Tongariro crossing

I am now in Taupo, central to the north island and famous for it's giant lake.
Today i got up at 5.30 and went on a 18km walk, the bus dropped us off at the bottom of the hill and we "tramped" and sometimes had to climb over volcanoes. The terrain was changing all the time and it was VERY hard work. One part is called the Devils staircase and their not wrong about that! The volcanic, bubbly rocks were everywhere and you could really imagine how it all formed. We walked over the crater which was yellow and sandy. Unfortunetly the weather was quite bad for a lot of it and the clouds made it harder to see the amazing views, i think it would be stunning when its sunny. It's actually where parts of the lord of the rings was filmed. All the volcanoes are still active so you had that funny egg smelling gas floating around.
It reminded me of woodcraft because everyone was kind of trailing after each other and then we stopped and had a packed lunch, i could also see who's personalities were like those of woodcraft, old enthusiastic hippies at the front, and the moaning "why did we come on this walk" white trainer wearing types.
It was supposed to take 8 hours but our little group did it in 7 yay!

I'm off to Rotorua tomorrow for a night of Maori fun and have a relax in the natural baths.
xxx