Taupo

Before I start, a nerdy point. Hobbits are lazy - to get from here...


(Hobbiton, where book 1 starts)

to here...


(Mt. Doom, where the main part of the story finishes in book 3)

takes about 3 hours. Why oh why there are 3 books/films and the films are 12 hours long, I'll never know. But I digress...

We're now in New Zealand. After spotting Paris in Sydney airport, we boarded a 'plane to Auckland where we crashed for a night before heading down to Lake Taupo, which is in the middle of the North Island, where Rachel has some family friends.

Taupo is a beautiful place and like the rest of New Zealand seems to have a million and one outdoor adventure activities to do. So for my first adrenaline rush I went and did an aerobatic flight in a glider

Being towed up to altitude. And yes, I got to sit in the front.

Being in the front of the glider means an incredible view, as the canopy is completely clear.

Taupo, Lake Taupo, Mt. Ruapehu (with the snow), Mt. Tongariro and Mt. Ngauruhoe (Mt. Doom)

After some loops and other assorted aerobatics, I flew the glider for a while before we couldn't find any more uplift areas and had to land. Rach and I then went for a drive up Mt. Ruapehu to a mile altitude, which is an active volcano which is threatening to release a lahar down its sides any day now, but most kiwis don't seem that bothered by it!

The following day we went to Rotorua, which is the centre of the thermal activity in NZ and as a consequence everything bubbles, steams and smells of bad eggs! We wandered around a thermal reserve which was interesting and then proceeded to hurtle down a mountainside sitting on little more than tea-trays with wheels (adrenaline activity number 2). The kiwis were trying to tell us they were luges, but I still think they're tea trays. I did manage to get it onto two wheels a number of times...

We're now in Auckland at Rach's bro's place and we're going to explore the area for a few days before flying down to Wellington.

Some stats

Number of races on the tea trays against Rach - 5
Number of races on the tea trays that I won - 5
Number of loops in the glider - 2
Number of 'Lord of the Rings' related things seen - far far too many to count!