You say tomato and I say Te Mata

Checked in to Hastings for the night to climb the Te Mata peak before heading into Napier. Its only a baby by recent standards at just over 400meters but with some pretty impressive views over the Hawks Bay region from the top. 

On the way down caught a glimpse of what looked like the worlds steepest and most hair raising mountain bike track. We happen to know a keen
mountain biker in Nay's brother who would no doubt jump, quite literally. at the chance to plummet off the edge. We'll be meeting up with them out here for Xmas so hopefully the picture below will provide just a little taster of whats to come!

We are planning a much more impressive climb. The Tongariro National Park is one of only 3 world heritage sites in NZ and home to what is considered the best one day hike in the country, The Tongariro Alpine Crossing. We're planning to tackle this head on after some time at lake Taupo. The walk starts from 1100 meters up and traverses through two Volcanoes, Mount Pukekaikiore and Mount Ngauruhoe. Currently we're told that both of these summits are still snow covered and so should only be attempted by experienced ice climbers with axes and crampons....we'll see. The walk provides the chance to cross incredible volcanic terrain and view volcanic lakes, steam vents and craters - hopefully it will be like a scene from Dante's Peak.

The whole national park was used as Mordor in the Lord of the rings trilogy and the second mountain mentioned, Mount Ngauruhoe, was the actually site of Mount Doom where Frodo and Sam ascend to destroy the ring. 

We have a ring, so now all we need to do is find a couple of hobbits, recruit someone who looks like Gollum and we'll let you know how we get on...