We made it!

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We did the Tongariro Crossing today. It is a 17km hike that takes you across several craters and by the side of a volcano. The superfit people can hike up this as an aside to the main track! The hike, although hard going in places, was excellent. There were really good views and the scenery was amazing. A lot of this area was used in Lord of the Rings and we saw "Mt Doom".

The hike involved two really steep climbs. They were far more of a climb than I was expecting but we both made it after lots of scrambling!

The weather was so changeable in the mountains. I had never seen anything like it. When we got to the south crater it was clear blue skies. Within a couple of minutes the whole crater had filled with cloud. Then just as quickly all the cloud had gone. I had never experienced weather like it.

It was a brilliant hike but we are so tired now. We will sleep well tonight!

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