Day 4.

Itinerary highlights: Sky diving, Huka Falls, Long Long drive back to Auckland.

Was the last day of our road trip. We decided to do sky diving only 2 days before.. Was so scared but I didnt want to regret! If I dont do sky diving now, i'll probably never have the guts to do a sky dive again.

Initially, 5 of us wanted to do the skydive. Then slowly people think and think, had other considerations and decided to pull out. By the morning of the skydive, only left Ian and me! Haha.. Seeing so many people pull out is tempting.. I was so scared la.. Ian told us he is freaking out too.. hahaha... After more thinking, the girls decided to do the skydive again. By the time we got on the transport, there were 4 skydivers!

On the way to the skydive place, Andrea lost a game of scissors paper stone and had to do a skydive with Onyx. Haha... I shall never play scissors paper stone to decide on such stuff, always lose.

When we got to the skydive place, the lady showed us a video of skydive. Looks so fun la! But not very fun to see them dropping down from the plane. They look like they are falling at a super speed. Anyway, that video managed to get Aik Khoon into doing the skydive as well..

The skydive van which picked us up!

Trying to explain their packages and what we should take note during the skydive.

Was super scared at this point already. Nevermind smile first.

Onyx, Andrea and I were the first batch to go. Not mentally prepared yet! Everything was happening too fast..

Getting geared up.Act cool. NOT SCARED. 没事!Thats my name there! my Tandem instructor is called Mike.Me and Mike. I'm so small compared to him.

On the plane! Smiling on the outside, trembling on the inside

I was the first one to get up the plane. Thought i'll be the first to jump but ended up i was the last. Seeing people just drop out of the plane and disappearing is stressful!

Finally my turn came. At the exit of the plane and legs daggling in the air! Guess wasnt strapped too tightly to Mike or the harness too bulky. Mike ask me to lean back and put my head on his shoulders. But i lean and lean also havent reach.. Got so far or not!



The next few pics is gonna be....

Ungalm Pics Galore

Awkward position+petrified face. 12000ft above ground. Freefall! Mind went blank but still can smile. Not bad. Mind-expression disorder. Haha. I believe the blue patch down there is Lake Taupo, which is supposed to be the one which can fit Singapore.. Looks nothing more than a pond from up there. wooooooo....Reached constant speed. but air pressure was too much to handle. Face distorted.. Face too big got this kind of problem. All the pics i took all super ugly! Waste money! Forcing a smile. It is tough with all that air pressure. I can hardly move my arms actually. Should have worn shades to hide my small eyes. Maybe it wouldnt look so ugly. Haha..Above the clouds!Parachute out! dramatic decrease in falling pace. Face back to normal. Slowly admire the scenery. Back on ground. Can see all of us are super excited to be alive. It was an awesome experience! I'm so glad I did it! Proud of myself.. Didnt think I will skydive. It was another impulsive decision. Only regret is never do much poses up in the sky to the camera. Haiyah. Waste money! SHould do super alot of pose to make my money worth. Expensive but forget it. Shall transfer the money back to my dad and take it as NUS sponsored. Thanks NUS! 2nd batch going off! Their plane is waiting. Hair looked horrendous after taking the head gear off.

Jing and me!

Skydiving is FUN!

Highly Recommended!

Wasnt as scary as I imagined because all I could do was to fall out of the plane with the instructor. He dont move I cant even move. Haha.. Tan Xiang Ru! Time to look at me in a different light! I told you I will do all that!

Injury from skydiving. Some minor abrasion on the neck.

Went to Huka Falls after that. It was BEAUTIFUL! Look at the colours! Like photoshopped! Love this picture. Look like postcard. Kayakers braving the strong currents. All the on-lookers cheered them on. Highly dangerous! Upstream. Peaceful part of the falls. Everybody!

Spotted this along the way and had to take a picture of it. This is for you NANA!

Its a spongebob van!

