We arrived in Taupo - a nice lakeside town in the middle of the North Island - in the middle of the afternoon after a long bus journey from Wellington. After a short walk we found our hostel and checked in to an eight bed dorm. Once we had unpacked we headed straight to the supermarket for a big shop as we needed to replace all the food that we had left in Nelson (see the Wellington blog). Back at the hostel we had a big lunch, then went out for a look around the town.

There wasn't a great deal to do in the town itself, so we had a wander along the lakefront for a while then spent the evening in the internet cafe catching up on our blog. At night we had a couple of drinks in the hostel bar which was really cheap, but it shut at about eleven o'clock. This pretty much forced us into our room as there wasn't another social area. We didn't mind so much as we just read our books before bed, but it's not a great way to run a hostel.

In the morning we woke up quite early and got porridge for breakfast (It has become a staple part of our diet since the Abel Tasman walk) then headed out for the day. The weather was lovely, and we had decided to spend the morning at the local spa and swimming pool. It was actually just a leisure centre, rather than anything too fancy, but it was really cheap and we managed to spend a couple of hours skipping between the private spa pool, the saunas and the main pool. By the time we left the sun was really beating down, and we found ourselves wishing we had worn shorts rather than jeans. On the way back to the town centre we stopped by the Taupo Bungy site and watched a couple of girls jump off. The location was really nice - on a platform above the river - and they actually got their heads dipped in the water which I didn't manage.

We had lunch back at the hostel, then went out for another walk along the front of the lake. There was a floating golf green out on the lake that people were aiming at from the shore. If you got a hole in one there was a prize of $3000, so we watched a few people having a go. Most of them were rubbish so it was quite funny. Afterward we walked along to the information centre to pick up a map and find some activities for the next few days, then spent the evening in the hostel watching films.

The next day we decided to go for a walk. We had a map that showed Huka Falls and The Craters of The Moon within reasonable walking distance, so we made up a pack lunch and set off. It took us about an hour to reach the falls, but the walk along the way was pleasant and follow the riverside. The waterfall itself was pretty spectacular. The Waikato river narrows from 100m wide to 15m wide, creating a channel of rapids about 50m long that ends at the falls. Apparently 220,000 litres of water pass through each second.

When we were done at the waterfall, we took carried on to the craters of the moon, which is an area of heavy volcanic activity. We had heard that nearby Rotorua has much better thermal areas, but the admission was cheap so we decided to give it a go. The walk around took about an hour as we walked along through plumes of steam, various craters and mud pools. The whole place stunk of rotten eggs due to the sulphur. When we were done, we got an ice cream then started our long walk back, which took about an hour and a half.

When we got back to town we looked into booking a place for the Tongariro Mountain Crossing for the next day, which is meant to be the best one day walk in New Zealand. When we first arrived in town we had enquired about the walk, but as it was still the winter season they were only doing guided walks for around 60 pounds each, which was too pricey for us. The next day someone staying in the hostel mentioned that the summer season was about to begin, so we asked at the information centre and they said it had started that morning. This meant guides were no longer required and we were able to book for 20 pounds a head. Our timing was pretty lucky, but we arranged to go the next day. In the evening we watched King Kong, then got an early night.

We were up at 5:30am to go on the walk. We had breakfast, then packed our stuff before the bus arrived to pick us up. The company running the walk was pretty strict and said that people weren't allowed to walk with jeans on, or without a jacket and proper walking shoes. We were OK on the latter, but neither of us had suitable trousers. I improvised by wearing Amy's leggings under my shorts, whilst Amy rented a pair of trousers on the bus. My leggings were nothing compared to a Scottish guy from our hostel who was wearing a kilt.

By the time the bus had picked everyone up and reached the start of the walk, it was getting on for 8am. The 19km walk was supposed to take 6-8 hours, and a bus was due to pick us up at the end of the walk at 3:30pm. We were walking with about 30 other people, and we were the last to set off as we queued for the toilets. Apparently there are hundreds of people on the walk in summer, so we really did go at the perfect time.

The first hour of the walk was pretty easy, walking a gentle incline through the jagged scenery of ancient lava fields. We were going at a decent pace, and we managed to overtake many of the other walkers at this point. The sky was overcast, and we couldn't see the part of the mountains we were about to climb. The next part of the walk was a solid half hour slog up "The Devil's Staircase". It was tough going, but the path was made up of neat wooden steps. Not as devilish as I had expected.

When we reached the top of the Devil's Staircase we were faced with a flat snow-covered plain surrounded by peaks. It was immediately much colder, so we got our coats on before crossing the snow. As we crossed the field we hit several patches of soft snow. We had been able to walk on the surface for the first few hundred metres, then all of a sudden we kept treading down to our knees and our feet got soaked in ice cold water. After battling on for a while, we decided to cut across to a rocky patch and walk across that instead. When we turned around we could see other people falling over in the distance.

At the far end of the snow field we had to climb up the side of a steep slope until we were walking along a narrow arete. The area was really exposed, and the wind was howling as we plodded on along in the snow. Our map advised that walkers should cross this section on hands and knees if the weather is really bad, but we managed just about on our feet. We were wondering how the Scottish guy got on at this point.

At the top of this section we reached the high point of the walk. The weather was starting to clear up at this point and when we looked back we got a good view of Mount Ngauruhoe, which plays the part of Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings films. When we carried on we could also see The Red Crater and The Emerald Lakes in front of us. This view is the most famous part of the crossing during the summer, but as the lakes were frozen over we didn't get to see the colours. I actually think that we picked a better time of year though, as the big snow fields are just rocky plains in summer.

We descended down the far side of the mountain, which was really unsteady, by sliding down the scree slopes towards the lakes. We had to cross another big snow field at the bottom then climb up the other side. At this point the walk started it's descent and we were soon out of the snow line. We had a pleasant walk down to the finishing point that took about an hour and a half. The only boring part was the last couple of kilometres through the woods that seemed to go on forever.

When we got to the finishing point there were only 5 people ahead of us. Amy was the first girl, and though she played it cool, she was clearly pleased by this. We had managed to do the walk in five and a half hours, and were finished by 13:30. We had two hours to wait until the bus came, so we spent the time snoozing in the sun. Everyone was back by half past three, so we took the bus back to the hostel. In the evening we watched a film and got some food before getting an early night after an exhausting day. We were checking out the next day and moving on to Rotorua...