our scouters, namely, TL Chiew Jian How, TL Jeffrey Goh Hong Soon, TL Kasyfil Aziz bin Yusof and TL Yan Chin Fei embarked on a quest to New Zealand. We set off on the 6th of December, 2002, with only one thing in mind to conquer Mount Ruapehu and Mount Tongariro. The Tongariro National Park covers an area of 800 square kilometres including three active volcanoes. The volcanoes that dominate this landscape are Mount Ruapehu (2797 metres), Mount Ngauruhoe (2287 metres), and Mount Tongariro (1967 metres).

DAY 1 & DAY 2: 6th - 7th December 2002 (Kuala Lumpur - Auckland)
We gathered at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in the evening to board our plane that would first take us to Singapore, where we would transit for another plane before boarding a direct flight to Auckland at 2000 hours. The flight took more than ten hours and during the flight, we were all anxious and excited after months of planning and preparing for this expedition.

The following day our plane had landed at around 1000 hours, local time. We took a cab and reached our hotel, which was located near the coast. Upon arriving at the hotel, we went sightseeing around town. We visited the historical Sir Robert Falcon Scott in Kelly's Underwater World. Sir Robert was the first ever to lead an expedition to the South Pole.

DAY 3: 8th December 2002 (Auckland - Tongariro National Park)
We called for a cab from the hotel to bring us to the Tranz Scenic train station. The train journey took five hours to reach our destination... Tongariro National Park. We reached Tongariro National Park at about 1500 hours and our transportation had been arranged for us. Our driver was a native Maori who was very friendly. Later that day we went to the climbers shop to gear ourselves up with climbing equipment

DAY 4: 9th December 2002 (Tongariro National Park)
We woke up early to start our journey. We gathered at the dining room to have our breakfast and we met our guide, Stewart, there. We got into a mini bus that took us to the track's starting point

The journey began at around 0830 hours. It started off with a slow ascent up towards Mount Ruapehu. The pace of the climb soon picked up as the terrain became tougher. The rocky terrain soon turned into a snow-covered terrain. At certain points, we had to walk over a thin layer of ice one-by-one with fear that the ice would crack and we might fall into the waterfall or the river that was flowing below us.

At noon, we stopped for shelter behind a big rock that would block the strong and cold wind from blowing, for lunch. We had a small break before continuing our journey. The wind was now blowing strongly. We were tired yet determined to conquer the peak of Mount Ruapehu. The weather was rather bad and after much persuasion, Stewart agreed to continue.

Finally after six hours of climbing, we reached the summit of Mount Ruapehu. We took some pictures in our uniform and hurried down after that. Coming down was easier as we were sliding most of the time.

DAY 5: 10th December 2002 (Tongariro National Park)
We had a small briefing before our second climbing today. We started by walking along the Tongariro Walk, which took us through deserts and bushes. The wind was worst here... dry, cold and sandy. We had difficulties walking and seeing ahead of us, and again, we had to depend on our climbing sticks. After all the pain and discomfort, we managed to reach the foot of Mount Tongariro after tramping for about three to four hours. The journey up Mount Tongariro was similar to the climb up Mount Ruapehu, except that the ground was soft and sandy and it was difficult for us to get a good grip. Towards the peak, the wind slowed down and we quickly took some pictures before the situation became worse. We had to put up with the smell of methane that came from the volcanic rocks while coming down. We passed the Emerald Lake, Lake Rotoaira and the Blue Lake. The Blue Lake had the best view among the other lakes. We returned to the hotel after eight hours and retired early to bed after dinner.

DAY 6 & 7: 11th - 12th December 2002 (Tongariro National Park - Palmerston North)
Throughout the whole day, we had spent most of our time shopping and making friends with some locals to learn about their culture. At night, we had a taste of a typical Western Christmas Dinner... roasted turkey, a live band and the hotel guest dancing. After enjoying ourselves, we went to bed.

The next day, we visited the Palmerston North University. We had a chance to watch the ADIDAS Institute of Rugby players undergo their training. No scouting trip is complete until we'd met up with the local scouts team here. We had a joint meeting at the Daytona Indoor Track It was fun for all of us as we were treated to a go-carting race. We played some of their traditional games, as well as exchanged knowledge with each other.

DAY 8 & 9: 13th - 14th December 2002 (Palmerston North - Wellington)
We visited the New Zealand Rugby Museum in the morning, as the country is well known around the world for its "All Blacks" rugby team. Later that day, we also visited the isolated Himatangi Beach. In the evening, we went shopping at a nearby shopping complex.

Our next day was spent travelling from Palmerston North to Wellington. We visited some of its historical sites. The Victoria View Point was where we could see the whole of Wellington. We spent some time there and hitched a ride down.

DAY 10: 15th December 2002 (Wellington)
At about 0900 hours we went to the Te Papa National Museum where we saw much more of the Maori culture. There was even a video footage of Mount Ruapehu erupting back in 1995. We had learnt a lot about Maori tradition and culture that day.

DAY 11: 16th December 2002 (Wellington - Auckland - Kuala Lumpur)
We woke up early that day and rushed to the Wellington airport. From there we took a flight to Auckland and then another flight to Singapore before finally reaching home... Malaysia. We were proud and satisfied with what we had achieved. Yet again, the name of Victoria Institution and the First Kuala Lumpur Scout Group has been upheld. We shall remember this in years to come as the Expedition to New Zealand 2002.

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