Tongariro Crossing

After a 4:30am wake-up, we were greeted by our bus driver, who we swear should be a Tracey Ullman character. She was the most bubbly & off beat Kiwi we've met so far. Her "Hello Lovelies" greeting at 5am was amazing. Little did we know at that point what the day had in store for us. We thought we were going on a day walk not a 7 hour gruelling hike to the top of the tallest peak on the North Island of NZ - Mt. Tongariro! Our bodies are still recovering but it was truly exhilarating. Check our link to The Spot (on the right side of this blog) to see exactly where we were on the mountain!

Hobbit Ian...

The Emerald Lake (yes, that's the actual name)...

Lunch at the Emerald Lake...

Walking into a cloud in a volcanic crater (pretty standard really)...

Walking on the moon...

We thought we were near the end of the trek, but little did we know we had another 2 km to go...

Watch how you go...

Ian & Greg

Road to Rotorua & Lake Taupo

Where we stopped for lunch on the way to Rotorua...
Eating our new favorite breakfast, lunch, and dinner...PB&J!

Mountain Biking in Lake Taupo...

Huka Falls...

We weren't feeling Rotorua so after a night in our hostel, Astray (which we like to call an ash tray) we headed straight to Lake Taupo. We checked into the Rainbow Lodge which we nicknamed the Rainbow Playhouse. Who knew we would feel so old on this trip. The average age of the people staying there was 19. But it was really cool when we walked into the kitchen and saw a BRC (Black Rock City) sticker on someone's laptop. Turns out he's a Burner from San Diego and he's going to the Kiwi Burn coming up in February.

Mountain Biking was awesome. The river was crystal clear and at the end of our ride we were able to take a dip in a natural hot spring. We went to bed early to prep for our next day...the Tongariro Crossing.

ALEXIS - how was Aruba? We wish we could have been on the lazy river with you! Did you go down the slide again? We love and miss you more than you can imagine. We never had a little girl, we never had a little girl...

Watch how you go...

Ian & Greg

On the Road

Just arrived in Rotorua. This video was taken on our drive down...

JULIA & ANDREW - Rotorua is famous for their natural mineral springs. What smelly mineral is found in natural springs?

Watch how you go...

Ian & Greg

Cruise on Bay of Islands

Now we know how fish feel...

If you look really hard you can see a T-Rex...

Our dream home...

Who would have thought Ian as a tree-hugger...

Took our first step out of our comfort zone today by jumping off the side of a boat into freezing waters in the hopes of swimming with dolphins. All that ended up happening was us being dragged like caught fish in a net! It was still amazing...we'll let the pictures speak for themselves (plus we're still sea sick so can't write much).

Watch how you go...

Ian & Greg

Russell, Bay of Islands

After a 3.5 hour drive north of Auckland, we arrived in the Caribbean. It's amazing how this small country can have every climate in the world. We are in a small beach village called Russell that is so peaceful all you hear is the chirping of the birds. The pier in town is the jumping off point to explore the Bay of Islands. Our plan is to stay a few days, chilling on the beach and taking a tour of the islands and swimming with the dolphins. Our first dose of budget reality came around dinner time, which consisted of crackers and a hunk of cheddar (okay we had some wine too).

ANDREW & JULIA: People from New Zealand are called _______? Hint: it's a type of fruit.

Watch how you go...

Ian & Greg