looking back while on the mount...

After skydiving we were on Cloud 9... our step was a little faster and had a little bounce to it, our faces had a permanent smile, and we were ready to take on the world... so we couldn't just sit and relax in Taupo - we had to move on. We took off for Tauranga (gateway to the Coromandel if you will...) so we could hit up Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach the next day.

Tauranga was an experience... to say the least. We made it there and checked into our hostel. Overall, hostels in New Zealand have turned out to be really nice and can be funky little gems for the most part. This hostel, however, would definitely be considered a high risk activity. We checked into our dorm room (note to self, ALWAYS get a room that you don't have to share) and made our way down to a free wireless internet cafe... score... or not... it's a coffee shop by day and apparently a strip club by night... yep. Our internet time was cut a bit short. We went back to our sketchy hostel for a good night's sleep... only to be woken up at 3:30AM by a police officer asking for our passports because there was an armed gunman on the loose in the streets of Tauranga and they had reason to believe he broke into our hostel. Umm... yikes. Needless to say, it was an adventure, but Tauranga wasn't all bad - in the morning we headed to Mount Manganui... it's a dormant volcano with incredible views from the top. And on this sunny day, it was the perfect place to recap our death defying adventures...