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Published: February 19th 2007
The Start
7-8 hours, pah!I've only ever "walked" for a couple of hours up till now so the thought of a 6-8 hours one was somewhat daunting. More so in fact than the skydive. However we'd already read it's one of the best one day walks in the world and anyone who'd done it said it was amazing. So we made sure we had sandwiches, water, waterproofs, sunblock, machine guns etc all ready for the Togariro Crossing. It's a path through the mountains Tongariro & Ngaruahoe (Mt Doom). We were up early at our hostel for the pick up (about 7.45am) from there we got to the place about 9.30. The driver told us he'd pick us up at 4pm but not to worry if we took longer. as he'd wait. About 9 of us were doing it though some crazy people had got up even earlier to climb Ngaruahoe. I couldn't be bothered, one because it meant 5am wakeup and two because it meant an extra 2 hours walking and hard walking at that. Our driver Scoobs (a nickname, don't know why) warned us all that the start was the worst bit and was known as Devil's staircase. After that it wasn't supposed to
Deb Start
Ready to go. be too bad. We also had to sign another waiver about no blame being laid if bad things happened to us.
The first hour or so seemed quite easy, there were a few bits to climb but we hardly thought it should be called the devil's staircase. We hadn't actually got to that bit yet which we found out shortly after... It really was a devil getting up there, it was steep, had lots of loose rocks and it twisted a bit so that you thought you could see the top when all you were looking at was another turn. I finally got to the top and waited for Debbie who insisted I just wait at the top for her. The views were really good from there and we then set off again across the South Crater to climb up to the red crater. Though the climb up this one wasn't as bad we were still tired so our morale was pretty low, to the point where we considered turning back. We carried on though and it was well worth it.
Once at the top you get to see the Emerald lakes, the Red Crater and the Blue
Mt Doom
Without the special effects added but recognisable. Lake. From here the way down is all loose dirt and rock. Whilst the professional walkers carefully made their way down with sticks I found the easiest way was to almost be falling back and walk fast. I got down in about 5 minutes (g.d.s.o.a.b for the Marenghi fans) and then had to get the binoculars out to find Debbie. Once both down we walked to the Blue lake and had lunch. We passed the halfway mark meaning it'd be 4 hours back either way. We had a little bit more uphill before a lot of zig zagging down to the hut which only took about an hour. From here it was a 2 hour walk to the end. The problem was that after a while you were surrounded by bush so you didn't know how far away from th eend you were or if you were definitely going in the right direction. At this point I decided to go on ahead to make sure we got to the bus on time. I made it before 4pm and Debbie was only a few minutes behind. It really does test you but you feel good for doing it and some of
Top of Devil Staircase
About 5 minutes earlier I was too hot but once up top there's quite a chill. the things you see are breathtaking and you need to see them for yourself.
That evening, too tired to cook we went to a local kiwi pub. The following 2 days were spent lazing around trying to recover, lazing around and using the free hot tub. The hostel we're in is better than most of the hotels we've stayed in, let along hostels! We set off for Wellington tomorrow.
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Chris
non-member comment
Don't forget Debbie
Read your account on Tongariro Crossing, don't leave my Debbie behind, she might get lost and you promised me you would look after her! PS Love your headgear in the pub Mike, suits you! can't wait to read the next instalment. Chris