Boat-loads of fun on Taupo waters

Once upon a time, I was feeling adventurous :-) Haha, who am I kidding, I’m nearly always feeling adventurous!! But, on this particular day, I had a jet boat ride booked with Rapids Jet, a company located about 12 miles out of the centre of Taupo. So, I borrowed my friends bike and pedaled through the beautiful, foggy, farm-filled hills of Taupo till I reached the stomping grounds of Rapids Jet.

The jetboat ride quite fun! This time, I was smart and wore my cozy wool hat, so I was much warmer. It was an overcast day, so it was bit chillier than usual. Our driver was fun and easygoing and brought the whole lot of us to the Aratiatia Rapids. At the start of the 35 minute ride, the rapids were mostly just rocks with a bit of water spouting through. But, at the end, after the dam had been opened wide, there was LOADS of water gushing over the rapids. You couldn’t even see the rocks anymore! That was pretty cool.



The jet boat did lots of spins and bumped us up and down the pristine Waikato River. It was fun bouncing along the rapids and gripping on to the heated hand rails! After that wicked ride, it was time for me to jump back on my bike and cruise (well, more like huff and puff – I had to go up a MASSIVE hill!!) my way back to Blackcurrant Backpackers.

The next day, my friend Hannah and I took a lovely walk from town to 5 Mile Beach (which was, actually, five miles out of town!) and back. This walk, also known as the “Great Lake Walk” was on my Must Do in Taupo list. Great Lake Walk – check!

Then, on a beautifully blue Sunday morning, my friend Marcus and I went for a sail on the Barbary – my third time on the boat! It was such a lovely day, but with hardly any wind. But there were others on the boat this time as well, so we motored/sailed out to the Maori Carvings which I had been wanting to see for ages!


The Maori Rock Carvings were done as a gift from the Maori people and have become one of Taupo’s many cultural attractions. The carvings are only accessible by boat, so it was very neat to be aboard the Barbary with views of the magnificant mountains over Lake Taupo and the Mine Bay cliff carvings. What a lovely and peaceful way to spend a Sunday morning!

*Photo Links*

A Wickedly Rapid Ride
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2156255&id=185002768&l=1ab13f0d1e

A Sail to the Maori Carvings
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2157551&id=185002768&l=0355f317dc

Trekking in Taupo
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2157597&id=185002768&l=8e74666f39

A Close Encounter with the Kiwi Whisperer

First off, congrats to Spain for the World Cup win! We had some die hard and dedicated fans at Blackcurrant Backpackers who woke up at 6:30 in the morning to watch the football (erm, soccer…) game. I was happy to sleep in and catch the last 5 minutes when Spain scored the winning, and only, goal! Congrats :-) Holland – there’s always next time… ;-)

For my brief time off this week, I decided to head to Rotorua with my new Swiss friend, Marcus, (yep, third time to Rotorua! I just can’t stay away apparently!) where we visited a Maori Village called Matai and enjoyed a very touristy, albeit relatively authentic Maori cultural evening!

As part of the Maori cultural event, we were ushered into an outdoor theater to watch a Maori show. There were women and men clad in traditional Maori dress – which, during the winter, doesn’t cover much… And, they were all barefoot! Crazy… But, the show itself was really interesting. We learn several Maori words and phrases, they explained some of the rituals of the Maori culture, the weapons used, instruments, and games played. The women did an incredible rhythmic dance with the Pui and the men danced a Huka which is a dance done to intimidate an enemy before a fight. Both are SO COOL!! Definitely, my favorite part of Maori culture. I could watch it for hours. But, the dances, especially the Huka, are filled with so much energy, passion, and sweat that the performers are completely exhausted afterwards. They really put everything they have into the dance – slapping their chests and thighs, their eyes bulging and their tongues plastered to their chin and coming to a sharpened point. It is certainly an intimidating dance! In New Zealand Rugby, the NZ team (such as the “All Blacks”) perform the Huka before the start of the game. I honestly think it might give them a bit of an edge over their competitor because of the wild and threatening manner in which they perform the dance. I wouldn’t want to fight one of them after seeing that! Plus, most of the Maori men are BIG. And I mean BIG in every sense of the word. Really, really big…

Another highlight of the evening was visiting the after-dark Kiwi Sanctuary at Rainbow Springs. This was the first time I had ever seen a real live Kiwi bird! They are much bigger then I thought they would be! Like, the size (and kinda the shape) of a rugby ball. And, they are so cute! Long, thin beaks and fat, fluffy, brown bodies. And big feet, like a chicken! I tried taking a few photos, but since it was so dark, they didn’t turn out much at all.

