Day 84: Tongariro Alpine Crossing‏

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Last night the hostel partied hard... We however did not as we had to begin our journey to the national park at 5.30am. I barely slept a wink but I think that may have been a mixture of the loud music and the adrenaline from the sky dive. We started the track at 7.00am and had a 10 hour walk ahead of us. Due to the volcanic eruption in August 2012 part of the original crossing is closed, therefore we opted for the 'highlights' walk which includes the famous Mount Doom from The Lord of the Rings. I can safely say that this was the hardest mountain I've ever climbed, but the views from the top were phenomenal. I particularly liked the emerald lakes, that looked beautiful amidst the brown volcanic soil. Infact if you picked up the soil it was hot - pretty scary stuff. After a painful descent down Mount Doom we spent the evening relaxing our muscles in the natural hot pools in Taupo.

Bailey's bit: Oddly, in possibly the noisiest hostel we stayed in, I managed to sleep well while Cat struggled. Today was certainly long and at times stressful but it was worth the effort. We climbed Mount Doom (or Mount N.......) with two Danish girls, Nicolene and Stephanie, Stephanie was fairly cautious of the terrain but after a bit of coaxing we managed to get her to the top. From there you can see the steam rising from the active volcano and also see a steaming vent at the summit of the climb which is somewhat unnerving. We screed down the loose stone to get down so while it took us 1 hour 45 minutes to get up it only took about 40 minutes to descend.

Daily mileage: 0 but I think all the climbing and walking will count towards 'active recovery'.

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