We got dropped off at National Park to try and do the Tongario Crossing, a day walk through waist high snow long canyons, volcanos and up mountains. We checked into our hostel which has its own climbing wall. Pretty soon we found out the crossing was closed due to avalanches so opted instead to spend the next day snowboarding. Of course this being New Zealand this was snowboarding on an active volcano, it erupted about 5 months ago and Kiwi's continued to board down in throughout the eruption as they were impressed it wasn't very busy!

We had a good day on the snow but it did get very busy towards the end of the day as we were on the only runs that were open that day so it became a little more like a slalom race trying to avoid people as we went down.

We went to a place called River Valley next which is a tiny place with a lodge and a river. It's well known for its horse trekking, white water rafting and lack of Wi-Fi. We took this opportunity to rest our aching bodies after snowboarding and relax. We had some wine and beer and played card games with people on our bus. It was good to be warm for a change as we were so cold in National Park and Taupo.