Thursday, August 7th 2003 – Day 170
I was up at 8.00am and cooked my breakfast in the hostel. I walked down to the town Museum which is a fine building with nice gardens which include the very English bowling lawns. I decided to go to Taupo today. I checked out the times and bought a ticket for 11.25. It is a one hour journey and the ticket cost 25 AUS.
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Click on the picture to see it in its original size
Rotorua – New Zealand – Hot Spa outside the bus station (07-08-2003)
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Click on the picture to see it in its original size
Rotorua – New Zealand – Government Gardens (07-08-2003)
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Click on the picture to see it in its original size
Rotorua – New Zealand – Government Gardens. You an se steam from a thermal vent in the background. (07-08-2003)
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Click on the picture to see it in its original size
Rotorua – New Zealand – Government Gardens (07-08-2003)
I arrived there at 12.25pm and walked to my chosen hostel. All the buses go to areas in the city centre which is handy. My chosen hostel was only 5 minutes away and was called Taupo Central Backpackers.. They have a bar on the top floor. It was 23 AUS for a 4 bedroom dorm with ensuite. It was a pretty grungy room and the bunk beds looked likely to fall apart. There were metal frame ones and they bloody noisy. The kitchen was tiny and the facilities minimum. I would not recommend this hostel.
Anyway I checked out the attractions at the tourist office and found that a company called Rock N Ropes had a half day activity programme starting at 1.45pm. I could not find a working phone (must have checked 6) to ring and reserve a seat on their shuttle bus. The phones were off line all day. (postnte – i have learned that half of all pay phones in the whole country are offline and may not be back for a week. This is unusual for a 1st world country. There would be uproar in Ireland if this happened).
I was dead lucky and waited in the main street and saw their mini bus. I waved him down and asked whether I could come. He rang base and said yes. We collected three other English girls from a hostel. They were touring NZ with KIWI Experience.
The location is 15 minutes out of town. The Half Day involves a progression of seven, sometimes eight exhilarating High Ropes Course activities. The Half Day is by far the most popular option available at Rock n’ Ropes and is rated as one of the top adventure activities available in New Zealand.
An average degree of unfitness and a genuine fear of heights is quite acceptable. Hesitant participants are slowly worked up to the height, this builds confidence and allows participants to complete activities which many think initially would not be possible. The tremendous sense of personal achievement, camaraderie, fun and enjoyment experienced often far exceeds participants expectations.
It was 59 AUS for the half day. Their WWW is here. It was a great day. Even though I have skydived, bungeed etc. I hate heights. I hate the idea of falling. That’s why I like to face those fears through adventure sports. This was scarier than bungee etc. We climbed 7 different situations.
They included
Two Wire Bridge
Approximately 10 meters above the ground, you simply traverse along two wires. A great ropes course starter.
Burma Bridge
After climbing the pole you simply stroll across the cable while holding on to the ropes
Rickety Bridge
With nothing to hold onto, you walk or shuffle across the bridge before repeating the exercise in reverse.
High Log
This one often seems impossible. You walk across the log (and it’s not flat on top) before again reversing back along.
Heebie Jeebie
You traverse along a foot cable using two diagonal ropes for support. Technique is the essence to the success on this one.
Giant Trapeze
The ultimate head trip and a true leap of faith. Climb the 13 metre pole, stand on top (nothing to hold on to) before leaping forward to grab a trapeze two metres out in front of you.
Giant Swing
The Giant Swing is exactly what it says and more.
An experience you won’t forget.
Multi Vine
You’ll love or hate this one. Traverse the foot cable with the aid of just a few dangling vines for support.
They were all hard. I thought I would never do the High Log especially walking backwards but I managed them all even though I was S*^& scared all the time.
My moment of glory came with the Giant Trapeze. Climbing up was easy but then you had to get one knee on top of the pole, then you other foot and the hardest part (which took me a few minutes of focus) was to boost yourself one to a standing position with nothing to hang on to. You then have too look out at a Giant Trapeze and jump (13 metres up) and try and grab it (2 metres away). The two girls before me failed and fell (caught by a rope) but I managed it.
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Click on the picture to see it in its original size
Taupo – New Zealand – Trapeze (06-08-2003)
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Click on the picture to see it in its original size
Taupo – New Zealand – Rock n Ropes (07-08-2003)
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Click on the picture to see it in its original size
Taupo – New Zealand – Rock n Ropes. trapeze. You can see where we had to climb to and jump to. (07-08-2003)
It was 6.00pm by the time we finished and I would recommend it to anyone. Great fun. The town was very quite that night and by 9.00pm there was not a soul or a car on the streets. All the pubs (including the two Irish ones) were empty. I had an early night. The town has a good reputation for tandem skydiving (cheapest in NZ) and touch water bungy jumping.