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Tongariro Crossing
The 17km hike over the Tongariro Crossing was well worth it and understandably the best one day walk in New Zealand. After a long climb we reached the Red Crater which is still an active volcano and last erupted in 1995. It was quite amazing as we walked around the crater with smoke rising from the ground.
After a steep decent we reached Emerald Lakes where we stopped for lunch before our last ascent to central crater followed by a 3 hour walk downhill to Ketatahi through nearby springs and native forests. The only dissapointing thing was the amount of people doing the walk.
River Valley
We spent the next night in River Valley Lodge ready for white water rafting the following day. River Valley is one of the few commercial grade 5 white water rafting rivers in New Zealand.
The start of the river only contained the smaller rapids which was great for learning simple commands from our guide. This prepared us for the grade 4/5 rapids where we all needed to work together so we didn't die... It was hard work but we had an ore-some time!
Horse Riding at Waikanae
We reached a place called Waikanae and decided to go horse riding as the weather was great and it was a chance for us to ride on the beach. We met our instructor, Moira and she took us to the field where we caught our own horses and tacked up back at the yard. We began our hack across the fields and along the river to the beach.
I'd only ridden once before but got the hang of it quickly and managed to gallop along just about keeping up with Jo & Moira. Jo had a brilliant time being back in the saddle after so long.
After I mentioned I was an Accountant back home Moira asked me to look at her books so bribed with a home cooked curry and a warm bed for the night, we accepted.
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