I am in Wellington!

 
 
 
 
The last few days have been very very busy. I woke up yesterday morning at lake Taupo and had no idea what the day was going to look like. I decided to go get a big breakfast, seeing as I hadn’t eaten much since my flight. Mike at the hostel referred me to a place called “coffee plius” with a discount from the hostel I got a large breakfast of eggs, sausage, toast, hash browns, bacon, and orange juice for only 5 bucks with the discount from the hostel. After that I headed over to the city information center to see what I should do in the town. I was only planning on staying the afternoon but I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss out on anything. I knew I wanted to go bungy jumping while I was there because taupo has the highest water touch bungy in New Zealand. So around noon I decided to go for it. It was amazing or as they say here “brilliant” (although I am sure some of you reading this might not thing bungy jumping is brilliant at all… but in fact a very bad idea). I decided for the jump that I wanted my body to go half way in the water and sure enough I told them that and that’s exactly what happened (I have a video of it that I will post once I am back in the states). After that I went over to the shores of lake Taupo and spent a while taking photos and journaling. Then around 2pm I decided to head down towards Wellington. The country side between Taupo and Wellington wasn’t that exciting but Mt Tongariro (pictured) and Mt Ngauruhoe were quite spectacular. Once I arrived in Wellington I went to Lower Hutt and stayed the night with Ian Collins parents Gram and Denise. I am staying with them tonight as well and they have been wonderful to stay with. Today Gram gave me a tour of Wellington and Denise made us a delicious dinner. Today I was also able to stop by and visit with the Thomson’s, a family that I met while working at Island Lake. I hadn’t seen them in almost eight years so it was great to see them. Tonight I am just taking it easy and getting ready to head over to the South Island in the morning. I’ll try to write soon and fill you all in on more of the details as I have time (and internet). I love and miss you all!

I’ve also posted a new map web photo gallery with the last 2 days of travel (view the photos zoomed in on the map and zoomed out... especially the photos of Mts). Enjoy! (Susie I will try to get some good hostel pictures tomorrow night!)