A great trip. Well organized from before the trip even started. The Active staff ensured that everything was set to go and sent out reminders about anything that had not been completed. Pieke was outstanding, always ready with a story or some historical fact about the area. She worked hard with all the meals and activities and transportation so I didn't have to. This really allowed the whole group to be relaxed and enjoy the week. Each and every day was well planned and timed to fit everything in, there was very little downtime, which I found to be great. We fit in as much as possible and made the most out of the daylight hours. Meals were scrumptous, something for everyone with a lot of opportunity to eat and do uniquely NZ things. Pieke made sure that if there was anything anyone liked to eat or wasn't fond of that it was available or another option was available. The trips on each day were designed to fit in a full day of activity but with enough time to relax and eat in the morning, strenuous enough to make you ready to crash in bed at night, but also varied enough so you could make it as physically difficult as you wanted. To sum up... My favorite meal was the first nights dinner at Fat Dog due to the the coolness of the restaurant and the volume of lamb shanks I consumed (but every place we ate at was terrific)... Favorite activity is a tie between Tongariro Crossing and black water rafting at Waitomo. Tongariro because of the awe inspiring moonscapes and Waitomo because how often do you get to go tubing in a cave?

| January 1970