Taupo

Yesterday, we went on a school-sponsored trip to Taupo.  There were 10 of us on the tour and we left campus at around 8 am.  Our tour guide/van driver's name was Selwyn.  Him and his wife own a travel, Starr Tours, and they put on tours all over the North and South Island as well as Australia.

Our first stop was the Aratiatia Rapids, a two hour drive from the uni.  We got there at 9:55, which gave us 5 minutes until the flood gates opened allowing water to fill up the old Waikato River.  There are two gates that block water from filling up the old Waikato River and everyday, the gates are lifted three times for 15 minutes allowing water to rush at 200 liters/second down the river causing rapids.  We got there just in time to see the gates open and the river filled up within minutes.  It was incredible to watch!

Our next stop was Honey Hive, a shop specializing in different honey products.  There was a container in the store filled with honey bees busily making honey.  They had honey wine, honey soap, honey shampoo, honey lotion, honey hand sanitizer, honey fudge, peanut butter honey, lavender honey, EVERYTHING with honey.  We got to try the fudge; it was really good! I ended up buying a famous candy here called Hokey Pokey, and Logan bought some wine liquor :)

Next, we went to Huka Falls.  The actual falls wasn't tremendously huge, but the rushing water surrounding the falls was extremely powerful.  One of the well-known attractions here in New Zealand is the Huka Falls jetboat that races up and down the river.  We got to watch the jetboat speed around the river a couple times!  It looked like heaps of fun! :)

Next, we went to a part of Lake Taupo where the geothermal activity had created small hotpools along the edge of the lake.  We got to stick our feet in the water and it felt like a jacuzzi!  It was really neat!  The weather was really cold that day, so us Hawaiians really enjoyed being able to warm our feet up!  The view was beautiful from where we were.  We got to look out at the lake, but of course we weren't able to see all the way across.  (It's the largest lake in New Zealand.)

The highlight of our day, or the highlight of the GIRLS' day, was next.  We went into the town and ate lunch and ... shopped!  Taupo isn't a really touristy town, so there weren't any malls and hardly any people, so it was nice.  We ate at McDonald's :) and then walked around.  There were a bunch of sovenier shops.  Logan bought an All Black's flag and I bought some canvas posters to hang on my wall.  The shops were right along the lake and one of the major attractions of the town was a "Hole in One" golf challenge.  There was a big 20x20 dock floating about 50 ft offshore, and the challenge was to hit a golf ball and get a hole-in-one!  The grand prize was $10,000 cash, and of course Logan wanted to try.  So, he got 18 golf balls and started swinging away.  A couple times, he came close to hitting the dock :)  He had a lot of fun!

At about 2:00, we headed to the MAIN part of the day, the Taupo Bungy Jump!  It is the highest bungy jump over water in New Zealand and our friend Pi was going to do it.  It was 47 meters high, but looked much higher.  It was over a huge river, and it was absolutely beautiful.  We walked down to the river level to watch her jump.  None of the other people in our group were brave enough to do it, which made her even more nervous.  Of course, Logan gave her a hard time.  He told her, "you better not chicken out because no one else is going to do it!" haha.  It was awesome! Some of the people we watched actually got dunked into the river when they jumped!  Half of their bodies came up soaking wet!  It was crazy. But every person who did it said it was totally awesome, but no matter how fun they said it was, I had absolutely no desire to do it! :) It was funny watching some people doubt themselves when they stood over the edge.  Some people started praying, one girl screamed down at the river like she was scaring it, and others had to be pushed.  A couple brave people dove straight off with no hesitation!

That was our fun filled day in Taupo! Next weekend, we're off to Rotorua!