What did you get up to over the holidays?

During the summer break Mr McCreery and I walked the Tongariro Crossing. We set off at 6.40am on a beautiful clear and chilly morning and six and a half hours later we made it to the other side!!  We started our trek at the Mangatepopo carpark and made our way up the valley to Mount Tongariro. Phew! what a hike it was!! But the views were amazing!!
As we climbed and climbed and climbed we could see for miles towards the west, - even Mount Taranaki was popping its head up through the clouds in the far distance.
We stopped above the Blue and Green lakes to have an early lunch and by then we had certainly earned it.
By this time I was starting to feel every muscle in my legs but the spectacular views and scenery softened the pain.
 Red, brown and black volcanic magma and scoria,  and the smell of sulphur, surrounded us  for the remainder of our trek.
 There must have been over 500 people, many of whom spoke a foreign language, enjoying the Crossing that day.
I can now see why some people say  the Tongariro Alpine Crossing is the best one-day trek available in New Zealand, and others say it ranks among the top ten single-day treks in the world.