December 22nd, 2005 - I pee'd on the moon!

After our Waitomo cave experience we headed straight for Taupo, both trying desperately to recover from some sort of cold. All of the transitions from air conditioning to heat followed by the NZ climat weren't a good mix. What started off as being a one night stay in Taupo, ended up being three nights after all was said and done. We started off our adventure by Huka falls, which are a common tourist trap of the region. Maybe its all of our exposure to rivers in Quebec or maybe its the effect of a drought, but the falls weren't very impressive for us. We proceeded to the craters of the moon geothermal park, which was similar to 'Hells Gate' except free. Once again we were blown away by the smell - literally. At the end of a fair bit of walking and with the images of the waterfalls in my head, I proceeded to find some shrubbery and urinate on the moon...! I was careful not to hit any active hot rocks, since I remembered the smell after someone in high school pissed on the rocks in the sauna.
The next day we went Christmas shopping and thankyou gift shopping for our hosts. We had a nice morning poking through the shops, spending money on other people, some of whom we had never even met, but it was all in the spirit of the season. When the rain started to poor down we made an excuse to sit down and went to see 'The lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' in theater. That afternoon we waited to try and get a hold of Jeff, who eventually I was able to contact. We finally got in touch with him, but it was too late to actually meet for a visit and so we planned to get together the following day. Laure and I were supposed to skydive in the morning, but after confirming over the phone, we arrived and it was too windy to fly! Instead, we hopped on the local mini-putt course and waited for an afternoon jump, only to find out the wind was equally strong. We met up with Jeff and Jane and accompanied them to a close family friends of the Middletons, Mike and Chris from a little outside of Taupo. They were super friendly and welcoming and we had a great barbeque New Zealand style. Mike and Chris own a nine hole golf course and a huge farm across the lake, which their son leases and maintains.