This morning we got up at 6.00am (as quiet as poss, so as not to disturb Alex and the bloke in our room), checked out by 6.45am and were ready waiting for our 7.00am free ferry shuttle. We arrived at the ferry terminal about 7.30am and were luckily near the start of the queue to check-in, after us the line rapidly increased and annoying Nelson-girl pushed in with us and Jorste, how rude! By 7.45am we had checked in our rucksacks and on board the ex-channel ferr...

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 ...