After a one day recovery from Rhythm & Vines we were off on our travels again. This time to Taupo, our usual spot for meeting up with Tom & Elin (from Poole). It seemed that the whole population of New Zealand had decided to go to Taupo for the first weekend of 2015, so we ended up in a 4 bed dorm on a holiday park. It had potential but power sockets had obviously been an oversight, as we had none, and unfortunately the fan was not in working order. After a fairly brief, very hot sleep, we were up early for the next day's adventures. Together with Tom, Elin and 4 of their friends we embarked on the Tongariro crossing, a 17km volcanic trek past Mount Doom. In our haste to start the walk, Tom got caught for speeding, tut tut.

The walk itself begins with what's known as the Devil's staircase, read into the name what you will. Needless to say it's steep. Whilst Tom and Greg slowly made their way to the top, using the view as an excuse for their relative leisurely pace, team Wales (Claire, Elin and Euan) seemed to take the ascent as a challenge and pressed on leaving the soft English folk in their wake. The spectacular views were well worth the hike - the snow capped Mount Doom, red craters and turquoise lakes. But who could forget the optional extra 3km hike we took to the summit of Mount Tongariro which in Claire's memorable words was "exactly the bloody same" as the rest of the walk. Unfortunately despite the beauty of the ascent and crossing, the descent was less impressive. Several factors contributed to this. Firstly it was ridiculously long and arduous through monotonous scenery on gravel path. Secondly we had run out of water just before beginning the descent and the heat of the day was beginning to take its toll. Finally the water we had drunk had well and truly been processed by our bodies and was begging to be excreted. All these bodily trials and tribulations had the same effect as telling Greg it was a race to the bottom, and he powered home.

After a celebratory dinner we had an early night before the next day's excitement. We woke early on Sunday to an overcast sky and were disappointed to hear that, unless it cleared, our skydive would not go ahead. Luckily just before ordering a full English breakfast the skies began to clear and we were informed that the weather had met the conditions necessary to throw ourselves out of a plane.

We made our way to the airport and Greg took on his mute persona as he mentally processed what he had signed up to. Fortunately he was given the most over-enthusiastic German skydive instructor imaginable. Through constant video interviews, terrible jokes and encouragement the instructor finally managed to make Greg feel even more terrified than he had before. Unfortunately by this stage he had somehow tricked Greg into a harness and onto a plane...no backing out now. Not a big fan of flying at the best of times, let alone when he is expected to jump from the plane, Greg began to look around for comfort or signs of encouragement. The sight of the pilot also wearing a parachute did little to ease his nerves. Claire on the other hand was in the company of a cool dreadlocked dude and was frantically trying to hide her ring.

Jumping out of an aeroplane is difficult to describe unless you have done it. It's not falling, the ground doesn't rush up towards you, but it does strange things to your face (see photos/video). What Greg can tell you with confidence is that if you have your mouth open the whole way you get a very dry mouth and when the parachute is pulled your crotch seems to take the bulk of the impact. Shortly after jumping out of the plane Tom gave the camera a thumbs up, it was only when we watched the video afterwards that he realised his fear had made him forget to stop giving a thumbs up and he had held the position for the entire freefall. Claire spends the bulk of her video fruitlessly trying to unblock her ever troubling ears, which results in the appearance of a toddler in a harness pulling strange faces. She remained deaf for 48 hours afterwards. The views over Taupo were spectacular and the experience was unforgettable.

2 days later, this happened...http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30706236