January 5th – Puppets On A String
Thursday, January 17th, 2008
Lake Taupo lies in the middle of the north island and the scenery around it is beautiful, hills, greenery and of course a massive lake. Taupo is the centre of sky diving and I must admit I was itching to try it but Josh had a heart attack at the mention of me jumping out of a plane. Maybe I can sneak out at night…………………..
Tent up at the holiday park in record time and off to explore the town. The first stop was watching the bungy jumpers just down the road. The wooden platform juts out over the cliff with a wicked view of the river below. There was actually a queue waiting to fling themselves off and we had fun talking to the families who were watching their loved ones take the plunge. I don’t know who was worse – the spectators or the jumpers! Most dipped their heads in the water below and all the women instinctively reached up to grab their tee shirts as soon as they jumped off (you can imagine being upside down your clothing reveals more than you might want). O reckons it’s not for her, she would prefer to jump out of a plane.
A bit less adrenaline filled was the walk to Huka falls. A very narrow gap in the river means the water that falls is fast and fun to watch. After we got there O said is that it – the drop is only 10 metres – I think she was expecting Niagara Falls. I suppose when you have seen the big ones it’s hard to get excited. I loved listening and watching the water and could have stayed there all afternoon but the kids were hungry so it was back to the supermarket to get something to throw on the Barbie. I love this country! The holiday park also has a “jumping pillow” which sounded intriguing enough to check out – it’s a huge air filled pocket (about 50m) that’s like a trampoline. Something to tire out the kids before bed – fantastic.
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