Up, up and away by Emma

We have now left the South Island and come to the North Island.

We travelled over on a ferry which we had to drive our car onto. As we left Picton, the captain announced that there were some dolphins on the right hand side, and luckily that was the side we were stood on. They weren't as playful or exciting as the ones that we swam with. When we got to Wellington, we drove straight to our campsite (we were in a lodge). It had an outdoor heated pool which Megan and I swam in. There was also a big inflated jumping pillow, but this wasn't as much fun as the two trampolines. We were right next to the Wanganui river, but we didn't go down. The next day it rained nearly all day!! When the rain stopped, we drove to a giant rope swing next to the river. My Dad pulled us backwards really far, so that when he let go, we went extremely high. The first time I tried to jump on, I didn't get on properly, and my Dad was hanging on for dear life to make sure I didn't fall in; he skidded down the wet, muddy bank. Thankfully he managed to stop just in time (don't tell him I said this, but I was secretly hoping he would fall in!!).

We didn't manage to do much else as it started to rain, so we went back and watched Tomb Raider. We had stepped where the actors feet were when we were in Cambodia, as it was filmed at the temples we visited. This morning we drove to Lake Taupo, which is the biggest lake in New Zealand. The Hobbit was filmed in New Zealand, and today we saw a place that looked like it could have been 'The Shire'.

As we arrived at the lake, we saw a sign for parasailing. Parasailing is where you go on a boat, and there is a massive parachute attached. You get clipped onto the parachute, and fly up into the air. We decided that we would like to it, but we had planned to do something else at the only time that was available. Luckily the lady came over to us, and told us that the driver of the boat had said he could squeeze us in if we went to the harbour straight away. We gladly said yes, and before we knew it, we were on the boat jetting away. Then it was time to go up in the air. The parachute flew up in the air, and we quickly followed. It looked like animation when we looked down at our feet with the lake far below.

When we were up, we could see the whole town. We could also see puffs of steam in the distance, which we went to visit later on in the afternoon. At one point the driver lowed the boat down, and we started drifting down towards the water. Megan and I were lifting our feet up and screaming 'speed up, speed up!' He driver knew exactly what he was doing, as just before out feet hit the water, he sped up and we flew up again. A couple of minutes later, they started to pull us down towards the boat. The wind blew as mightily as it could, making us swing from side to side. This was my favourite part of the parasail. I really enjoyed parasailing, and hopefully I will do it again one day.