Most of our group had left the Kiwi Sanctuary and have moved on for the rest of the tour, but Marcus, me, and this other dude had stayed back to watch this one particular Kiwi a bit longer. It was so close I could have touched it! Then, one of the Kiwi Keepers came in to the sanctuary and said he’d try to encourage the Kiwi into the light so we could take a better picture. Amazingly, the Kiwi responded to this Keeper so easily! He literally followed him to the other side of the pen when the Keeper called his name. When the man came back into the sanctuary, I looked at him in awe and asked, “How did you do that!? That was incredible!” At this point, the Kiwi was actually nuzzling the Keeper’s hand, and he was petting the Kiwi back. Now, this might not sound too remarkable, but the Keeper went on to tell us that this particular Kiwi had chosen him as his Keeper and was the only Kiwi bird that they knew of who would allow human contact. And the Keeper was the only person the Kiwi would be pet by! A pretty big honor for the Keeper, that’s for sure. I dubbed the Keeper “The Kiwi Whisperer” because of his unique talent. So, besides just glimpsing the Kiwi’s we got to witness something pretty remarkable! So cool!!

On the route back to Taupo from Rotorua, Marcus and I visited Wai-O-Taou Thermal Wonderland, a national park of New Zealand. There are several steaming pools and incredibly vibrant colors that the different organic minerals produce. The variation amongst the sulphur pools, rocks, and water is really impressive! And, of course, there is so much to photograph! So, Marcus and I (two lovers of photography) had a grand time snapping photos around every corner. :-)

Getting High in the Sky

It’s hard to come by days that are as awesome as today. To start, the weather was beautiful – blue skies speckled with clouds and lots of sunshine. My friend Marcus from Switzerland has been staying at Blackcurrant for the past couple days and had picked today to do his skydive! Lucky for him, the weather very much cooperated, and I was so excited that he was going to jump! As I wasn’t working, I decided to tag along to the Drop Zone with him, and our friend and fellow Blackcurrant cleaner, Hannah, decided to come as well to watch with me.

When we arrived at the Taupo Tandem Skydiving, I was immediately asked by my friend Brad (who works as a manager and tandem master at TTS) if I was skydiving. Correction, I wasn’t so much ASKED if I was going to do a skydive, I was more so TOLD that I was doing a skydive. I had actually considered it earlier in the day because it really was ideal weather for a skydive. I joked with Brad asking him if it would cost more to get him as my tandem master for the jump and he replied with a big grin and said, “You can get the skydive for free, but it costs $100 to jump with me!” Turned out, Brad wasn’t kidding… It didn’t take much to convince me past that point! I looked over at Marcus and was like, “Oh my gosh, I’m going again!!!!” Immediately, I had butterflies in my tummy and all the excitement and nervousness of my first dive came flooding back – I couldn’t believe I was going again!

And, that’s the story of how I came to do my second skydive from 15,000 ft and be strapped to the front of my #1 Favorite Tandem Master, Brad Rock :-D Not surprisingly, I was much more present during the second skydive. But, I was just as excited and smiley as I was the first time!! In the plane, Brad pointed out that we could see both the east and west coasts of New Zealand, Lake Rotorua, and the Coromandel Penisula. It was really cool to see the clouds in the sky as well! It really creates a different, more textured view of Taupo and the surrounding areas. Beautiful.

Brad and I were the last tandem to jump out of the plane. As we sat, perched at the edge of the plane with our legs dangling 15,000 ft above the ground, Brad goes, “You ready!?!” YES!!!! I felt a slight tip out of the plane and next thing I knew he pulled back a bit and goes, “No, I can’t! I’m too nervous!!” *!!!* I was like, Brad you bugger!! Seriously, if I could have reached around and popped him one, I would have but those darn harnesses just don’t make it easy! Just sitting there, about ready to jump out of the plane is a thrill in and of itself!! It's one of my favorite parts!! Before I knew it, my head was tilted back and out we went!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOW. The freefall was so awesome!!! And, I actually remember it!! Brad and I did lots of spins, and I played around with my arms trying to maneuver them against the full force of the rushing air. It makes such a difference when your brain actually keeps up to speed with your body. ;-) About 5 seconds before Brad pulled the shoot, he pointed to a cloud and I glimpsed a circle rainbow! Apparently, our shadow made that! Where’s my camera when you need it???

