Police have confirmed the group travelling in the van that collided with a milk tanker near Reporoa on the central plateau were here on a school trip.

The two teachers and seven students from Queensland's Noosa Pengari Steiner School had been exploring the country for a week and were due to fly back home tomorrow.

However their trip came to a tragic end when the van they were travelling in collided with an oncoming milk tanker yesterday.

They'd been on their way back to Rotorua after having walked the Tongariro Crossing.

The driver of the van, 36-year-old Andre Vogel, died at the scene along with 16-year-old student Gabriel Runge.

Another sixteen year old student is in Waikato Hospital's Intensive Care Unit in a critical condition.

One teenager was discharged from Rotorua Hospital this morning.

The teacher and remaining students being treated in Rotorua have now been discharged from hospital.

The 60-year-old driver of the tanker was taken to Rotorua Hospital and has since been discharged.

Police have made contact with the Australian families of the two victims.