Happy Christmas everyone!

We awake the day after the Tongariro Crossing with aching joints but happy souls! We spent three nights in Taupo, hoping to achieve this, one of the best day hikes in New Zealand, as well as doing a skydive, and after 48 hours of waiting for bad weather to pass, it all came together and we've completed both!

Biding our time with horse riding on the first day turned out to be a great morning out - neither of us had ever been on anything bigger than a donkey so were a little nervous about getting up on these mighty creatures. We were assured that 'Mac' and 'Crystal' were very docile however and that we shouldn't run into problems. This was the case for Rob on Crystal, but Mac was decidedly naughty and kept stopping every few minutes for a grass snack on the way. As I was at the front of the line, this meant that the whole walk was momentarily held up and everyone bore witness to my pulling (gently at first, then much more briskly!) on Mac's reins and nudging him in the side to get him moving again. Amusing but quite embarrassing. Naughty, hungry pony!

This all seemed quite tame compared with the skydive which we did the next day. Aaaarrrggghhhh! I can't believe we actually did this so I keep having to watch the DVD back. We went up to 15 000ft and then, attached to complete strangers, tumbled out of a very small plane for 60 seconds of freefall (anyone seeing the dvd of this will appreciate how terrified I am) and then a relaxing parachute ride down with breathtaking views of Lake Taupo. It was just as well that we were warned about not taking in much from the freefall due to it being a complete overload on the senses (at a mere 200km/h), as I can hardly remember anything apart from relief as the parachute opened and we slowed the hell down! We're both so glad that we've done it as it was an amazing experience - one which I think Rob would now like to repeat, while I'm just glad to get back under my granny blanket and regale the adventure with a nice cup of tea!

With our hearing still recovering, and getting very little sleep, we arose at 5am to start the next mission - 19km of up and down the volcanic mountain range of Tongariro National Park. We had a beautiful day for it and even managed one of the side walks to the Tongariro summit, walking through the snow. Hopefully you can see from the photos how fantastic the scenery was. A really satisfying day, very different from the previous!

That finished our time in Taupo, so we drove south for a couple of nights in Napier, to recover and experience absolutely no adrenalin rush whatsoever! It was a quiet little place, with a few cafes and shops, as well as numerous Art Deco buildings, constructed in the wake of the major earthquake of 1931 (7.8 Richter). I think McDonalds summed this up best of all with the expression 'McDeco' as the whole town is full of it!

So it's Christmas Eve now, and we're still not feeling Christmassy, although the rain is coming down in droves, so we're starting to feel a little more at home. We're stopping for a few days in Greytown, North of Wellington, to see my Dad and enjoy some R and R over the festive period. We hope this finds all of you having a lovely Christmas and hopefully not working. Take care and Meeeeerrry Christmas!