Flying

My hostel cancelled the trip to the Tongariro Crossing due to the weather forecast. I was frustrated to say the least – I had set aside one day only to do the hike and now it was a no-go. I thought about rearranging my travel schedule but that involved too many factors so I chalked it up to bad luck. Perhaps it’s a blessing in disguise. Because of my caving adventure in Waitomo, I’m still missing chunks of skin from my ankles (see right – and that’s after a week already) and just the pressure from my hiking boots was painful. I’m sure I would have been crying after 10 hours of hiking in them. However, I am annoyed that I woke up at 6am for no reason, and I wasted money on power water and trail mix at the store. The power water, I’m sure I’ll drink, though I generally dislike heavily flavored sports waters. The trail mix, however, will probably go in the garbage. On second inspection, it’s just peanuts, the worst nut ever, and raisins. It said “Nuts & Raisins” on the package, implying a variety of nuts. It’s false advertising. Had it been called “PEAnuts & Raisins,” I wouldn’t have bought it.

Instead of the hike, I spent the day indoors climbing on the climbing wall with a few friends that I met at the hostel, which kept me occupied for hours. There wasn’t much to do in Turangi other than the Tongariro Crossing, so my options were a bit limited. It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be and a great workout. I woke up with sore back muscles the next day.

Yesterday, I drove to Taupo with a few travel friends I met in Turangi. It was nice to have travel companions after so many lonely drives all over New Zealand. I went skydiving with my friend Wayne at Taupo Tandem Skydiving. I dropped from 12,000 feet over Lake Taupo, free-falling for 45 seconds before JK, my tandem partner, released the parachute. Once you’re strapped to your tandem master, there’s no turning back whether you want to or not. They just throw themselves out of the plane with you strapped on. It was an exhilarating experience with fantastic views of cobalt water and snow-capped mountains, but to tell the truth, I wasn’t scared or nervous in the least. I don’t know if my tiredness from lack of sleep the night before numbed my senses, but I just enjoyed the ride all the way down without a single heart palpitation. I think I was more intrigued by the experience than frightened. It’s something I would definitely do again, if money weren’t an issue, and something I would recommend to try at least once, just to feel the wind on your face and enjoy for a few seconds what it feels like to fly.