One big jump...

Wow, only one week ago I was having my last night in Adelaide and so much has happened since!! Let's just start at the very beginning...

So Monday night was Pip and my last night in Adelaide, so after a full weekend of packing our lives back into one suitcase, one carry-on bag and one mailing box, we thought it was time for a bit of fun to finish our time at Flinders. Sarah, Bubu, Laura, and Will joined Pip and me for a lovely Indian dinner close to campus, before we had some people over back at our unit to say goodbye to them and just have one last good random night with them :) The night was random indeed, haha (look on http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=5563&l=513b4&id=1069079796 for photos...) but it was heaps of fun. Very good way to mark the end of our time :) Tuesday was really the end for Pip and me, and after a sad goodbye with Sarah and Laura and a frantic clean-up of our rooms and our general cleaning tasks for the last cleaning inspection we made our way to the airport. Pip's friend Will was nice enough to take us there in his car, so that was awesome. I was so happy Pip was at the airport with me and I didn't have to leave alone!! It was so sad though saying goodbye... Because I've been so busy since I don't think it has fully sunk in yet, but I miss them.

Luckily, I only had a very short flight to Melbourne, so two hours after saying goodbye to Pip I was greeted by my good friend Kyle at Melbourne airport. I sort of felt sorry for Kyle having to put up with a grumpy and tired Carine... I was still in Adelaide with my thoughts at that time. But my short time staying with Kyle was great, it was just what I needed between leaving Adelaide and going off to New Zealand on my own. Among other things, we went into the Dandenongs (I'm ashamed to say it was my first time in the Dandenongs too!!) and went to my friend Chloe's art exhibition in the city, which was very coowl. It's always a great pleasure catching up with Chloe :) And it was just a nice couple of days in Melbourne with Kyle...

Friday morning however, my alarm went off really early and I made my way back to the airport again. This time I was off to Auckland in New Zealand!! Friday was not my day though, coz it started with an almost 4 hour delay of my flight and it had a few other things later on that didn't really go as planned. But I made it to Auckland ok and I was so happy when I was finally in bed and the day was over :) Next morning I immediately set off on my bus trip around beautiful New Zealand. Dutch/NZ bus driver Rik came to pick us up from our hostel and off we went to Rotorua via Waitomo through the rain. As it had been raining lots the few days before in that area too, the caves we were going to visit in Waitomo were closed unfortunately due to flooding. It did mean however that we were in Rotorua earlier than planned, which meant we could do some very necessary food shopping. Now Rotorua is known for its geothermal pools and the sulphur smell in the town is therefore 'interesting' to say the least. Don't think I'd want to live in Rotorua permanently!! In the evening, a few of us went on a tour to Tamaki, a Maori village closeby, where they put on a Maori show for us tourists and made us dinner in the traditional way. It was absolutely awesome, both the show and the food :) The Maori's who danced and sang for us all seemed so passionate about it, it was very impressive :) Loved it!! So a good start to my travels after all...

When I woke up on Sunday morning, I did not yet know that it would be a very special Sunday. Rik picked us up again and we set off to a place called Taupo. The rain had finally eased and we actually got a blue sky, so that was already a good start!! First stop was Wai-O-Tapu, another place with geothermal activity. We went to the largest natural mud pool first and then to a geyser close-by. They helped the geyser a little bit by putting silica in it so the water would come bursting out of it. Even though it wasn't really natural (everything for the tourists...), it sure was a great sight to see!! Next up was the Wai-O-Tapu geothermal park, which was just beautiful. Because of geothermal and volcanic activity, lots of pretty and colourful lakes and landscapes had formed and walking around through the park was just walking from one pretty place to the next :) Very nice!! After that, we set off for the Huku falls which were very impressive. The power of rushing water always amazes me.

However awesome all the above was though, now we get to the really amazing stuff!! In the morning there's always a sheet going around the bus to sign up for activities for that day. Me and 5 others had signed up for a 15,000 ft (almost 5 km) skydive!! So we were picked up from the Huku falls by someone from the skydiving place and driven to the airport. Once there we were briefed about what was about to happen and put into our jumpsuits and harnesses to prepare for our tandem jump. I was teamed up with skydiver Phil. I was so excited once we finally got onto our little plane and set off into the sky. The view from the plane was already amazing. We could see snow-topped mountains and Taupo's massive lake (it's larger than Singapore apparently, however large that is...) and just the beautiful New Zealand scenery. And then we got to 15,000 ft. and I was the first one to jump out of the plane!! I can't describe the feeling just falling through the sky for well over a minute with such beauty beneath you and then gently floating further back to earth on a parachute while taking in the breathtaking views. It was just amazing :D Unfortunately, my body didn't really agree with the jump, so by the time I was back on the ground I was feeling really nauseous, which lasted for the rest of the day. Even went to sleep for a bit in the hostel before I could do anything again, because my body was completely out of whack from the jump. But it was so worth it :D

And now I've just been wandering around in Wellington with Stephanie after another day of driving through beautiful New Zealand. It really is an amazing country and wherever you are, there's always a pretty view of lakes or (snow-topped) mountains or a combination of both :) Today we passed Mt Doom from Lord of the Rings for example, which was pretty coowl. And the people are so nice here, both the ones I'm on the bus with as the New Zealanders we meet. Tomorrow we're taking the ferry to the south island and then I'll be on the south island for probably just under 2 weeks. I'll see how I go :) Just have to be back in Auckland on 3 August for my flight back to Melbourne... Hopefully I'll be able to update you on my travels here in NZ before that though!! Until then, I hope you're all well and enjoying yourselves!!
Love Carine

PS. I can only put on photos of my skydive at the moment. Other Melbourne/NZ photos will follow some other time!!
xx