Hey everyone again!
Right this blog has got info about Auckland down to and including Taupo!!

On Friday (27th) we headed out of Auckland to Mercury Bay! It was just me, James, Mali and Geert on the bus that had done the top bit, as we left Annabel to stay one more day in Auckland! Mali is doing the same as me and has a similar time scale so we have planned our buses all the way down to Queenstown now!! Definitely nice to always have someone around!! Anyway, our driver for the next couple of days was called Dylan and he was very funny!! Our first stop was Mt Eden which I have already seen but at the top we got an introduction to Kiwi from Dylan!! Today the plan was to head to Cathedral Cove for a walk and spend time on the beach and then to Mercury Bay for the night!

It was a pretty short journey to Cathedral Cove and we got to eat lunch on the beach!! Here we met another girl on the bus called Katie who was lovely and also got to know one of the guys called Gregg who was a doctor (he soon got the nickname Dr Gregg-original I know)! Everyone on the bus seems really nice though and it’s a good group!! We soon headed over to Cathedral Cove!! It was about a 30min walk from the car park to the actually beach but it was well worth it!! The Cove was pretty small but very pretty, with a hole in a rock on one side and a natural waterfall the other!! Mali, myself and Greg decided to have a dip in the sea!! It was absolutely freezing and the waves were surprisingly strong!! We at least got to wash off the salt water under the waterfall!! Just as we were heading back up to the coach it started raining but luckily the walk was mainly sheltered by the trees!! We only had a short journey until we reached the hostel which was a cute, little hostel!! They cooked us all spaghetti bolognaise with the treat of garlic bread!! We had a nice chill out evening watching dvds and playing connect 4 before an early night!!

Saturday was spent travelling down to Rotorua, which is the home of the hot springs and geysers!! We stopped for lunch in a little town called Hobbiton and got some pictures by the sign and with Gollum!! We stopped off not long before we got to Rotorua to do a walk around some caves!! It was pitch black in some of them but we did get to see glow worms!! The caves that we went through use dot be used for mining and some of the equipment is still there!! We arrived in the beautiful but horrendously smelly Rotorua about 2pm and went straight to the Te Puia centre! This is where the geysers are and includes one of the most famous, as it can reach 30m high and goes off very regularly! They also have a lot of Mauri culture here so we had a guided walk by a Mauri woman called Mel! We got to see a carving centre and weaving centre where they teach young Mauri people these skills! They don’t believe that they are any full Mauri blooded people left in the world but as long as you have some Mauri blood in you then you can apply for courses there! Some of the carving was amazing and every little bit means something! We then got to see a mud pool and the geysers! Safe to say they stunk but were amazing to see so spent quite a bit of time there!! We ended up sitting and chatting over looking the geysers before heading back to the bus!!

Once we had checked into our hostel it wasn’t long before we were heading back out for a Mauri Culture night!
We got picked up by one of the Mauri bus drivers who had a brilliant sense of humour!! We had to pick a guy to act as the chief of our ‘tribe’ so we volunteered Dr Greg!! Once we got there we got to see an original Mauri greeting where the tribe sends our 3 different members, one to find our who we were, one to intimidate and ensure we weren’t there for a fight and then final to offer a peace offering and welcome! It was amazing to watch and was actually very intimidating with their chants and dancing! All this time Greg was stood in the middle with another ‘chief’ from a second bus! Greg then got chosen to accept the peace offering!! We all headed into the re-created Mauri camp and got to look around different parts to see how things worked! We got to hear about food, carving and tattoos, which was really interesting! Then it was time to see the food!! They had cooke a full meal in the traditional way of cooking it under the ground, thanks to the hot rocks in Rotorua!! They scooped off the mud from the top and uncovered many layers of fabric to get to the underground oven and eventually brought out 2 huge trays of potatoes, carrots, lamb and chicken!! It smelt amazing and it was safe to say all our mouths were watering!! Before we could eat it all though, we got to see some original Mauri singing and dancing! They performed about 4 dances for us, with the final one being the haka!! I didn’t realise but the women also preform the haka however they are not allowed to stick their tongues out!! Finally it was food time and they had laid on an absolute feast for us!! It was amazing food and all the backpackers had plates piled high and seconds of course!! They had done a delicious pavlova for dessert as well so we were all nursing food babys by the end of the night!! The bus drivers and staff then taught some of us the haka which was very fun!! One the way back, each different nationality got to sing a song so us English went for ‘Yellow Submarine’! We had an American couple on the bus and the woman was an opera singer who was amazing!! Put us to shame!! Once we got back, most of us went to the hostel bar! Mali, James and I were staying another night in Rotorua but most of the others were leaving the next day so we had some goodbye drinks!! It turned out Dr Greg had learnt how to dance in a style called Seroc, which Mali also did it!! After watching them on the dance floor, Greg offered to teach me!! It’s an upbeat kinda of salsa and so much fun!! We had a few dances that night and I started perfecting my skills!!!!

