We were due to meet our friends Ian, Chris and Katherine (we met them on the Inca Trail in Peru) at their holiday home in Taupo on the Friday evening we had a few days to spare so we decided we would do the Tongariro crossing which is a 19.4km trek through the Tongariro National Park. On the way down to Tongariro we stopped off at Huka Falls which is a huge dam used for generating power, due to the dam a very picturesque water fall was produced. The colour of the water was bright blue and quite spectacular. After visiting Huka Falls Ben decided he wanted to go to "Shaun the Prawn's Farm", Lisa had no interest in going to a Prawn farm and spending $27 to get in there even if it included free fishing. ben finally came to his senses and decided maybe it wasn't worth the money and we went to a honey bee farm instead that was free (and boring but we got free honey).

We arrived at Tongariro National Park and the sun was shining therefore we booked oursleves on the bus for the following morning. The alarm went off at 5.15am, we got dressed and looked outside to see that we were surrounded by very thick fog and could not see the mountains we were about to climb. When we arrived at the start of the crossing we decided to turn back due to the fact we could only see 10 metres in front of us which defeated the object of a scenic walk and taking in the magnificent views. We went back to bed and by 11am the clouds had started to disperse and being on a time limit we decided it was now or never to do the crossing, an hour later we had started to walk the crossing. the nice man from the campsite dropped us off and he arranged for Calvin (The campervan) to be at the finish of the walk waiting for us.

The trek should take an average of 7-8 hours but since we started late we needed to complete the walk in under 6 hours to arrive at the finish before dark. The crossing involved walking up to Mount Doom from the Lord of the rings movie (Ben was stupidly excited) we saw a black crater which looked like scenery from LoTR's and Armageddon and then a red crater which resembled Mars. The walk is classed as moderate - difficult with some steep uphill parts, to reach the peak of the walk there is a very steep section with loose sand and gravel, the descent on the other side of the peak also had very loose sand which meant Ben thought it was fun and slid down where Lisa took forever taking each step ridiculously slowly. On the way down we had a brilliant view of the emerald lakes which were bright green and blue, we crossed though some snowy areas where we threw snowballs and many other different types of landscapes. Finally we reached the last 5km's where we had to walk through forest and had to keep up the pace to get back to the carpark before dark. Our feet were killing us and we were also starting to panic about whether Calvin would be waiting for us (lots of cars stolen/broken in to in the carpark). We reached the end of the crossing in 5 hours and 25 minutes and were very happy to see that Calvin was there waiting for us!!

We were in desperate need of a shower now, as we didn't want to turn up in Taupo at Ian & Chris' needing a good wash. So we played the true traveller card, we sneaked into a holiday park and took turns in covertly distracting the staff while the other got a shower. Twenty minutes later, we were clean and on our way to Taupo. We were welcomed by Chris & Katherine's sister Jacqui & her friend, Jo. They were cooking us chicken in a sauce, which they later realised was pure Chutney (Ian put it in the wrong jar), we all wondered why it tasted so chutney like. Then Ian, Katherine and her boyfriend Hamish turned up and we all had numerous drinks and caught up. Next morning we were up at 7am to book our skydive as the weather was brill. We also managed to rope in Chris, Katherine & Hamish. At 9am we were thinking what on earth are we doing, as we were being kitted up, and Lisa's diver was telling her how he'd never done this before and explaining to Ben how he'd "make it look like an accident". Lisa was now panicking. We quickly reached 15,000 feet and the rattling plastic door flew open. Ben being sat next to the door panicked that he was first, luckily the guy next to him was rapidly pushed out. But Ben didn't have much time, within seconds he was getting pushed out of the plane. Lisa didn't like the fact that she could see these people just disappearing out of the plane and that her instructor said "good luck" just before jumping. The jump was amazing, the views were incredible, we could see both the East & West coasts of the North I sland. It was a full 60 seconds free-fall which included fast spins and rolly-pollies. Then the parachutes were open and we were given the chance to control them before landing on grass. It was a great activity which we'd love to do again.

We then breezed around Taupo before heading home for Ians bbq. In the afternoon, Ian took us out on his speedboat and we had a go on the biscuit (or as we call it...tubing). They do it different to us, hanging on forwards, rather than sitting in it. It hurts more that way when you come off as your face smashes into the water, but its more fun.

Then on the night we had more bbq, wine and lots of beer along with a sunset fishing trip, where we unfortunately caught nothing. The following day we went out on the boat again, but this time we did some water-skiing. After a fantastic 2 days in Taupo ,we were headed to Hawkes Bay with Ian & Chris to stay at their home over on the East Coast.