HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

On Tuesday 30th December we set off to do the Tongariro crossing (the one that was cancelled before Xmas) It's labelled as one of the best one day hikes in the world and it would of been great if the weather was good, however it was really miserable (abit like when we done the Inka Trail) we couldn't see much but the walk was nice and we got around pretty quickly, in 6 hours instead of 8. After dinner in the evening we walked down and met friends again for more drinks.

On New Years Eve Tom finally doen his 15,000ft sky dive and loved it! In the afternoon we wondered around town and done some budget clothes shopping for New Years Eve. We went out for a lovely meal in front of Lake Taupo in the evening before going to see everyone for New Years drinks. Good New Years, we watched fire works in the park at 12 and then onto a bar until the early hours.

New years day we were off again with a nice hangover to river valley. We stoped on the way at Tawhai falls for a photo and some people swam - this is the place where Golumn catches his fish in Lord of the Rings. We cruised through to River Valley which was a little lodge in the middle of nowherenext to a river. It was beautiful just right for a hung over New years day especially the home cooked roast in the evening - yum!

Friday morning we woke up to sun shine and got ready for white water rafting. It was great fun going down the rapids and everyone fell out at some point. We also stoped the boat to jump off of the rocks - great fun! After lunch we got on the bus and headed for Wellington.

Yesterday we explored the Te Papa museum - oh my god the biggest and best museum we have ever been in! we spent the whole day there and still didn't see it all. We learnt about the history of new Zealand and the Mauri's, the reasons for earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in New Zealand (we even stood in a house during a simulated earth quake.) We also saw a huge preserved colossal squid, the biggest one ever to be captured.

Today we finished up the bits we didn't see at the museum and we wondered around and explored Wellington. We took a cable cart up to the Botanical gardens and had some homemade larger at Macs Brewry on the waterfront. Tomorrow we're off to the South Island.

Hope your all well, keep the messages coming please - we like to hear from you!

Love us x x x