TONGARIRO ALPINE CROSSING

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02.04.10
What a better chance to get a small break from our routine, than Easter holidays! The only trouble with Easter is that the holiday is not quite long enough...
So to make the most out of time and budget, Tongariro seemed like the perfect choice. And it was. I must admit I have a soft spot for this part of New Zealand, the landscape, the colours, the earth showing its force and beauty, I absolutely love it.
We've been staying in Ohakune, world famous (?) for its giant carrot, and maybe also for being a really good spot if you'd like to go skiing to Ruapehu. This time of the year the town looked fairly quiet, which might have been an advantage. We got a nice little room in one of the many motels, with all we needed and a stupendous view on Mt Ruapehu.
We had a choice of doing the Tongariro Alpine Crossing on saturday or sunday, subject to weather conditions. The young man at the motel advised that saturday the weather would have been better, so we got our tickets for the bus to take us there at 6 in the morning the next day!
03.04.10
We woke up in the middle of the night, absolutely freezing cold. I'm sick already, I wonder how I'm going to feel in a few hours...
The bus picks us and other few people up at the motel, it's still almost empty. Before getting on the road to Tongariro, it's completely full. I'm tempted to have a nap on the way, but it's too hard. At Mangatepopo car park the bus releases us into the wild.
There are really no words, or at least I have none, to describe a journey through a landscape like this. Hopefully pictures will be more eloquent. Despite the fact that I was terribly sick, and after climbing at 2000m I could hardly breath, I can definitely say that it has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life, a walk through the most incredible landscape I've ever seen.
From the car park to the Soda Springs, the walk is beautiful and easy. From there to the South Crater between Mt Ngauruhoe and Mt Tongariro, and the Red Crater, it's basically a stair going up more than 500m (from the start of the route at about 1100m you'll reach the highest point at the Red Crater 1886m). It felt like a descent to hell but it looked like the ascent to heaven!
Towards the top it was all frost on the ground, clouds all around and the sun finally coming up above them. Incredibly stunning. I felt like I was about to die!
But then after the struggle, it was all only pure beauty, the Red Crater, the Emerald Lakes, the Blue Lake and the dusty desert, We loved all of it, and enjoyed the struggle for the reward.
By chance it was today that they registered the highest number of people on the track ever. If you don't like being social you might want to choose another time of the year to go.
05.04.10
The young man was right and today the weather is not as good, but there's still something to do in the area. We went for the Old Coach Road walk, which is nice and easy, and takes you through lovely landscape and some nice railway features. The road used to connect Ohakune with Horopito and featured the only two curved viaducts in the southern emisphere. We walked on the Hapuawhenua viaduct which still runs parallel to the new one. It's worth seeing if you're around.
06.04.10
Time to head back. Last chance to see Lake Rotokura just out of Ohakune. Extremely peaceful and secluded, a Maori sacred place, so for a picnic stop at the first lake on the way, the Dry Lake!

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Photos

Mike on the way down
Notice the people behind sliding down the slope of the mountain, it's quite hard to keep on your feet!

Us two
The old coach road