South again, past the 'great lake' and Turangi. We stopped off at Tongariro National Park (again?) for a trek through native bush. Yet more tremendous views, waterfalls and mighty volcanic scenery. For the afternoon we slowly departed civilisation and headed to River Valley (population = the staff of the hostel) buried amonsgst yet more green-topped hills and formidable cliffs. After settling in, spent the late having a refreshing dip in the river. It wasn't...

First off, ignore the photo - it's just the best view of Taupo. Today was a lazy start followed by a lazy ride back to Taupo. Mor eglorious scenery etc. Very little to report. Watched England's rugby league team (or 'Team Gillette Fusion') get beaten.

Keen to hone my riding skills I joined the morning ride out to see the sunrise and so, aboard the faithful 'Apache', I was among the handful of people to see the sun rise albeit with a smattering of cloud precluding the awesome photograph I had pictured in my mind. Yet more amazing trekking to be had on this trip, and having had some practice yesterday I think I may even have been in control as we sped along the beach. I should apologise to Apache for getting h...

It seems I will simply have to wait til another year to dive with sharks, as today they simply weren't playing. Up at 6am, we spent a good 5 hours at sea searching for them, and only found two. Of course, they didn't show up til we'd pulled the cage up, and were gone before we could get it in the water again! It was at least a good fishing trip - the two sharks we saw included one that was on the end of our fishing line - catching all manner of things be they ...

Today was the first day of 'East As', billed as the way to see the Maori way of doing things. Obviously, the Maori way of doing things is to get up very early in the morning after not getting much sleep. The first stop of the day was at Whakatane, where Pedro (our guide) instructed us in how to seek a blessing from a tree. It seems the way to garner the favour of the elders (embodied in the tree) for a journey is to place an offering of flowers and other plantli...