Living the Good Life: Taupo Bungy...and Thank You's

Hey!
So we're getting pretty extreme these days! Probably has something to do with the fact that our trip is coming to a close and we are less likely to run out of money now. Before I get into the bungy experience, We'll fill you in on how we got from Motueka (which is near the top of the South Island) to Taupo (in the middle of the North Island).
After we left our Canadian friends, Tristen and Alex we headed east towards the ferry. If you two are reading this, thanks so much for the hospitality at your place, it was great to see you!
We spent the night in the Marlborough Sounds in a little DOC. Such a lovely place, so peaceful.

View from the Queen Charlotte Drive (a very twisty highway that connects Havelock and Picton)

We took the ferry over the next day. It was lovely to take it during daylight hours so we actually got a chance to see something!

Some cows joined us on the ferry! I was quite happy about this. Backstory: there are two ferry companies; Interislander (which has a terrible commercial) and Bluebridge. Interislander was started first, it is a crown-corp. When the NZ farmers wanted to send their stock to and fro, Interislander said no, and the farmer's reply was to create the Bluebridge ferry. We took Interislander over, and as you remember they were delayed and as a result didn't see any of the voyage in the day time. I wanted to support Bluebridge, so we went with them on the way back and I was doubly pleased to see we would be travelling with some bovines.

Views on the ferry

Good-bye Picton.....

.....Hello Wellington!

That night we went out for dinner with Jimmy, one half of our UK couple friends, and stayed at their place. We went out for breakfast with Cal the next morning as they had conflicting work schedules. Work is such a buzz kill! If you two are reading this thanks again so much for your hospitality, we feel so lucky to have met people like you along the way!

From Wellington we headed for Mike and Pip Taylor's place. We only made it about half-way, and stayed at a DOC along the way. When we got to their place the next day Mike was moving sheep:

We headed out on the sea in the boat and had a great old time catching cod and the odd kahawai. We didn't get any pictures (what were we thinking?) so you will have to believe us. Thank you Mike for taking the time out of your day to go out in the boat with us, and to the Taylor's as a whole for your hospitality! On the way to Palmy we stopped at Castlepoint. Even though we have been there before, it is such a beautiful place to be.

We also saw a rather large collection of sheep in someone's yards as we drove by...just had to take a picture!

Like I mentioned we were heading for Palmy. We had Thai with Alex and caught up with her. It was lovely to see her! Palmy, as usual, not much to see there.

Last and certainly not least on our whirl-wind friends trip was Hannah and Rex. We worked with Hannah at Taumarunui Vet and got to know her fiance Rex as well. I was looking forward to this trip very much because Hannah and Rex had a little baby boy on March 5th. His name is Jack and he is incredibly cute. He was pretty well behaved while we were there. Thanks so much guys for putting us up, especially with a new baby in the house!

Ok, let's get to the bungy!

We had it booked for 10 in the morning, which is good because at least I wasn't nervous about it for an entire day. However, I had been apprehensive for days leading up to it. Everything seemed to go smoothly until we were standing right there on the platform. There I was, strapped by the ankles to the cord, Jared by my side. I looked down and said out loud: "I can't do this!" I started freaking out, poor Jared having to deal with me. The bungy workers were also trying to calm me down. It was a Level 6 freak-out. So much for skydiving being the most scared I have been in my life. Looking back. I can't really explain how it happened but the girl counted us down and we both just leaned forward. This was followed by a series of large screams and then a combination of laughing and crying (me, not Jared). The video pretty much sums it up:

Here are a series of pictures too:

The view from the top

I CAN'T DO THIS!

Ok, We did it!

Off

Go!

AaaahH!

The boat picking us up

After getting off the boat we climbed back up the hill and laughed the whole time about how ridiculous I had been, and the fact that we had actually done it! It was quite a rush, definitely more scary than skydiving in the sense that you have to jump yourself, but it is over a lot faster. Who's kidding who, I was terrified for both!

That afternoon we drove out to Aratiatia Dam and watched the dam open and create a rushing river. It was a beautiful vantage point.