Perpetual Peregrination: 2010

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Bungy Jump

I thought I wasn't that scared, but when I watched the video (Adam was smart enough to videotape the video that they make, so we have a copy of it)I can hear that I screamed the whole way down. It was quite a head rush. Less peaceful than skydiving. I hope through the pictures you can see how beautiful the setting is - white cliffs, bright blue water...and a plank. Adam told me ahead of time that they would give me a harness so when they just strapped in my ankles and told me to jump I gave them a laugh by asking "That's it?"
Not sure if you can tell, but looking down from there it is quite high. I just kept telling myself to "jump, jump, jump". Then after I jumped I thought "open your eyes, open your eyes".

Craters of the Moon, Hot Waterfalls

The eastern part of the north island is rife with geothermal activity. Since it is nearly winter there the hot waterfalls, hot springs, and steaming mountains were our favorite places. The plopping mud pools are eerie and you can't help but think of evil creatures oozing up from the deep bubbling caves. The "Craters of the Moon" was the first attraction that we actually paid to visit (5$) - the North Island in the off season is almost deserted so you can visit many of the sites for free that you would have to pay for during the busy summer months. We had the island to ourselves!
The geothermal activity also causes the the water to glow bright greens and blues and the rocks are bright purples and oranges. The pictures don't do ANY of the scenery justice.