adreNaline junkieZ

Written by Amanda White

So, Haka Lodge Taupo has the MOST beautiful view of the lake and mountains beyond. Waking up to those views this morning made the early morning not bad at all. 

Our speaker today was Skydive Taupo, and from the pink plane and cat named Sky, to Gemma’s personable approach and the salesman named Disco, we were absolutely sold. Learning about the importance of relationships in sales, and crisis management was SO interesting. I think we’ve all been very impressed with the breadth of knowledge the speakers have shared so far!

Of course we couldn’t leave without a bit of fun, and Kelsi, Lyssa, and Tori thought, “You know what? It’s Thursday—let’s jump out of a plane today.” (I mean, maybe they thought more thoughts than that, but one way or another they signed up to skydive…) It was a beautiful morning, and what more lovely scenery to skydive above than Lake Taupo?! Everyone else got to watch and had a good laugh watching the parachutes grow from tiny specks (and I mean TINY specks—I literally ran into Anna watching them come down. Like, they were DISTRACTINGLY TINY specks. But we had a good laugh about it. Also, see if you can see the tiny specks in the blue picture--Lyssa and Tori are in it *somewhere*) until they all landed safely. They loved it and seemed exhilarated—no regrets.

After a quick lunch, it was time to rush for more adrenaline with bungee jumping! Even more NEIP-ers jumped or swung, and it was so fun to hear their joyful screams and see their faces afterwards. (Shoutout to Tori for skydiving AND bungee jumping—no day will quite compare to this one!) We also visited the lovely Huka Falls today, and Stacy shared some stories about just how incredible and powerful they are. They were stunning. Those who didn’t bungee today took an hour-long hike along the Waitomo River, and got to enjoy some beautiful NZ nature. There was so much peace and beauty; while I wanted to jump off something really high, I felt very centered and energized just breathing the oxygen, provided courtesy of Taupo flora. A+ stuff.

We ended the day with hot springs, and while our (at least my) scientific understanding of them may be slight, our enjoyment of them was not. The springs were relaxing and exhilarating, though in a rather different way from the springs. Kudos once again go to Stacy for knowing exactly where the prime spots in New Zealand are.

Tomorrow, on to good old Wellington and maybe some volcanoes too. Friday should be erupting with fun…