to the playlist. The next post will be in a couple of days after leaving Napier.
There & Back Again 