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Published: January 27th 2008
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Early start for us today at 5am for a 05.40am bus to Tongariro National Park - ouch! We decided to do the day trip from Taupo as we like Taupo and wanted to stay longer and although we are heading that way dow, we heard that as people know that you will be away from your car for 8 hours as it's an all day trek there are a lot of break ins!
We arrived at Mangetepopo in the National Park for the walk and set off at 07.15am, the walk is called the Tongariro Crossing and is one of New Zealands best walks as it goes over 2 volcanoes and through volcano craters and much much more! It started off pretty flat and relatively easy up to Soda Springs, a few uphill accross the rocks but nothing too bad! The scenery from the start was lovely, very familiar to Lord of the Rings!!
After Soda Springs the next step was what they call Devil's Staircase and we now know why!! It is very steep and very rocky, some parts we had to partial rock climb as the steps (and I use this term very losely!) were really big so
you had to haul yourself up a bit! It took us about 40 mins to get up there and we needed the rest! Don;t be deceived by the title staircase as it was definitely not! I don't know about the devil but it was a bitch to climb!!! A lot of this pathway was used as the road to Mordor though in Lord of the Rings, I could have been stepping where Elijah Wood stepped!
Anyhow, our legs recovered and we continued on...at the top of Devil's Staircase was the entry to South Crater. At this point we were 3/4 of the way up Mount Ngaurhoe (yeah I know - you try and pronounce it!) which we know as Mount Doom! you could do the summit walk but it is very challeging and they said if you found Devil's Staircase EASY then go for it...mmmmmmm we opted out, and we only had trainers on so didn't think it would be a good idea!! Swe carried on through South Crater which was nice and flat and very impressive walking through a crater! Then we had our next big climb of the day to Red Crater which was Ok at forst
and then we got to a lot fo loose stones and shale so it was hard work going up as we kept skidding!! It also quite narrow with steep drops on each side so Lou was half crawling up there at one point! (that old fear of heights again! oopsy!) She did well though but wasn't feeling the love, we hadn't really thought about the fact it may be quite steep with big drops!! This was our highest point of 1886m at the top and the view was brilliant! You could see so far and all the different colours in the craters, you could see the mountains in the distance which had snow on the top as well! As we got over the top you could see 3 stunning emerald lakes over the other side, they were so green. We didn't hang around at the top for ages as Lou wanted to get down which was fun! It was a lot more shale and big drops either side so Lou opted for the bottom surfing as she was closer to the ground and then I chose the shale skateboarding technique which was a new one! We had to empty our
shoes at the bottom though! Thenb Lou went and tripped over a rock on the flat and scraped all her leg and hands! ooh dear!
All the volcanoes on the walk are active, the last erruption was in 1996 but only a little one! We then hit central crater which was massive and very flat which was nice on the legs! We then had a short steep climb up to Blue Lakes and once you got over the top the scenery just changed again completely! Instead of all the rock, volcanic crater etc it was like a countryside walk at home! All green with flowers and little footpaths and streams - crazy! We could see Lake Taupo from there though which was impressive! We ate lunch at the Ketetahi hut which was nice with great voew and then mooched on. It was pretty much all down hill on the way back apart from a few bits and bobs which you think would be lovely but our legs were so heavy it was a lot of pressure on them! Lou lept tripping up over everything and stumbling! The track then went through a massive waterfall and thermal springs and then
through really tall grass so we were surrounded either side and then after a while it went to forrest! We made it back to the coach to find about 20 people all lying collapsed on the grass - least we weren't the only ones who felt it! It took us 7 hours which was pretty good going! It's a brilliant walk and I really enjoyed it but some parts are really tough! I couldn't believe how much the scenery changed along the way!
We just headed back to Taupo got a well needed shower and chilled out for the evening!
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