I walked through Mordor and across Mt. Doom!

Today was far too amazing for me to run out of time to tell you about it. We didn't really do a whole lot yesterday so it's no big ddeal if I leave it until later.

This morning I got up at 5.30am and then about 20 people from the group went to do the Tongariro Crossing. This is a 18km hike (the one I did was 3km more though because we walked up to the summit of Mt. Tongariro) that crosses the plains that were used as Mordor in Lord of the Rings and partly up the Mt. Ngauruhoe (the mountain used for Mt. Doom). I made sure I had time to grab a coffee before we left just to make sure I was awake enough, although I've not had trouble getting up early at all this holiday. We were picked up by a bus and taken to the start of the walk. Although we all started out walking kind of together we ended up all splitting up because we all have different fitness levels. I pretty much stayed in the lead group until we split off to go up to the summit which was an optional extra. We had no guide but everything was very clearly marked.

The weather couldn't have been more perfect today. We had clear blue skies all day, only a few banks of clouds on the horizon. I had to make sure I was covered in sun cream. I've still burnt a little I think, but not much. The landscape was simply increadible. It actually looks as barren as it does in the film. There is next to no vegetation, and no wildlife. It's all just rock and more rock. I think there isn't much vegetation as the volcaneos are still active and there is a lot of sulphur. There is even smoke coming out of the rocks in places! It is possible to follow a horrendously steep looking track up to the summit of Mt. Doom and walk around the crater, but it takes an extra 2 hours and is quite dangerous because the rocks are quite sharp, I don't think I would do it unless I had proper walking boots (something to do on my next trip here). The views from the summit of Mt. Tongariro were still amazing. You could see for miles. On a clear day you can see from coast to coast. We caught up the rest of teh group just as they were finishing lunch. As they walked off (slowly) we had lunch next to 3 lakes called the emerald pools. They were a dazzling bluey green and just looked incredible. After ham and cheese sandwiches and a bit of a break we were off again, trying to catch up to the group ahead. This was on the way down so the incline wasn't a problem. On the way up it was very steep in places but not too hard, the wind was the only issue, it was so fierce!

We caught the group up again at a water and toilet station on the other of the mountain. One of the guys in the group I was walking in (there was me, Tom (an American), Simon (Belgian), Stephan (German) and Anil (he's from Glasgow!!!)) was a bit sick when we stopped so we fell behind a bit. As of then it all got a bit competitive. There was 6km to go, all down hill, and we walked and jogged down. I think we made it in about 45 minutes. When we caught up to the group we ended up pretty much sprinting, it was hilarious. We made it back just ahead of most people so we were very pleased with ourselves. The whole walk, with a trip to the summit, and 2 half an hour breaks took 6 and a half hours. We were all really glad of the jog at the end because I think we are all a little bit mental. I loved every second of it!

Tonight we are going out for dinner and then for a big night out although everyones feet hurt alot so there might not be that much dancing!

Just quickly, yesterday was a very chilled out day. I had a lie in because I did the tubing the afternoon before and then we got the bus and drove to Taupo. We stopped off at Huka Falls which is this awesome stretch of rapids and a waterfall. The water was so blue!

At Taupo, we went down to the big lake here and sunbathed for a bit. After that I went to the supermarket for supplies for today. In the evening I went for dinner with quite a few of the group and then we went to the pub. We were all up for a big night but were (mostly) very well behaved and didn't drink. We just danced a lot and then got to bed for midnight.
Eek, times about to run out!!!!
xx