6th January 2007

Headed off on the bus to the start of the Tongariro crossing, we began our walk heading up a very steep hill to the Red crater which was amazing, the colours were even more beautiful than we imagined. The scenery along the track was so diverse, from flat volcano craters to steep gravely cliffs, blue green sulphur pools and dense forests. Along the way we passed through the Ketetaki hot springs which ran down the side of the mountains, you could dip your hands into the water to feel the heat - amazing. Altogether the trek took us just over 6 hours. This was mount doom (LoftR's) country.

7th January 2007

After a long well deserved sleep we headed off from Whakapapa national park northernly to Waitomo. Once we arrived at Waitomo (capital of black water rafting) we headed to sign up for a trip down the Waitomo glow worm caves. Late afternoon headed off to begin the trip ¨the black labyrinth¨. (Black water rafting is rubber ring riding in caves.) We got kitted out in wet suits - which were already cold and wet and had a photo shoot - lovely.

Headed into the caves - not before blessing ourselves with the water a maori tradition, walked through the dark caves and then jumped backwards off a waterfall into the water below - very scary!!. We were then lead into a cave were we turned our lights off and the cave light up with the illumination of the glow worms - wow!! Pretty cool stuff!!! We then glided along the caves linked with one anothers rubber rings - so amazing!!! Finally we were told to turn all of our lights off and we had to find our way out of the darkness to the exit of the caves by only using the glow worms as our guide.

8th January 2007

Headed off from Waitomo for a long drive through Auckland up to the bay of islands - Russell. Russell is a quaint town (which reminded Paul of the town from the Jaws movie). In that case i won´t be going in the sea!! The weather was very miserable and very wet. Set up our tent at a hostel in the rain and got soaked, spent the rest of the evening in the hostel tv room keeping warm and dry.

9th January 2007

The day started off looking promising but ended up raining so we sat in a lovely cafe and had a cooked breakfast to stay out of the rain (had a very Sunday morning feeling even though it was Tuesday). Walked around the town as the rain had stopped, the town is very small with lots of arts and craft shops and cafes. Very nice place to spend the morning. Headed off to the top of the hill to see the view however we couldn´t see a thing due to the heavy clouds of rain. Also at the top of the hill is one of the many flag poles put up by the British and cut down by the Maori three or four times due to the tensions between the Maori and the British. As we were walking around the town browsing in the art gallery, we heard this enormous screech outside and looked out to see a car ploughing into the front of the next door shop, with an old lady behind the wheel. Luckily for everyone including the old lady no damage was done to either the shop or the anyone else. Enough excitement for one day i think. Anyway the rain started again so we decided to leave Russell and head onto Paihia.

10th January 2007

Still raining but this did not deter us we decided to go on a ferry trip to the nearby island of Urupukapuka, Otehei bay for the day. Picked up a kayak and headed off for a paddle around the island. The day even got bright, stopped a few times on the banks of the bays around the island for a stroll on the white sand. After our little paddle, time to head back to Paihia. No much to do at Paihia so set off for a drive to the infamous toilets at Kawakawa, created by Austrian architect Frederick Hunderwass. These toilets are amazing, if you can say that about toilets, their made out of ceramic tiles, glass bottles, mosaic tiles, copperstone flooring, with really cool sculptures and a living tree intergrated into the structure - wow!! (Pictures to come) We then got back on the road and set off for Ninety Mile beach to camp. (During the drive i realised that i had sunburnt myself doing the kayaking even though it was cloudy and raining - note to self apply suntan lotion even when its raining!!)