Had a nice lie-in on Sunday as we had no bus!! Gutted to say goodbye to the bus but we realised we would catch up with them in a couple of days time in Taupo!! James ended up moving into our room and in the afternoon once Annabel arrived, she moved in as well!! Back to the original family!! I We had heard that there was a market on a Sunday but the lake so we took a walk down there!! Unfortunately there was no market but the view across the lake was amazing!! It was so peaceful and luckily the sun was shining!! So instead of the market we headed to the supermarket to get some food for an English breakfast!! We linked up with Jack, another guy who stayed longer, and between us it was the cheapest and nicest breakfast I’ve had since I’ve been away!! Me and Mali cooked toast, bacon, eggs, tomatos, mushrooms, beans, hash browns and we had an absolute feast!! Needless to say a quick nap was in order!! In the afternoon though, we headed over to a nearby place to do some luging! We got the gondola but the top of this hill, got our helmets and set off to the luges!! They are basically mini go carts with the handles acting as the breaks!! It was awesome fun especially once you get used to the corners!! We had 3 goes down the mountain covering the beginner advanced and intermediate courses!! Unfortunately the fun ended there as we missed the last bus back so had to walk the 4km home!! Rotorua is not the best place to start hitch hiking!! In order to recover from our hike, James, Mali and I headed to a Polynesian Spa that was nearby!! It was really cheap and had about 7 different pools each with a different temperature ranging from 38 C to 42C! They had a cold shower which we all braved after the 42C pool!! Once of the pools over looked the lake and on the opposing city!! Plus we were lucky enough that the sky was clear of clouds so we could see the stars!!

Monday meant a new bus and new people! Annabel was back with us and introduced us to another girl Bexx who was really cool!! Our new driver was called Zippy and he looks like a thug as he had two black eyes and stitches on his head from a surfing accident!! He has nothing on Dylan though!! We had a quick stop off at the Zorbing place! Basically you go in a huge blown up ball and get rolled down a hill!! I decided against it as it seemed to be quite expensive for a short ride, but Mali and Annabel had a go!! They came out with big smiles and got some brilliant pictures!! It was then on to Waitomo, which is a pretty small town known for its caving!! Pretty much as soon as we got to the hostel is was off to the caving!! We had a nice group of 7 doing it all from the Kiwi Bus!! Our guides, Matty and Brydie were awesome, so much fun and really helpful in the cave! Obviously firstly we had to dress up for the occasion!! So we all looked amazing in our wetsuits, jacket, rubber socks, boots and harness!! Then we jumped in the minivan to take us to the start of the cave!! We got a quick lesson in absailing then it was time for the real thing!! We started with a 30m absail into the cave, which was hard work, especially as it was shaped like an hour glass and a bit of a squeeze to get through the small section!! Once we were all down we walked through the caves for a short bit to the zip wire!! We then got to zip wire down to the waters edge!! It was amazing fun as we turned all the lights off each time people went down!! Once we were at the bottom we sat on the ledge about 2m above the water an ha hot chocolate and flapjack!! Then it was time to brave the cold water!! We each got given a rubber ring (I had to change mine as my bum was too big ;) ) and then jumped about 1.5m into the water below!! Once we were all in it was time to get moving using a rope on the side to pull us along!! After about 10mins, Matty stopped us to tell us about the lovely glow worms who are basically in the maggot family and the part of them that are glowing is their poo!! They were pretty cool though lining the top of the cave!! Then we headed back to where we go in the water, only after having a swimming race in the dark!! Very interesting!! We then got rid of the rings and walked through the water!! Now in the water there are eels however we didn’t see any (thank god!!!!)!! Some of the currents were quite strong and as the water was dark we couldn’t see the bottom so I certainly fell over a few times but the water landing helped!! We soon stopped for another hot drink and some chocolate before heading towards to exit!! As we were 65m underground we obviously had to climb to get out- and infact we climbed two waterfalls!! It was hard work but the guides took us through one at a time and told us where the ledges were under the water!! Finally we were back out, although it took us a while to notice as by this time it was dark!! After a lovely hot shower, it was back to the hostel for a few drinks in the local pub which basically consisted of just the Kiwi Bus!!

