The South island gets all the coverage and glory but the North certainly is packed with stuff to do, luckily we have some time on our hands.

The last night in Wellington we spent with a good meal and the obligitory bottle of red, well two actually. One with the cheap Indian meal deal in the hostel ($9 all in, yummy), the second watching the free concert in the botanical gardens - good on yer again Wellington!.

Next stop is the Tongaririo national park to do reputibly the best walk in New Zealand and one of the top 10 walks in the world!, it dosen't disappoint believe me. We spent the night in Turangi, a small village. We arrive mid afternoon, it's ghostly as everyone is out on an activity, we decide to have a beer and then head for the hot springs to chill n swimm. At night we treat ourselves again to a Barby of NZ lamb steaks and a fine bottle of red from the North island, the hostel is extreme backpackers, good value at $25 and a fine recommendation.

So onto the Tongariro alpine crossing, we are lucky, apparently it's one of the best days of the year, clear blue skies, light wind, great visibility. The weather can change swiftly and conditions can be really bad, in fact dangerous. We start from the Mangatepopo car park and its a steady climb to soda springs, then a tough climb to the red and South crater, then a decend to the blue & emerald lakes to the Ketetahi hut. All in all over a 20km hike if you take in the Mt Tongariro climb too, which we did. You can also climb mount doom (of Lord of the rings fame), its a really tough couple of hours and extremely steep. The walk took us 8 hours. So what did we see, an ever changing landscape, volcano craters, colours from all through the rainbow, amazing rock formations, aqua sulpher lakes and sheer drops of 6,000 feet over where you can see for miles (including lake Taupo). It's a challenging walk, tough in places, difficult to climb but so rewarding.

We decide to take an early evening drive to Rotorua, we arrive late so accomadation is tight, well in fact everywhere is closed and the only option is Cactus Jacks. As you can guess from the name, it's not the most prestigious place in town but theres a hot tub to chill in before having a superb Korean meal in town.

We're in Rotorua to mountain bike, it has a great 100km curcuit which is the best in NZ. We hire bikes at the entrance to the park with Planet bike, good sturdy scott bikes with suspension. 2 hours for $35, $5 for every extra hour. We take the most difficult route, starting with a grade 3, it's tougher than we expected, Martin starts kicking off that his a-se hurts and then all through the forest i can hear him behind me shouting f-ck, is this a 3, what's the 4 like!!, no way am i doing the 4.You need a certain level of fitness, it's tight in the forest, trees close around bends, steep drops and theres a real adrenalin buzz whizzing through the circuit. We spent 2 hours on the bike and then i slipped a gear and my calf tore down the pedal where there are sharp screws. It's a really deep gash and i know it needs stitches, Martin patches me up, then it's off to the hospital!. Great service, 4 stitches, only takes 2 hours and it's free, plus they through in a sandwich, how's that for service!!

Undetered i bought a racing bike, a Trek, at half the price of Europe.

From the hospital, bike boxed and ready to ship back home and in the back seat, off we head for Waitomo. It's a holiday weekend, all accomadation in the village is choca so we head to a small village called Otorohanga. We find a room, a homestay called Hilltin, because its made of Tin and on a hill!. The views just blow your mind, a great little find with just two rooms, breakfast included and a lovely host called Chris. Check out the photos once i've loaded them or check out thier website www.hill-tin-homestay.co.nz . At night we check out the village, it's obvoius we're the only tourists, a bonus. We quickly strike up a conversation in the local bar and end up having a bizarre night in the local social club, a real throw back to the 70's with a dodgy DJ/duo, erm, can't quite describe it, strange but good fun, the locals are fab.

So as i now have stitches i have to cancel the black water rafting in the Waitomo caves. I end up taking the sedate cave walk and boat, still an amazing place to visit with over 30,000 glow worms and steeped in history.

Well, here we are, Saturday lunch, just a few days to go, time for a party to celebrate a glorious trip around NZ. Not to sure where we are heading yet but we're on out way home, heading for Auckland.

Will let you know soon, bye for now.