Day Three

I'm going to hog the first bit of the blog today so I can have a rave about one of the most fantastic days across the Tongariro Crossing I have ever had. The weather was perfect, warm but not too hot, and clear blue skies. It was spectacular. I was lucky enough to take a small group (Jodi, David, James & Sho) up Ngarauhoe, which took only just over two hours...a huge effort. The views from the top were to die for and because we had time on our side we could enjoy both the crater rim AND the true summit, something that hasn't been done on a Freyberg trip before and something that was great to be part of. The puns from David & James came thick and fast..."what was the PORPOISE of the trip? To get the ENDOLPHINS flowing". After shingle sliding down the mountain we caught up with the rest of the group for lunch and enjoyed the rest of the crossing with them. An amazing day!

So the three groups continued their rotations today. Rhyolite did the crossing, Andesite went rafting and Basalt did the field studies. Here's some of the classic stories from the day...

Rhyolite: As earlier said, it was a perfect day for the Tongariro crossing. Matt Rennie took up a left-field challenge to carry a 6kg rock up the Devil's staircase. Why? hard to know, but impressive? Oh, yes! Jodi Curtis, after having climbed Ngaruahoe and catching up with the main group for lunch, carried on down the rest of the mountain, running parts of the way and finishing the whole trip at the front of the group - exhausted? No, she was ready for more. How does she do it....Maybe we should ask Mr Young, who did the crosssing for the 2nd day in a row and is lining up a 3rd tomorrow!

Andesite: After Miss Stewart entertained everyone by putting on her life jacket backwards (accidentally) and looking like a tele-tubby the group hit the water. Georgie, Katie & Moana tell me... their mouths got full of water from all the waves splashing over, Roanna put her helmet on backwards, they laughed their heads off from Tommo's (the guides) lame jokes, got numb from the cold from their swim half way down the river and felt like beach whales when they got pulled back into the rafts (very funny !). The group also enjoyed Pukawa for a swim and Tokaanu to look at the hot springs, where this photo was taken...

Basalt: Mr Collier totally had everyone sucked in when he was giving a talk to the group up at Whakapapa today when he fell backwards (well purposefully leaped backwards) down a ledge out of view from the group. Some students were very relieved to see him reappear shortly after, nasty trick! A perfect day for field studies again today.

Lawrence & the field studies group measuring daisies