So we hit the surf highway on a rather grey and cloudy day, here's Dan not looking that impressed...
At least we found some surfers....
After being very unimpressed by the surf highway mainly due to the weather we headed to Waitomo where we had read you could do Black Water Rafting. We booked in for the early morning trip and found a nice campsite for the night. I liked it because it had a tree with pink flowers in....
Dan liked it because it had a pool....
So up early we headed to the caves to get ready for our black water rafting....
Looking good!
Dan was straight in for a practice.....
Now it was off to the cave entrance...
Don't I look excited!?
We slowly made our way into the dark caves...
Then we got the joy of climbing a waterfall gulp! It was amazing and so dark when we turned our head lamps off you could see thousands of glow worms while we floated by on our rubber rings.
There were lots of chances to jump from high ledges into the water, which of course Dan didn't think twice about but I have to admit I declined :)
After an hour in the caves we made it out.... alive!
It was a really fun morning but there was no time to hang around time to head east and make our way to the Tongariro National Park....
We found a campsite amongst the trees by a beautiful stream.....ah life was so hard!
It looked very inviting but that water took your breath way it was so cold.
Very picturesque
The main reason we were here was to complete the Tongeriro crossing a day trek, here's Dan checking our route...
All set up and ready for Dinner...
Cooking up a storm in the outdoor kitchen...
Then it was up early again ready for our 19k Trek...
A beautiful morning for a long trek....
In typical NZ style the wind picked up so it was a bit cold but being true Brits the sun was out so we had our shorts on yes they are shorts Dans wearing not hot pants just NZ shorts.
This trek takes you through the saddle between Mount Ngaurhoe and Mt Tongeriro and then diverts over Mt Tongeriro which is not a single volcano but a complex of craters that have been active at different times. (can you tell I cut & paste that part!?)
We had a feeling it was going to be a long road ahead...
Reassuring....
After some serious climbing we made it to a nice spot but we still had a long way to go...Dan is standing on Volcanic rocks just amazing to think this was molten lava once!
We are already high up but looks like we're at ground level, this was one of the craters! As you can see it's getting colder the hood is up.
Still climbing...
Looks like we're in the clouds and still climbing...
I might be wind beaten and cold but I've still got time to pose for a shot.
Half way and I've added another layer, it was really so cold and windy!
That's our route...
The craters are just amazing and every part you climb the more colours and landscape you see...
What comes up must come down....this rubble was so uneven people (Dan & Me mainly) kept slipping over it was quite funny.
The crossing has geothermal areas, mountain springs and really brightly coloured emerald springs...
you can see the sulpha rising out of the gound, it was quite smelly but the lakes were just breath taking...
These photos don't do the colour justice they were just incredible.
It really was a long trek but the views made it so much easier....
You can just make out the path ahead....
If you could have walked straight down it would have taken half the time, sadly it was so steep the path zig zagged all the way down...
Finally started to warm up and a good time to stop for some food...
Stinky sulpha!
After hours of being amongst volcanic rock and supha we were in the forrest..
The last view before we made it to the bottom.
After hours of climbing up and down there was no time to rest, it was time to hit the road and off to Taupo where Dan plans to do a sky dive. It was the nicest feeling putting my tired feet in this water, this is Taupo lake it is the largest lake in New Zealand with a surface area of 616 square kilometres (the same size as Singapore) created by a supervolcanic eruption which occurred approximately 26,500 years ago.
Yet another beautiful place in NZ.
So it was time to find a campsite and enjoy Taupo's locals restaurants, then early to bed ready for Dan's sky dive gulp!
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