Lord of the Rings

---

Day 169 - Friday 7 March

I actually like Wellington so its dissapointing to leave but we've got to move on as we don't have long left in New Zealand.

The drive to Taupo should have taken about 4 hours but somehow it took us 7 hours (I'll admit we did take an hour detour the wrong way at one point). Apparently Taupos the cheapest and best place to do a skydive and the weather when we arrived was great. Blue skies with just a couple of clouds and absolutely no wind. Now i'm not getting cold feet (honestly) but I'd thought i'd just check the internet before booking my skydive. I discovered if I do it in South America instead its only 40 quid half the price it is here (although there were 4 deaths last year), so i'm going to put it off for a few more weeks and do it there. With a sigh of relief I can breath easy again.

There doesn't look that much to Taupo its only a small place but there are quite a few bars here. Im going to save it until tomorrow though so went back to the hostel to study some more Spanish. Reading those websites in Spanish has got me worried I don't know nearly enough.

Day 170 - Saturday 8 March

With no skydive to do instead we've decided to punish ourselves and climb a volcano instead. Its going to be a long day so we were up by half seven. Usually when I do a trip I get up no problem but for some reason I didn't want to get out of bed. I had the same feeling you get when the alarm goes off on a Monday morning and you've got a whole week of work ahead. Maybe my body knows something I don't.

Its a bit of a drive but we arrived mid morning at the base of Mt Ngauruhoe one of New Zealands most active volcanos and 2291m tall. Its also featured as Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings (I think the volcano where Frodo has to throw the ring into). It actually felt a bit lord of the Ringsy there and walking in the wilderness (all the tour groups had arrived hours earlier) you could imagine being Frodo on his quest towards the volcano.

Well I can tell you if I was Frodo i'd have dumped the ring halfway up the mountain and returned to the shire. Its hard work, 5 months of being a layabout and doing no exercise has taken its toll. How the hell i'm going to do the inca trail is anyones guess. Eventually somehow I made it but it was so cold up there that I only hung around for a minute before beginning the descent back down. Six hours after setting off we finally made it back. Luckily we had some beers in the back of the car so sat back and had a rewarding drink. It always seems to taste better just after you've done some hard work. Why is that?

With my muscles starting to sieze up we headed out for the night. Its a weekend and in these small towns you've got to make the most of it.

Day 171 - Sunday 9 March

After yesterdays exertions we've decided to stay in town another day and have a rest, so it was mid morning before I was up and about. With not much to do I popped into town to use the internet (I see a great result by Preston away at Charlton).

After that I had to go back and do my laundry then passed the rest of the afternoon by either reading or playing Championship manager on the PSP. Finally at the 3rd attempt i've managed to get Preston promoted to the premiership. As the hostel also has a spa (most of them do in New Zealand) I went for a dip before spending the rest of the night watching a dvd.

---

Photos

Mt Ngauruhoe aka Mt Doom -Lord of the rings
Pass me the ring Mr Frodo