We've gone from the two laziest people any of you know to the most adventurous in the past couple of days!! We left Rotorua on Sunday to head to Taupo, this is another small town but is renowned for it's adventure stuff. On the way we stopped at the Waiotapu thermal wonderland (see picture) where we saw the Lady Knox Geyser erupt (10.15am daily!!) and the thermal park which is full of amazing craters and colourful lakes created by the volcano in the area, of which about 5 are still active!! It was an amazing sight to see, only drawback was that it stank of rotten eggs, a drawback to volcanic activity supposedly!! At lunchtime we stopped at a place called rock and ropes which is a big kids adventure playground, being brave rich and I decided to have a go at the giant swing, I know it sounds easy but try climbing a 40ft pole and then jumping off the top attached to an elastic rope!! Was more scary than doing a skydive last year as you actually had to take the leap yourself, despite me having a small panic at the top we both managed to jump, rich even lay on the ground while someone jumped over him, he was feeling brave!!! Talking of skydiving that was our next stop on the road, we both signed up to jump out of a plane again, crazy I know. As it was rich's 4th time he opted for his highest yet at 15,000ft, me, I just went for the simple 12,000. Was just as much if not more fun than last time as I knew what to expect and could look around more as I wasn't panicking about killing myself. I had a great instructor who showed me all the sights as we jumped over the mountains and Lake Taupo. Rich being brave also persuaded his instructor to let him take control of the freefall and was flying all over the place, I think it was definitely his best one yet. After all that excitement we had a pretty easy night, just dinner and a few drinks along with an early night as the next day we were doing the Tongariro crossing. That may sound like a walk in the park but oh my god it was the hardest most physical thing I have ever done in my life. A 17k (approx 11 miles) hike up one side of a mountain and then down the other side, not for the faint hearted I can tell (which I am!) It was so hard and draining hiking for 8 hours, at some points we were horizontally climbing among snow and loose rocks, one part was even called the devil's staircase, I'll let you imagine why. The mountain that we climbed was the one next to Mount Doom from Lord of the rings fame just to give you some idea!! We're both really pleased that we did it but I think if we'd have realised how hard it was we'd have given it a miss, but it's a good sense of acheivement non the less. The day after the climb obviously we did nothing except recover, aching muscles and sore feet galore. Then today (weds) we've left Taupo and have arrived in Wellington, the capital city, for one night. From here we catch the ferry tomorrow to start our adventures in the South Island. I'm pretty confident it won't be as action packed as the last few days have been but it is supposed to be much more beautiful to look at. I can't wait.