Taupo

Day 1: Back onto Toddy's bus early doors for the trip further up the north island towards Taupo. It was just a night in Wellington for me because I'm having to move pretty quick and will be stopping off there again on the way back down south. The Canadians were spending that extra day though so we said goodbye before hopefully meeting up again in Taupo.

As we headed north, the clipboard came round the bus for us to sign up for a Skydive that very afternoon. I've done one previously when back in the U.K and was really looking forward to doing it again so I signed up along with about 10 others on the coach. Early afternoon, Toddy dropped us off at the site.

Of those that had put their names down, I was the only one to have done one previously so the staff asked me to tell the others what it was like. ''Awesome'' was my description, although I'm not sure it helped to calm all the obvious nerves that were apparent in the room. Having done it previously, I felt pretty calm.

After the briefing, we all chose the package we wanted. In my case, it was a 15,000 ft Skydive with the video footage to go with it. The package also included interviews with me before, on the plane and after the jump. After signing up, we met our instructors and the guy I had looked exactly like Tom Cruise, which was pretty funny. We then boarded the plane in preparation for the jump. Also onboard were Sam and David - 2 lads I had met on the bus earlier in the day.

The jump istelf was incredible and a lot more enjoyable than the first Skydive I did. Whereas with that one, I had trouble breathing against all the wind resistance, with this jump I knew fully what to expect and was therefore able to take it all in and enjoy it even more. The 15,000 ft option meant we were free-falling for around 1 minute before the chute comes out. During this, the camera guy and me were grabbing hold of each other and just basically messing around mid-air. It was awesome and looks really good on the DVD, which I'll be happy to show you all when I'm back home.

After what seemed like a very fast minute, the chute came out and we spent the next 5 minutes slowly descending towards the ground. The instructor (actual name Andrew but I was still calling him Tom) let me take over the chute controls and spin us in circles as we made our way back down, which was really fun. I just kept telling him that I wanted to get straight back up there and do it again. An incredible experience, which I would recommend to anyone.

Safely back on the ground, we all compared our jumps before watching everyone's DVDs in the cinema room. We then got escorted into Taupo in some style - a Limo no less. A great afternoon and again, one of the best things I've ever done.

It was then a pretty chilled evening at the hostel as I was getting up at 5.30 the next morning for the Tongariro Alpine Crossing - voted the best hike in New Zealand and one of the top 10 walks anywhere in the world. I met an aussie guy called Harrison and an irish girl called Linda and we just hung out in the communal area.

Day 2: I managed to get up ok and was joined on the transfer over to Tongariro National Park by Kent (US), Anna (Germany) and David (from the skydive). The transfer took about an hour and a half so we were ready to start the hike just after 7am.

The hike itself is 20km long and was expected to take between 7-8 hours. Prior to departing, our driver told us the deadline for getting finished and also gave us a number to ring in case we would be late or any of us got lost, as has happened many times apparently. The crossing has even claimed a few lives according to her so it was a good job the weather was pretty decent, if quite chilly to begin with.

The walk was brilliant. It's quite tricky and demanding at times because of the unstable volcanic rocks and some of the steep hills we had to navigate. The track took us all the way across the National Park and provided some incredible views of the surrounding Mountains, Volcanoes and Lakes. Many of the scenes from the Lord of the Rings films were shot here as well, including Mt Doom, which we had the opportunity to hike up if we wanted. This added another 3 hours to the hike and we were feeling the pace anyway so we gave it a miss (apart from Kent who took it on). We also wanted to make sure we got it all done in time for our transfer back to Taupo.

We finished the hike at about 3pm, all feeling pretty shattered. It was an incredible walk though and an absolute must-do for anyone in this part of New Zealand. Unbelievably, Kent joined us at the finish about 15 minutes later, which we couldn't believe considering the extra mountain climb he had added in (he was a machine). After a thoroughly enjoyable, if demanding day, the 4 of us then got the bus transfer back to Taupo.

Arriving back at the hostel, I bumped into Sam, Ali and Danielle, who had got the bus up from Wellington that day. Sam and Ali had booked to do the crossing the following morning so I filled them in on what they had to look forward to. Danielle decided to give it a miss and would therefore be joining me on the bus up to Auckland the next day. The 4 of us, along with David, spent the evening hanging out at the hostel.