Thats all for my exciting weekend. This weekend stayed in to do assignments but ended up watching slamdunk half the time. Haha.. I still like my Hisashi Mitsui best! Handsome~~ ^^

Day 3!

Itinerary highlights: Waiotapu, Zorb,Tiki Lodge, Lake Taupo

1st destination of the day is Waiotapu, or, if u prefer, thermal wonderland. According to the brochure, Wai-O-Tapu meants sacred waters. It is basically this hydrothermal place that is sulphur loaded. Of course there are other minerals in there but the smell of sulphur is overpowering!

Main attraction there is the Lady Knox Geyser which will shoot up water up to 20m high at 10.15 daily. Imagined it to be a natural phenomenon and was pretty impressed by its punctuality. How come some geyser will erupt at 10.15am everyday???

Got there early, so took some pictures to entertain ourselves a little. As we waited, we started to think if some guy will just come out and press and button and the eruption begins. Will be SO anti-climax. I can imagine someone saying "Hey guys, thanks for coming, I'll just have to press a button right there..." Haha maybe people will throw cameras at him.

Anyway at 10.15, some uncle really appeared. Was telling us about the history of this place and threw some bio-degradable substance into the geyser and some water started to spill... Disappointing. I was tricked into thinking it is going to be a natural thing!


Since we're there, we went on a foot trail for explore this thermal wonderland. I should have read the geographical descriptions on the brochure of those different thermal pools. I would have been more impressed with the formations. That day everything is just holes, boiling water/mud, sulphur......

Boiling mud pool

The primrose Terrace

Artist's Palette. Minerals are exposed to our atmosphere and they show themselves in a variety of locations and colours depending on the water levels. There's yellow, green, blue and red!

Camera has problems capturing the colours but colours are quite faint to begin with.

Rainbow Crater. I think... Don't remember the name. I just realise rainbow has 7 letters, just nice for 7 colours. Is it intentional to spell it with 7 letters?

Its bubbling!

Me and Onyx

Look! the branch is silver!

Water in jade green.

There is so much sulphur deposits there that the air is totally infused with sulphur. Staying there for too long makes you a sulphite (Jing, 2008). Haha, referencing. jing said we're becoming a sulphite. I thought it was very creative.

Next up, Zorb! Zorbbing is when you go inside this large ball thing, they'll pump in some water into the ball and then roll you down the hill! It sounds pretty bo liao actually. Haha.. It is like being thrown into a washing machine. Got water all over and you are spinning spinning.... Come some dynamo.

You get the idea...

I believe I'm in that ball.

Did the zorb with Aik Khoon. Thought we will collide into each other while tumbling down but didnt happen. Haha.. It is pretty safe actually. You are just sliding in the ball.

Before the zorb. Everybody looking a little listless. Our zorbbing certificates.

After!

Lesson learnt. Next time you are feeling listless, try tossing yourself into a washing machine. Maybe it'll do the trick. Please tell me if it works.

After that, we drove to Taupo. This is our accomodation at Taupo, called Tiki Lodge. We messed the place up within minutes of arrival. The room is much bigger than Cactus Jack, much to our delight!

To those who think i am wearing too little to the trip. There, I am wearing more now. I am still smart k.. If i know it is going to be cold i'll wear my jeans!Went to catch a sunset at lake taupo. The first thing those travel agency people said about lake taupo was.. " It is the largest lake in NZ and it can fit Singapore in, isnt it amazing?" eeerrrr... yes.

The view was really nice. Sunset mode on the camera orang-ify everything.Explored the place abit and went back to the accomodation. There were limited bathing cubicles so Andrea and me waited for the 2nd round. Chased Ian out to bathe as well so that we can do some girls talk. In the end started discussing about Saddam and Osama. Haha.. Ian was so upset we chased him out just so that we can discuss whether Osama is alive or not. Haha.. Who told you girls' talk is bimbotic? Girls talk can get very political and intellectual. :)