We have just completed the Tongariro crossing which is one of the nine great walks of New Zealand. We set off at 10.20am and got to the end point at 5pm and the track is 19.4 km in total. The track passes between Mt Ngauruhoe (Mt Doom from Lord of the Rings) and Mt Tongariro both of which are active volcanoes which was pretty amazing. When we first set off the weather forecast was a bit dodgy so weren't sure if we were going to see much. The cloud was low for mos...

Tonight we were staying at blue duck station which is a conservation lodge right in the middle of the rainforest. They are trying to remove all the pests that have been introduced into the native bush and conserve the native animals. Before we arrived there we made a couple of stops, one at Huka Falls which was a really really fast flowing river it was insane and so so blue. The second was just outside of Taupo which was at a hot springs. We got changed into our...

Friday saw a very different cultural experience from the day before. We spent the morning in Rotorua which is well known for the geothermal activity that occurs in this area. This is because for some reason the earths crust is thin here creating boiling mud pools and hot water springs, however they smell pretty bad from the sulphur that's being emitted. Four of us explored one of the parks and went for coffee and had a nice relaxing morning. Our accommodation f...

Thursday day time saw us stop in Waitomo which is famous for its glow worm caves. Kate and I had signed up for a tour of the caves (the cheapest and least adventurous of all the tours) so weren't sure what to expect, but it was actually amazing! Firstly we went into a dry cave which had fantastic rock formations formed by water running through the limestone rock, and had a few glow worms in but the second cave had thousands of the creatures in! The glow worms are...

Stayed in Raglan on Wednesday and met up with Kat which was lovely! Great to catch up and exchange gossip. Raglan is an artsy/ surfing town where Jack Johnson is known to hang out occasionally! Very beautiful beaches everywhere. I met Kat on the main Raglan beach while Kate was having a surfing lesson - there was some mild confusion to start with as I had no clue where I was! Spent the afternoon relaxing on the beach and in the evening we went into town and enjoy...