Raglan & Taupo Roadtrip

23/11/10 - 27/11/10

During my weekend of work, we decided to head off on yet another roadtrip! This time I was to have Graham (from Canada) and Paul (from USA) in my car. Henry and Jane had already left for Raglan, so we joined them down there. We found a campsite called 'SolScape', which was an eco-friendly campsite. It was very cool! There were cabins made from old train carriages, and mud-brick houses. We went on a walk up to where they were creating a tipi area, which looked as though it would be an absolutely amazing place to stay once i was completed. I've actually just spoken to someone who worked there tonight, and she said that they had managed to complete it in time for Christmas, and that it was, indeed, awesome.

  

SolScape Holiday Park / Eco Retreat, Raglan

We cooked dinner and started having a few beers. At 10pm we were told there was a silence curfew, which we didn't particularly like (but did appreciate that surfers like to get up early!), so we went off to find the beach. We found our way to a beautiful lookout point, where you could see the full moon reflecting off the dark sea below. It was truly mesmerising.

 Full moon over the ocean - spectacular

We saw a possum in the tree on the way back - I do find it hard to believe that these cute critters are seen as rodents here. But then again, so are rabbits... :(

The next morning we woke up early(ish) and went to the beach. Graham and Henry tried surfing, and Jane, me and Paul watched from the sidelines. 'Twas a lovely beach!

The best thing about having my Dad living right here in New Zealand? That I can just pop in and see him whenever I like! Although I'm not really sure that he loves it when I phone just hours before my ETA with the news that I'm coming along with four of my friends... Oh - and we'd all like to stay the night (please!). He was very accommodating though, and even fed us an absolutely amazing gormet 'Thanksgiving' feast of raw food - it was sublime! It was great to see the pigs again - they'd already grown so much since I'd seen them last - and that had only been a few weeks before.

Thanksgiving dinner & the pigletts :)

We left Dad's the next morning and made our way to Taupo, via Rotorua. Well... I say via, but all we really did there was stop at the I-Site and go to a supermarket. In fact, we spent a good few hours in the carpark of said supermarket, boiling water for cups of tea and making sandwiches. So if ever I'm to think back to my time in Rotorua, all I'll be able to recall is a New World carpark. How very random.

We left the stench of Rotorua behind us (seriously - the whole place absolutley reeeeeeks of sulphur), and made it down to Taupo. We found our (free) campsite and went to see the Huka Falls, before retreating back to our campsite for some (quite frankly undeserved) rest & relaxation.

Huka Falls

We saw a black swan at our campsite! This was RIGHT next to our tents!!

The next day we went off to do the Taupo bungy jump. Henry had talked me into it whilst in Raglan, for the sole reason that we had some discount vouchers. Bungy jumping hadn't really been on my 'to do list', for the following reasons:

1) I thought that the initial jump would be reeeeeally scary, in that you have to actually jump it yourself (rather than having a tandem skydive guy push you out) and
2) that the jolt up after the bungy chord has extended to its full length must be really painful.

But I had said I'd do it, so I was damn well going to do it!
 

Me, Graham and Henry about to do our bungy jumps!!

Even as we were getting strapped up and about to jump, I surprised myself in the fact that I really didn't get nervous, scared or apprehensive. I was just looking forward to it! Weird! And then when the time came to actually take the plunge... there was no hesitation. I just fell forward into the abys. But then there was a scream to beat all screams... and a lot of swearing. But good swearing. The kind of swearing like when you're on a rollercoaster. Or on a jetski / motorbike and take a corner too sharp. Or when you're skiing really fast downhill. Ok - admittedly you don't really scream these swear words at the top of your lungs in these other situations, but it sure does feel good to!

Hmmm... I'm trying to liken a bungy jump to things that people can relate to, but I really shouldn't. It's unlike anything I've ever done before - even skydiving. They are very different sensations. I guess you can only know what a bungy jump feels like by actually doing one. If you do, I promise you that you won't regret it!

To think back to my previous fears of 1) having to do a terrifying initial jump and 2) that the jolt of the bungy chord would be really painful, I'm pleased to report that both of these fears proved to be invalid. It was easy to jump and I felt absolutely no discomfort whatsoever in my ankle/ leg area - and I have a bad right ankle!! Maybe the reason why I could jump so easily was because I wasn't really that high up - just 154m (I think?) and it was above water (the highest water touch bungy) - I'm sure that the Nevis one, which is about 3 times as high and over a rocky canyon will actually be positively petrifying!!!!

Happy and raring to go!!

Taking the plunge...

  

Showing the same points in time as the above photos, but from a different viewpoint

The bungy jump was incredible (despite my blood curdling scream implying to the contrary!!) ! I was on such a high afterwards and just wanted to keep jumping. Henry and I are both so so excited about the big bungy jump in Nevis (Queenstown) now - we seriously can't wait!

After the jumps, we unfortunately had to said goodbye to our dear friend Graham, who was off to work in the South Island - sad times :( The rest of us then spent day in Taupo, looking around the city and relaxing by the lake.

That's not the ocean - it's a huuuuuge lake!

On the way back to our campsite, we passed by at Huka Falls yet again - it was my third time there!! It's still incredible though, so I really didn't mind.

Sun setting over Lake Taupo

The next day it was time to head back to Auckland. On the way back, we went to a dam which (we were told) releases a huge torrent of water when it's opened, causing huge volumes of water to cascade down the river, filling it at an incredible rate. This had been used in one of The Lord of the Rings films, so we had to go and see this spectacle!

Waiting for the big rush of water as the dam is opened..

We thought we'd go downstream to see this, as we'd read that it was a good idea to do so, plus we wanted to avoid the crowds. So we got there early, and waited. And waited. And waited. No torrent of water appeared. Poo. So we went back up to the main lookout bridge, admitted defeat, had a picnic and headed back 'home' to Auckland...