And awaaaay we go!

YIKES!!!

That's right folks, I have now achieved both my "adventure goals" for New Zealand, that being jumping off a platform with nothing but a rubber band strapped around my ankles, and now I have lept out of a plane with nothing but a piece of fabric and a tiny dwarf strapped to my back. I have to say, though, that it was one hell of a ride. Mind you, it DID sort of feel like we were being cattle-herded into the plane... There just wasn't that personal feeling about it. Oh well. Can't have everything in our "adventure goals", can we?

So Taupo was nice, and now I'm in the rotting egg hell of Rotorua. Actually, the smell isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Rotorua is the spiritual centre of the Maori Kingdom (or so I've been told to tell everyone), and it's also a major hotspot for geothermal activity. This means that the town has a faint odour of sulphur constantly hovering over it. Luckily that managed to mask my own smell (I had a bit of geothermal activity myself last night!)...

This afternoon we're off to a place called Mount Maunganui, which is a popular coastal resort town. The hostel I'm staying at there is giving me a free meal tonight, which I'm really looking forward to. Should be good...