The glide down was so nice as well. The views are just so spectacular from way up there! The shoot gets pulled at 5,000 ft so we still had quite a ways to sail. Brad goes, “Welcome to my office.” Definitely a job to envy.

Brad let me take control of the parachute for a while as well! So we did some super fast turns and some pause drifting in the air. That is a bizarre feeling to almost come to a stop in mid air! I didn’t expect to stop moving like we did, and the first time it happened, Brad goes, “Uh oh.” Uh oh is not a phrase I want to hear 3,000 feet in the air!! Sheesh ;-)

We did a standing landing verses a slid-in which was cool! I gave Brad a BIG hug for such an awesome and very entertaining dive! What an fantastic second jump!! There’s no denying it…I’m hooked. Brad, you have such a badass job!! Thanks a million!!! :-D

A Tipsy Tour of Hawkes Bay

Despite the chilling temperatures in Taupo, I’ve been feeling more and more comfortable in this tourist trap town as the weeks of my work-stay here continue to add up. This winter, I am getting a pleasant mix of the local and backpacker feel to the area, the people, and Taupo’s many attractions!

Three weeks ago, I was offered a thrilling ride on the Huka Falls Jet Boat! The 30 minute speed-boat ride brings you all the way to the Aratiatia Dam and then back up river to a stunning, close up view of Huka Falls. Lots of spins and quick maneuvers to avoid hitting trees sticking up out of the water. I was pretty soaked by the end of it and my head had turned into an icebox. Luckily, my hands were just fine because the handrails on the jetboat are heated! Brilliant :-)

A major highlight of the last few weeks was a photoshoot that I did with my friend and Blackcurrant neighbor, Jana. We went to the back alley-way behind Cybershed and found some quirky, unusual, and trashy spots to shoot at. Jana has great vision with regards to photography and really has a good eye for picking out unlikely photo shoot settings. I had a blast posing and jumping and working on my “come hither” eyes ;-) And, with great creative direction from Jana, we were able to create some really stunning photos!

Later in the week, I was able to go on another sailboat ride with my good friend, Barbary Dave! I seem to time my visits to the Barbary Sailboat just right, as I have gotten to do two charters with Dave without any other customers aboard. And, on this particular day, we actually had some wind to sail with – strong wind! So, once the sails were up, we really got cruising. The boat would tilt sideways to where the edge of the boat was only about a foot or so away from the water. Dave would warn me ahead of time when a stronger gust of wind was coming, but it still got my heart pounding when the boat tilted so much. He even taught me how to predict the big winds – the water from a distance would be different colors and the darker color meant stronger winds. Kinda cool! I also got to meet two of the Barbary’s frequent sailors – ducks! They both landed right on the boat too. Dave gave me some cookies to feed them and one of them even took the cookie bits right out of my hand. They were so cute :-)

I’ve recently gotten into a bit of a creative streak these last few weeks as well. It started out by making a “Thank You” card with magazine cutouts. I had wanted to thank Taupo Tandem Skydiving for such an incredible skydive experience and, thus, made them a card to show them my sky-high appreciation! And, besides feeling artsy, I have started singing a bit at the Sunday Jam Sessions at Mulligan’s Pub! A fun group of locals get together and jam out with guitars and harmonicas and serenade the pub with some good classic pub tunes. It was fun getting a chance to sing with the other jammers!

I ended up with two days off from both Cybershed and Blackcurrant two weeks ago and made an impromptu trip to Napier which is located on the east coast of the North Island, about a 2 hour drive from Taupo. It was such a lovely escape! My highlight of this mini vaca was the wine/chocolate/cider/beer tour that I did around Hawkes Bay via bicycle! I started out around 9:30 in the morning and 8 tastings of wine from the Mission Estate Winery, 1 nibble of dark chocolate from the Chocolate Shop, 3 glasses of cider & 2 glasses of beer from the Filter Room, and 30 kms later, I had thoroughly enjoyed my day! It’s easy to see why Hawkes Bay is known for their wine. There are vineyards everywhere and the wine stuff doesn’t taste half bad either ;-) A wine tour is definitely a must-do for visitors to Napier – add on the chocolate, beer, and cider tastings as well, and you’ve got the good stuff covered!



And, before I forget, a belated Happy 4th of July!! It was definitely odd not watching fireworks to celebrate the 4th. But, as it was Canada Day 3 days prior, myself and a few of the backpackers at Blackcurrant sang our countries respective national anthems and saluted our countries with a glass of vino :-)