Tongariro Crossing

Easter weekend we headed to the Tongariro Crossing for NZ's greatest day hike...

Joe with Mt Doom (from Lord of the Rings apparently-- I haven't seen it....)

we had planned to go earlier in the week but nasty blizzards kept every one out of the park, we only ran into a little snow by the time we got in

it was a wonderful hike.... just us and a few THOUSAND other people!!!!

it was a very popular hike and even more popular holiday weekend!!!

views from the saddle

more mt doom pics

joe with the red crater in the background

crater lake

ocean views

the emerald lakes

standing on water on such a holy holiday

Mt. Taranaki

On a luckily clear and sunny day Joe and I climbed the roughly 8,000' Mt. Taranaki.

A large volcano that dominates the skyline of the North Island, the view from a top is amazing beings how there is nothing else around!

The climb was very steep making for awesome shadows on the way up

Climbing up the scree was the most difficult part, it was literally 2 steps forward, 1 step back

Joe above the cloud line

after another hour or so of boulder climbing we finally ascended into the snow filled crater

a quick (and steep) 45 mins from the crater brings you to the top of the world!!

dont jump joe!!

the craziest part of the climb were these extreme unicyclists who carried their wheel(?) up to the top and then raced down with film crew in strategic areas...

pretty impressive although they seemed to fall more than they stayed on!

they showed us some pretty crazy tricks... but still "extreme unicycling????"

Abel Tasman:: Sea Kayaking

We did a 4 day kayaking trip around the Abel Tasman. It was awesome!!
The weather was great, the scenery amazing, and the baby seals tons of fun!

Split rock

Our own private island for the day!

We hopped on shore for a bit to do some of the hike by land.. we headed to Cleopatra's Pools... some awesome freshwater swimming holes with slides and falls carved out of smooth river rock (the water was a bit cold for swimming then though)

This sand was coarser than any I have ever seen, it was surprisingly soft still though

Joe!F

drying his wings in the sun

shags on the lookout for dinner

this island harbored any amazing amount of fur seals.. and they are very friendly.
we had about 5 babies very interested in us and were playing games all around our kayak

glamour shot

playful pups

shark!!

or a twirling, swimming mama seal

Joe trying to lose some fingers

a nursing pup