Taupo: Lake Tour

Hey everyone,
More on Lake Taupo! For the second day of our trip, we decided to see the Māori carvings located nearby. They were done in the 1970's using traditional tools and techniques, and are only viewable by boat (or maybe some kind of jetpack device).
They are quite impressive, and the trip over was pleasant and sunny. We all had fun chatting and drinking copious amounts of complimentary tea in the pseudo-galley/bar downstairs. There was also a pigeon launcher on the back of the boat? I think we might have signed up for the wrong scenic cruise... shotguns and boats with bars ALWAYS mix well (that would also be about as close as I'll ever be to becoming a pirate, which would be sweet).
I was, of course, being my usual annoying self and taking lots of photos of people while they were trying in vain to have an unfettered conversation for a few moments. And true to form, I also decided to muck with said photos by tone-mapping them... HDR post-editing is turning out to be quite addictive for me...

Our cameras and bladders sufficiently filled with photos and tea, respectively, we headed back to shore and made our way to the Champagne Baths a short drive away. I'm going to leave that one for the next post.

Take care until then faithful reader(s?),

--David

Taupo: Skydiving & Huka Falls

Ciao all,

So this is the first installment of our Taupo trip we happened to do on my birthday. We got our rental car the morning of my 21st (which let us get cheaper insurance!) and hit the road for Taupo. On the way I had a second opportunity to stop in Tirau, and got a picture with Alyse with the giant dog. It seemed to really like Alyse.
Onward and Southward, we got to downtown Taupo after 5 hours of driving (it was to be trial by fire for me with the whole driving on the left thing) and checked in to the skydiving office.
It wasn't long before we were suiting up, watching a surprisingly brief safety video while the instructor was talking to us about something else, and hopping into the plane. The plane ride was pretty short, as plane rides go, and best of all we didn't have to sit through the landing! (Landings make me nervous)
I watched as the instructors sitting behind each of us passed around oxygen tubes to each other and started 'sipping' on them. We had opted for the 15,000ft drop, and the air is a little thin up there. I was a little biffed though when we didn't get any... Oxygen, really in any business except maybe coffin making, seems like the type of thing you want the client to have enough of.
Nevertheless, we were all lucid enough to jump out of a plane, so I guess it worked out okay.
Skydiving is, in a word, incredible. Those of you who have done it know you don't really see the ground rushing up at you; it's just really windy for about a minute and then the chute opens. I think I like the chute ride the best, because the instructors let us control it for a bit, tugging hard left or right to go into tight helices. To my surprise, we landed on our feet, and ever since that point I've been wanting to go again.
After we landed we got to see our photos, most of which I posted above. The thing I like most about them is seeing my shoes... looking at their irrelevance there reminds me of how disconnected you are from the earth at that point, and how rare that is.

I know it's a little anticlimactic, but I also want to throw in the rest of the day in this post, and I like the photos.
After skydiving, still beset with adrenaline and awe, we drove to Huka Falls outside town.



They were quite impressive, and it was a fun way to cool down a bit after the craziness of the morning. Alyse, Kelly, and I hung out in the parking lot while the rest of the group did a short hike. Since I had been doing all the driving Alyse and Kelly took turns driving around in circles while I took pictures set to a slow shutter speed to make our amazingly bad ass minivan look faster.

Altogether, a pretty wacky day, not soon to be forgotten.

Okay, that should do it for today.

See y'all later!

--David

Horses!

Kia Ora all!

Phew! Alyse and I just got back from the South Island (now officially recognized by its Māori name, Te Wai Pounamu, as well), and I have to study for a final I have tomorrow after this.
Ergo, short post this time.
While we were on the Coromandel, we found a ranch that did horse riding tours. We were picked up at our hostel, drove over to the ranch, and saddled up. It was an interesting challenge to take pictures with my SLR while trying to steer the horse.... some of the photos are a little shaky as a result and didn't make it to the internet. The process of taking pictures was made even more difficult by my horse's propensity to bite the butt of the horse in front of it – I had very little time to see it coming each time, and Alyse's horse was a little irked by the end of the ride.
The scenery was, of course, spectacular. I tried to get a few shots that would do justice to the views we had and of all the various farm animals we passed (you'll note the Volkswagon-sized hogs in the background of a couple).
It looked very near rain all day, but except for a couple drops the weather was kind enough to hold off its downpour (there was definitely a downpour) until we got back inside the hostel.
Horses are always fun, so it made for a pretty awesome day. Coromandel remains one of the prettier places I've been.

Okay, that's it for now.

Cheers!

--David