There was one that would give me 20 $ off the 165 $ jump. Not a bad deal and the 20 $ are worth waiting for a day (or so I thought).
Then we looked at the mountain treks around the place and remembered that the highest mountain range on the North Island with it's highest peak, a still active Volcano with a wonderful Crater lake (Mt Ruapehu) was just an hour and a half south of Taupo.
When I saw the pictures of the turquoise blue crater lake surrounded all year by Snow and ice, I wanted to go up there. The hiking fever was back in my blood.
I got some information from the girl at the tourist info an she said, if we hurried it would still be possible to do the trek today.
This meant my bungy jump would have to wait until tomorrow morning.
Supposedly the weather was good today, although cold up on top. We had to pick up the hiking boots and a warm jumper and get some energy food at the countdown (a supermarket chain in NZ - I think the same as Woolworth in Australia).
Then we hit the road and after 90 minutes of a wonderful drive along the lake front of Lake Taupo and through some barren landscape with Volcanoes and the Sir Edmund Hillary Expedition Centre we arrived at the Château Hotel in the town of Iwikau, at the base of the 2797m high, snow capped Mt Ruapehu.
At the iSite in Taupo I was told to visit the local iSite in Iwikau for more detailed information and a map.
The guy there wasn't very helpful and told not much information aside from, the fact that there is no marked trek up to the crater and that I would have to find the way myself. He also mentioned that for the past 4 months none of the staff had been up there and he didn't know what the conditions were like.
This was a bit of a surprise as initially it sounded like a nice, exhausting but not difficult hike.
This put me off a bit of the idea to go up there. In addition the weather had changed and the summit was covered in thick clouds now, and the fact that it was already 12:30 didn't help.
We then drove up to the ski lift station that also ran during summer as a scenic lift and could be used to shorten the trek from 9hrs to 5hrs.
If I wanted to do this today I would have to use the lift or walk around in the dark (which was not an option).
All this made me decide not to attempt the climb today and wait.
Instead we decided to have a coffee at the lodge but were disappointed by our first unfriendly New Zealand person behind the counter.
We still had a great time when we did another hike to the Taranaki falls instead. These were quite close, in the same region and just a 3hr round trip away on flat ground.
Mom, Dad and I enjoyed this hike a lot and after some time the clouds on the summit even lifted and gave us a great view.
The Waterfalls were wonderful to watch and seeing them well worth the hike.
When we were back at the Château we rewarded ourselves with some milkshakes and got ready for the long drive back to Taupo where we jumped back into the supermarket to get all the ingredients for some Hamburgers.
The Hostel had a BBQ Grill on the roof terrace and we enjoyed grilling our Burgers and stacking them up with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cheese and a great BBQ sauce we found.
They were really good burgers and it was a great evening, but after we finished the meal it was too late to have a beer and this time the night guard did not make an exception. What a kindergarden, this place.
Anyway, the night guard did not notice, that we sneaked a bottle of wine into the room and "partied" on in there.
Not to long though, I still wanted to climb Mt Ruapehu the next day, which meant getting up early.
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