This morning we were up bright and early (as usual!) and were surprise how good our bones were feeling after yesterday exertion! We had some toast and jam and left the national park at 9.00am. It was a long-ish drive down to Wellington, we stopped for a coffee and caramel slice in one town and then made a couple of pick ups in a town called 'Bulls' before cruising into the capital at around 2.30pm. We checked into Base and headed straight out to the Te Papa muse...

After last nights disappointing news that the Tongariro Crossing was closed, we had a lie-in. We showered and went downstairs for breakfast and to make pack-up for the short 2 hour walk, with Dodgy, proposed to leave at 10.00am. However, whilst preparing pack-up news came through that the crossing was back on, as the winds had died down, Laura legged it upstairs to tell Sarah (who was finishing packing) the exciting news and we spent the next half hour 'layerin...

After a surprisingly good 'communal sleep', we were up at 7.00am and after toast and jam for breakie, we said goodbye to Uncle Boy and left the marae at 8.00am. It was a short journey into New Zealand's geothermic capital, Rotarua. We were dropped off at Te Puia, a geothermic and maori cultural centre (Dodgy lived up to his name and got us discounted entry by pretending we were with another tour company!). We had a quick look at the steam arising from the ground ...

This morning we were up and ready to leave at 8.00am. We headed straight to the Waitomo caves ready for our 10.00am trip in Haggas Honking Holes! Seven of us made the 15 minute bus journey with our guides Tony and Rob to the hut to don our wetsuits and wellies (Gumboots in NZ). After a brief training session on the hill we headed straight for the cave. We climbed a couple of ladders down then were straight into our first abseil. After making ourselves secure we ...

This morning we were up at 7.30am ready for our 8.30am departure, after a couple of brief stops we headed to the opposite side of the coast for the surf resort of Raglan. We arrived at Karioi Lodge, set in the middle of the bush, at 2.30pm. After a brief intro and a pumpkin soup lunch we joined some the group in the one hour bush walk loop on the side of the mountain. We enjoyed the steep up and down walk in the rugged terraine, encouraging a fellow traveller,...