Hey everyone! Let's see where did i leave off..... So I left Auckland on Saturday morning. Glad to get out of the city... Drove pretty much all afternoon through small towns and more farms. Hard to believe how many cows and sheep their are in this country! Haha. Pulled into Rotorua that afternoon and stopped by Agroventures, a place where they have all sorts of adrenaline rush rides, which are overpriced AND were stopping there when i go back to Rotorua for Australearn cultural week. Then went and stopped by the Redwood forest which was really beautiful. Dropped off that night at Kiwipaka hostel, decided to stay in my tent for a couple nights. Had some cool tent neighbors, Galen from Scotland and Star from Canada. Speaking of Canada, I have been mistaken for a Canadian about 4x now. haha. I actually don't mind much. Eh? Went out on a walk that night to try and find the grocery store and i wandered around for a good 2 hours, it helps to have a map! Rotorua is a geothermal wonderland aka realllly smelly as there is sulpher everywhere. There is steam even coming out of the sewer vents. Finally ended up at the government gardens where the Queen stayed when she visited NZ. It's a pretty cool place. Finally found the grocery store and then walked back through a park we were warned not to walk through at night. haha. It wasn't that dark. Signed up to go whitewater rafting in the morning. It was through a company called Katiaki rafting and the rapids are class five, which is the highest. Their company is the only commercially operated rafting company to raft down a 7 meter waterfall! Thats like 21 feet! It was a beautiful day and it was AMAZZZZZING. Such a blast, the guides were awesome and the ride was sick. I ended up in a raft with with a girl from Maine, One from germany and one from Holland. We all paid like 7$ and got a cd of the pictures. I was so exhausted that afternoon! I also think i got a little sick.... I made a stupid judgement of error and had bought some like salami at the store the night before, didnt even think about refridgerating.... felt like i was gonna throw up kind of that afternoon and my stomach was just in such a knot...... learned my lesson. Spent the next day in Rotorua as well, but it was a bit of a lazy day. Got on the bus monday morning and headed to Waitomo caves. Its a pretty cool little place but we stayed for like 3 hours. Most people went black water rafting and spent more money, but i just went into the caves where we had this guided tour through the caves and they had these really cool things called glow worms. So the cave was super dark but up top on the roof of it there were all these glowing things. It was pretty cool. Sat around for a couple of hours talking with a couple girls from Germany. If I were to take a tally of where all the people are from who i have met i think that the german travellers would win. Went on our way to Taupo, got here and stopped by Huka Falls, New Zealands version of Niagara falls. Stayed in a YHA hostel and made plans to do the Tongariro crossing on tuesday. It is supposed to be the best one day trek in the north island. The weather up there can change very rrapidly and so we werent really sure we would be able to do it or not. Woke up at 530 am to catch the bus at 6. We were told we could go do it. But the guide warned us to take warm clothing and plenty of food and ater just in case the weather changed drastically and we stuck on the volcano. Oh yeah, Mt Tongariro is the biggest mountain on the north island and has 3 volcanoes around it. One of them which is still active. Last eruption was in 1996. We got there in like an hour and it was the first time since i left NY that i was cold. It was probably 35 degrees at the base of the walk. And their was snow up on the peaks. I was wearing a pair of cargo shorts and a thermal shirt, and wool sweater. I was warm enough, but i had to put on my gloves and a warm hat. It was a total 19.5 kilometer walk. They dropped us off there and then would pick us up at 330 at a park on the other side of the walk. So thats like a 12 mile or so trek. It was amazing! The snow topped volcano and the unchanged countryside was beautiful, but cold. haha. Started the trek. Oh by the way I had on a hiking pack, had emptied out most of it in the hostel, but still was carrying about 20lbs. I knew it was gonna be rough. The first 5k was relatively flat and not to bad but then the next half was super extreme. haha. I was pretty sure i was in shape enough to do this walk. It was deff a challenge, but it was amazing. Got up to the center of the first crater and walked across it. The snow was becoming a bit more evident, but it didnt cover everything. But the wind was howling and the blue skies started to change some as we got higher up towards the clouds. Another steep ascent and the wind was blowing like 35 miles an hour and prolly only 10 feet visibility. It was as if i was climbing everest or something! Took a little rest at the highest point and made a stupid mistake. Had a photo taken and then continued on. Started to head back down and went to grab something out of my pack and realized i was missing one of my camera lens's. I was a littled frustrated. I figured i hadnt left it too far up because i remember changing my lens not to far up. Started to make my way back up, but realized how hard it was to go back up with the wind. Then, Thankfully, a man and his wife from London who i had spoke with a little earlier called to me and asked if i was missing a lens. I was so grateful! I was going to get very upset with myself if i lost my $200 lens on top of a volcano or someone picked it up. People are good in nature and I was happy. Started back down the path and reached the most amazing spot, the 3 baby blue geothermal lakes which stood out drastically against the arid and rocky desolate landscape of the volcanic area. I was getting pretty exhausted at this point and I was only like 10k into the whole walk. Took a lunch break and got some more great photos of the larget of the volcanic crater. It was breathtaking. Finished the last 9k in a slow pace, taking more and more photos. Had an amazing panoramic view of Lake Taupo and the other mountains nearby, by the way, Lake Taupo is supposed to be the size of singapore. It was the 4th volcano in the area and it erupted a few hundred thousand years ago and created this monster lake. Got back down the trail to the other carpark around 330 after leaving originally at like 730 for my walk. The last 2k seemed to drag on forever and i was just ready to be off the mountain by then. haha I fell asleep on the bus ride back to the hostel and then grabbed a bite to eat and sat in the hottub for a while to ease my soreness. Got a decent amount of sleep, minus this old guy who was in the bed next to me who must have had one of those holes in his neck from smoking or something. So every breath was like super loud. Didn't mean to sound upset, but i really just needed to pass out. Woke up this morning and here i am. Going to relax today and then back on the bus tomorrow to Wellington, the capital and where i will be attending university. I am going to stay a few days with some Hartwick best, but i am really looking forward to the South Island. Well until i get on again, adios all!