Up at 6 am to catch ferry from Wellington to Picton through Cook's Passage. Woke to rain but skies cleared during ferry ride. Stopped at a farmer's market at Blenheim and Sarah and Pete bought fajoas- small green fruit sort of similar to a kiwi. Picnic lunch at Havelock Marina, bought fresh green mussels for supper. Drove to Nelson through gorgeous vineyards and another steep, winding mountainous road. Booked tour for am to Abel Tasmen Park. Cooked mussels and ...

Woke up to rain and wind. Cooked breakfast fro us and shared with 2 backpackers, Jeff from China and Ryan from Chicago. They were very wet and one of their tents had started to blow away while we were eating. Heading to Wellington today via Whanganui. Stopped at Raetihi at Angel Louise cafe for fresh homemade banana muffins and coffee-yum! Flat open plains from Whanganui to Palmerston North. Stopped at Bulls for lunch- meat pies again. Found a unique bacon shop...

Up at 5 am to catch shuttle to Tongariro base camp. Started hike at 7 am. Sun just peeking over the mountains. 19.4 kms of unbelievable vistas! The first half of the hike was extremely challenging with an elevation gain of 765 meters in just a few km. The track winds up the Mangotepopo Valley to the Saddle between Tongaririo and Ngauruhoe (2 active volcanos). We then climbed to Red Crater (1886 m), the highest point of the hike. The trail dropped down to Emerald ...

Limo picked Sarah & Peter up at the campsite and took them to the airport for their skydiving. Sorry Lesley! Steve and I being less adventurous explored Taupo and found 2 geocaches. When we got to the aiport they were just boarding the pink plane. Sorry Lesley! They said skydiving was incredible. No words to describe the rush!! Freefall for 60 seconds then peaceful, scenic float over Lake Taupo to the grouind. They were still flying high when we drove to T...

How can we possibly explain today. It was incredible!The day started off abseiling (rappeling) 37 meters down a narrow hole in the dark. At one point it was so small you didn`t think you would fit through! Once at the bottom we made our way thru the narrow cave tunnels to an outcrop and then ziplined thru the pitch black caves underneath the glowworms!! Steve went first- the scream said it all-his last words were, seriously what are we doing here! After a quick s...