So we arrived in Auckland ready with a pass booked aboard stray (a new zealand bus tour company). We stayed one night in Auckland in a hostel which was nice but freezing cold. Got picked up by Ricky our driver onthe stray bus in the morning to begin our travels. First stop was up Mount Eden which is an old inactive volcano with views out accross Auckland. Stopped at a really high waterfall and then in a town called Raglan which is famous for its mile long wave or something. Apparently all the kids in Raglan get a day off school when the surf is really good. OUr hostel was out in the bush and was kinda tropical and nice but also freezing. Had a group meal and got to know the people we were travelling with a bit better. The next day we headed to waitomo to the glow worm caves. Me Lee and a german guy called Hanz went caving with two crazy guides. We went down 80 metres, did a couple of abseils, a bit of crawling through holes and tunnels and then some rock climbing to get back out. The glow worms underground were really bright and the caves were full of stalactites and there was fools old all over the place so the caves kind of sparkled. Basically it was awesome.

We were meant to go to a place called Maketu tonight for a Maori cultural experience but we didn't have enough people so we went straight to Rotorua which is a geothermal area that smells eggy everywhere. The first night we enjoyed a dip in our hostels massive naturally heated swimming pool which was like being in a giant bath. The next day we walked around the free thermal park where there were bubbling mud pools and stuff. This place looked a bit like the bog of eternal stench in the film Labyrinth (the one with David Bowie) and smelled like I imagine it to smell like. Sometimes you'd get in the face with a cloud of steam and have to run through it gagging. So it looked cool but smelled gross. Next we went down to the lake and had a walk around. It smelled slightly better here. Went back to our hostel that night and had another dip in out heated pool. It wasn't really a dip as we were in there for about 4 hours until we got a bit wrinkly and had to get out. The next day we went to Whakarawara (its something like that anyway) and walked around their geothermal pools, saw a 12 metre high geyser, watched a maori cultural performance which included the Haka and had personalised Maori tattoos drawn. Went for another dip in the pool but the weather was a bit warmer and the water was too hot after a while and felt like we were in a sauna. In the morning we got picked up for our white water rafting trip. We were in a boat with4 other english people but our guide was a bit nuts and kept trying to knock people out of the boat. After successfully navigating some grade five rapids and waterfalls of about 2 metres we got ready for the big one which is 7 metres and a bit dangerous as the water level was at the highest that they would let you do it. Our boat was the first to go down and as we went down we got sucked right under the water before bouncing up. The guy sat infront of me fell out nearly taking me with him. I actually got rope burn on my hands from holding on. But the rest of us all held on and we managed to get through it without flipping which the guide was severely dissapointed about as he apparently had tried his hardest to flip us over. Did a few more rapids after that where Lee fell out and I had to pull him back in whilst the guide laughed about him getting rescued by his girlfriend and the rest of the group tried to paddle through the rapids. He then told us all we had to jump out and hold on to the boat which sounded retarded to me but everyone else did it so I had to. We then held on to the outside of the boat whilst going through some rapids. It was cold and we got repeatedly dunked under the boat so didn't enjoy that bit as much. Got picked up by our new driver Nat and met our new group. Headed to Taupo where some people did a skydive and we wished we could afford one. Spent the night here but just chilled out as we were all a bit adrenalined out.

The next day after picking up a few more people we headed to Blue duck lodge which is a conservation farm which is really beautiful and has gorgeous rooms with a fireplace and lounge area. One of the girls went on a long walk and came back with her jeans ripped covered in mud and leaves and had lost her bag. To which we reacted with a little sympathy but mainly laughter. Felt a bit bad when she started crying though, Anyway we took it easy because we were doing the Tongariro crossing the next day and didn't want to over exert ourselves. We went for a little walk saw some cute little boxes and were going to open the lids to see what was inside until we realised they were bee hives at which point I ran away as fast as I could. Which was not very fast considering it was muddy and I was wearing wellies.

The next day we left super early to get to the Tongariro crossing with enough time to actually get accross. We get to the office get all kitted out with waterproofs and crampons ( spikes that you attach to the bottom of your shoes for walking on ice) ice axes and stuff. The beginning of the walk was a lot of uphill and I had to keep stopping to catch my breath. At one of these breaks I found a sign telling you what to do if the volcano erupts (not very encouraging) although the information was fairly obvious and I questioned the need for a sign to tell people to run away! Anyway the hike gradually got a bit more trecherous and our guides chose this point to tell us that this was the first time they were going to get accross for about a month as the conditions had been so bad. SO we edge our way up which was pretty slow going as every step you had to stamp to get the spikes into the ice. Half way up they pointed out the view of mordor and Mount Doom that was used in Lord of the rings. Once we reached the top the views were spectacular, literally never seen anything like it and cant wait to show everyone the photos. We ate our lunch on asmall thermal area at the top of the mountain where there was no snow but it was boiling and my bum was burning through my layers.

SO after lunch we began the descent which was ridiculously steep and long. It was hard work but the views were pretty special. We walked through this big crater covered with snow. On the descent the girl infont of me slipped and had to dig her ice axe in to stop from falling which was pretty skillfull. Id have just screamed like a girl and slid to my death i imagine. Took us nearly 8 hours altogether but was easily one of the best things we've done so far. Anyway, off to Wellington tomorrow and then down to the south island for some more adventures.