Tuesday was a pretty lazy day, travelling to Taupo with just one quick stop at Huka Falls nearby!! They are pretty awesome, as the amount of water travelling down the fall can fill an Olympic sized pool every 3 seconds!! Once we had checked in it was time to head out for some last minute shopping ready for the Tongariro Crossing tomorrow!! Brought some joggers and a nice warm hat to cover my ears!! In the evening, we met up with the people on the bus who we left in Rotorua and had a wicked night!! Continued to prefect my skills of Seroc with the Doc and caught up with Katie and some of the other lads!! As we had to be up for 5am for the crossing, we left the party about midnight but might as well have stayed there as our room was directly above the bar and we could hear everything!!

So, 5am and with little sleep we all hauled ourselves out of bed and layered up!! It was about a 2hr drive to the base of the mountain! Basically the Tongariro Crossing is a 19km walk and has been voted the best day walk in NZ and in the top 10 in the world! You pass Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings!! We set off about 8am into the cloud, but that soon cleared to give us an amazing view of the first half of the walk!! It was freezing cold and we were all layered up with hat gloves and scarves galore!! The first part was pretty flat and easy going, lasting about an hour but then the torture began!! The next part was called Devils Staircase and seemed to go on forever!! It definitely worked the calf muscles!! One we were up there though it was worth it as we had a flat walk across the crater!! The next part was uphill again and this was again very hard as it was just loose rock, without a direct pathway!! The worst part was the wind, which was due to reach 50kph but was at least 30kph!! It literally blew you to the side at times which isn’t ideal when two steps either side of you in a huge drop!! Yet again though the views at the top were amazing, looking over some natural pools (downside being the egg smell was back!!)! By now I was walking with Mali and James and we stuck together for the rest of the walk!! Unfortunately if you go up, you’ve got to come down and the first part of the downhill was very loose scree and quite dangerous as the drops were still at either side!! Once we were down it was a nice easy walk across another crater and around the mountain and beginning a gradual descent! The further we walked the clearer the path became as well so that helped!! About 6km from the finish we came across a small hut called Ketetahi Hut which had the most amazing views across the lake!! We sat and had lunch in the sun out of the wind with the view infront of us!! Then it was a nice gentle walk down to the finish point!! We didn’t have any clouds all day and the sun was quite strong so about 4km from the end when we started walking through a forest, it was nice to get the shade!! We finished the walk in 6hrs and 40mins, and they recommend 7-9hrs depending on who you ask so we were pretty happy!! Needless to say it was an early night, and luckily we changed rooms so we could actually have some peace and quiet!!

Today, me and Mali are having a lazy day catching up with photos and blogs, etc as we are doing the ‘East As’ pass tomorrow! Unfortunately this has meant we had to say goodbye to the others this morning!! Hopefully we will meet up with James and Bexx in Queenstown to do some skiing together and catch up with Annabel in the UK!! Gutted to wave them off  but looking forward to the east pass!!

Right must go and upload some photos and probably then take a nap!!

Sending lots of walking love

xxxx