'Mount Doom'

Today our alarm woke us up at 4.45am for the Tongariro Alpine crossing! We started the walk at half 7, although it was freezing cold, we were too distracted by the views of the rising sun behind the mountains to complain. We then plucked up the courage to climb the active volcano 'Mt Ngauruhoe' (also known as 'mount doom' from The Lord of The Rings). The climb was by far the most physically and mentally challenging thing we've ever done! The mountain is 2291 m tall and the incline was ridiculously steep. We were climbing up on all fours, hanging onto rocks, and slipping down gravel (alarmingly we had to be on alert for falling rocks!). Although it seemed never ending, when we finally reached the top, it felt extremely exhilarating- with the best 360 panoramic landscape views we had ever seen. Coming back down the mountain was another story, I fell over about a million times, but eventually got the hang of sliding down the rocks. We then did the Tongariro crossing- a challenging walk along volcanic terrain, where we saw the most amazing emerald and blue lakes, deeply coloured by volcanic minerals.
10 and a half hours later and we were dead!