Gaga over Taupo

We fell in love with Taupo almost at first sight. It was such a lovely town even the small bush on the pavement of the bus stop looked nice to me. After gathering enough information and most importantly, a Taupo town map, from the i-site, we started looking for backpackers to check in. We settled in Go Global Backpackers. This time we went for 2 dorm beds and was given a 4-bed dorm all by ourselves. Initially we planned to stay over night and go for sky diving the next morning, then to start our journey to South island. However we liked the little town so much we decided to extend another day.

Here's a useful tip for you: Unless budget isn't a concern at all or if you absolutely couldn't put up with staying with strangers, go for dorm instead of twin or double room because it's cheaper, and often you might have the room by yourselves when no others check in.

crystal clear water at Lake Taupo

a perfect dandelion - so perfect it nearly took my breath away (literalily) trying to blow away its spores

After checking in, we went out to explore the town, with the mission to book ourselves tandem sky dive for tomorrow. There are 3 companies operating sky-diving in Taupo, and the rates were pretty much the same except some minor difference such as Skydive Taupo charging $1 more compared to the other 2 operators but the free transport provided was limo ride; or the group discount was only available with Taupo Tandem Skydiving for minimum 5 persons in a group with $10 off each person. Taupo also has the cheapest skydiving rate in the world. The cost of 12k ft dive was $220 compared to average $250++ in other places in NZ and god-knows how much elsewhere! Also, NZ is the only country that has 15k ft dive as 12k ft is the limit in any other place in world.

Opposite our backpackers was a nice park. The weather was so nice we were in shorts and t-shirts. And for some unknown reason, we acted like 2 crazy tourists.

a very excited yd with a giant pimple near his left nostril, so excited the pimple looked as if it's going to explode any second

and I just couldn't stop swearing (the Holy Cow was in fact a local bar, aren't them kiwi funny?)

i wasn't sure if he was trying to act kiwi (the bird) or cute, or both

this was only 1 of the many star jump shots, i did so many times i almost pulled my inner tight muscles. thanks bro!

and when it's my turn to revange, i made him jump over the dirt pile again and again....

and he finally couldn't stand any longer and decided to take a massive dump!

the begins of our never-ending shadow fight throughout the journey

and see how i kicked his shodow ass! sisters rule!!!

After we regained our sanity once again, we came to a 'thinkers and traders gypsie travellers market'. There, we met a couple of kind and friendly folks, DJ and her dog, midnight, and lovely lady Melissa. DJ even offered us to ride along with them as they were leaving and heading north. Too bad we were heading south instead.

meet DJ and midnight

Melissa, who was kind enough to teach me one of her stunts

it was harder than it looked, ok!

a gypsie girl playing some nice tunes

and this cute little camper truck with witty plate that said 'Push Me i'm a bit slow'

some kiwis playing football (or soccer as they called it) on the field against the setting sun

And later that night, we had our very first proper, sumptious dinner at JJ's, a local restaurant. The lamb rump was sooooooooooooooooooooooo good and so were the beer and wine

delicious steak and lamb rump

local beer and wine

beer tasting.... the result: one happy boozer