Chillin' in Chilly Taupo

Well, the winter has definitely arrived. I sleep in layers:

Layer 1.) long pants and a longsleeved t-shirt
Layer 2.) feather blanket
Layer 3.) duvet #1
Layer 4.) duvet #2

And, to top off my ice cream sundae of coverings, the cherry! A red, hot water bottle that I first use to warm up my toes and once that has been done, I hug it close like a four year old clings to their teddy bear. Only after all of this do I sleep comfortably, cozy and warm. Crazy kiwi’s and their lack of insulation or indoor heating… As I made my oatmeal this morning, I could see my breath in the kitchen! Yep, so go ahead and tell me how you’re having that 80/90 degree weather and the sun is shining bright, but don’t expect me not to get a wee bit jealous! *wink*

Living in Taupo and working, both at the hostel cleaning and at Cybershed, have allowed me to create a bit of a routine. I work just over 40 hours per week at the two places combined, so I keep quite busy. It’s easy to stick around the hostel during the down time, usually during the afternoon between cleaning and work at Cybershed. And, there’s been a bit of a rainy spell here in Taupo for the last week so it’s quite nice to just cozy up under the fuzzy blanket in the DVD lounge and read a book or watch a movie.

A couple weeks ago, I went with one of the other cleaners, Malorie, to Action World! This was literally a world of huge inflatables! The two of us had so much fun and practically had the entire place to ourselves. We swung around on the monkey bars, jumped into the balloon landings, and jump-posed in the air for silly action shots. It was one of the few sunny afternoons we’ve had lately, so it was great to spend it outside jumping around and acting like 8 years olds :-)

Action World is right next to the airport which is where all three of the Taupo Skydiving companies are located. So, I walked over and hung around to watch my friend Lars jump out of a plane! It was so cool to see the divers jump. After a while, I just laid on the ground and watched the plane fly overhead. All of a sudden, you could see a little white dot falling from the plane. Then, POOF! The shoot would open and before you knew it, there were 8-10 colorful parashutes falling from the sky! And the weather was perfect for diving – blue, blue sky and a warm sun. Such a calm and relaxing thing to watch.

It was also fun listening to the jumpers after they landed. The excitement in their voices made it clear that there was still a crapload of adrenaline coarsing through their veins. Just hearing them talk about how amazing the last 7 minutes or so of their life just was makes me that much more pumped to try it out!

Speaking of skydiving, it’s funny how much it’s talked about around the hostel and in Taupo in general. Coming from Raglan where the conversation nearly always turned to surfing, it’s interesting to find that each city has it’s “thing.” I also love learning more about the sport. There are a couple people at my hostel who have either taken the course (Kevin has done nearly 70 jumps already!) or are currently working towards their certificate. They are constantly using terminology that goes straight over my head, so I am consistently asking them questions. It’s fun learning more about the art and technique of skydiving, especially from people who are so enthusiastic about it! I can’t wait to go!!

Last Sunday, Kevin, one of the Blackcurrant long-termers, had the idea to make a Sunday Roast. A great evening of food, laughter, warmth, and wonderful smells. Roasted potatoes, pumpkin, kumara, gravy, mint sauce, yorkshire pudding…wow!! And even a berry pie with ice cream dessert AND dark chocolate mouse made by Malorie. So so so delicious!! It really felt like a family coming together for a big Sunday meal. Ahh, warm fuzzies :-)

And, as of last week, I feel a bit more like an official Taupo community member because…I bought a gym membership! At the local Taupo Events Center fitness suite. It’s about a 20 minute walk from my hostel which isn’t so bad and a perfect thing to do during the cold, rainy winter days in Taupo. The events center is actually a pretty cool place, complete with a huge indoor climbing wall! Just yesterday, it was pissing down rain, so a few of us drove down and, as I worked out in the fitness room, I got to watch my friends climb the rock climbing wall at the same time! I even played on a local volleyball team last Sunday – very impromptu, but it was so much fun getting a chance to play volleyball again! I’m hoping to make it an every Sunday evening thing.

One of the perks of working at Cybershed (and also just living in the close-knit town of Taupo where everybody knows everyone) is getting free stuff! When I had first started at Cybershed, I met Dave, one of the managers at my favorite pub in town, Mulligans, and he offered me a free cruise on the sailboat that he is the skipper for. This past Monday was an absolutely GORGEOUS day – sun and blue sky, one of the few nice days we’ve had in a while - and, because I had the day off, I walked down to the harbor and found Dave to see if he was sailing that afternoon. Turns out there were no other customers, but Dave said he wouldn’t mind going for a sail on the lake anyway. We sailed around Lake Taupo for nearly 2 hours. The mountains were in the backdrop and Mt. Ruapehu had just gotten a fresh covering of snow the night before. It was beautiful! We watched a few sky divers parashute down from the plane – what a perfect day for a skydive. What a perfect day for almost anything outdoors! It was my first time out on the lake as well, and although it wasn’t really that windy, we were still able to put up the sails for a little while. We even had time for hot chocolate and biscuits :-) It was a lovely afternoon on the Lake Taupo. Cheers Dave!

Last Friday marked my one month anniversary of being in Taupo! Gosh, I can’t believe it’s been that long already…it’s gone by so fast! I think especially working at both Cybershed and Blackcurrant for the past 3 weeks have kept things quite busy. And, speaking of working at Blackcurrant, I have accepted an offer from Beth (one of the owners and managers of the hostel) to be a part-time assistant manager for the winter season at the hostel. So, instead of cleaning every morning, I will be working about 3 overnights per week for accommodation (which will be my very own room!) and 4-5 evening shifts. So, I’ll start that job on June 14th and continue until I leave Taupo, I suppose! This also means that I’ll be getting one FULL day off per week between the two jobs so I’m hoping to go skiing a couple times over the winter. Bring on the white fluffy stuff :-9