Things just get better and better...not!

Looking up the Waikato river
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We left Rotorua today for Taupo, skydiving capital of the north island.  Its also supposed to be the cheapest in New Zealand.  I was so excited I couldn't contain myself.  When we went to get on the bus however, Stray had overbooked it by 15 people and the bus was broken into the night before, taking all the drivers papers and cell phone etc, so he didn't even have a manifest to see who was actually on the bus and who wasn't.  We were to leave at 1 pm, but didn't actually leave until 3:30 by the time he got everything sorted out.  Ended up that he was going to have to make 2 trips.  Poor guy.

Looking down the Waikato river towards the falls
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So because we left late and still had to make a few stops on the way (to Huka Falls,which yes was very nice and the easiest walk I've done in NZ) We didn't get into Taupo until 6 pm and therefore I missed sky diving today :(

dead bodies

Now before I go on, let me tell you a little story about Huka Falls.  This waterfall is not very big at all.  However when you're walking down the trail you can hear it and are expecting a huge waterfall.  When you get to it, its a dinky little thing but very powerful.  They say that the amount of water that goes over it is about 300 000 litres per second.  The morbid story is that this is the place that people come to kill themselves or throw dead bodies into the water.  When you see the pictures, you can see how powerful it  is.

Huka Falls. No dead bodies today.
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Lisa and I decided to stay in Taupo for 2 days for 2 reasons.  The first reason being that the bus was so incredibly small (25 seater) and it was filled to the max with no air conditioning (broken) on what had to be the hottest day of the trip (I really thought I was going to pass out from heat stroke) and the other reason being that we both missed skydiving today so we're going to try again tomorrow.

When we finally made it to the hostel, it wasn't all it was cracked up to be, but it was nicer then Hot Rocks in Rotorua.  We can manage 2 days.

We walked around Taupo...how exciting (note sarcasm).  I think I like Rotorua better as at least there are parks you can go to, or actual stores to shop in (not that I've been doing a lot of shopping but its nice to browse).  Taupo is...well just Taupo.  What you see is what you get.  Tomorrow I think I'll explore it further after sky diving.  There has got to be something more here.

Till next time,

Roseanna