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Published: October 9th 2010
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The Tongariro Crossing
Mt Ngauruhoe looking awesome! It was an absolutely exhilarating day of hiking with pristine scenery, dizzying heights and fresh white snow that squeaked beneath our feet as we made our way across one of the world’s most renowned day hikes. We had an early start of 5am and after being kitted out in all our required hiking gear, we began what was to become a highlight of our New Zealand trip so far. With it still being the winter season this trek could only be done as part of an organised group and having previously being cancelled for three straight weeks as a result of awful weather conditions; we were blessed with the spectacular day we had. Incredibly the days following were cancelled too, so we had this one day window which we took with open arms.
At 8am we started our hike having already had some fantastic views on the bus journey of Mount Ruapehu and Mount Ngauruhoe (Known as Mount Doom in the Lord of the Ring films.) After an hour of relatively easy hiking we made it to Soda Springs where we took a break before attempting a very steep 45 minute climb up the Devils Staircase. This was hard
The Tongariro Crossing
Us in front of Mt Ngauruhoe work but once at the top we were rewarded with some awesome views of the surrounding countryside and the now very close Mount Doom. Not stopping for too long our guides pushed us onwards across the south crater and up our second steep climb of the day to the Red Crater which was the highest point of our trek at 1886 metres above sea level. We stopped her for lunch looking over the emerald lakes and we studied the very long hike that lay before us. It was then that our guides decided that we could take the easy route which was treating the side of the mountain as a giant slide and slid all the way down the snow to the bottom, a good 200ft in total. Some of us went a little faster than others, namely Ste who was like a snowball gathering speed as he shot past me about half way down, I was a bit more cautious but it was great fun.
Anyway, we moved on again right across the centre crater through the lovely metre deep fresh snow which was a lot harder to trek across than it looked. It took us ages,
The Tongariro Crossing
Mt Ruapehu in the distance. being the expert mountaineers that we are but all around us we had the most stunning views. The weather was perfect all day, and although it was chilly at times, the sun made everything glisten and look so beautiful. After making it across the centre crater we had one last trek through the snow before we descended below the snow line. We were almost sad to leave this winter wonderland but not for long when our guide Sarah told us that we still had a three hour trek ahead of us.
We made it though, but those three hours were the longest of the whole trek, at one point we thought it was the never ending hike. By 4pm though we were back on the bus and heading back to Taupo tired but very satisfied with our day’s adventure. We had completed the trek, just the aches and pains to look forward to now and as it turned out sunburn from the sun reflected of the white snow. I didn’t fare too bad but Stephen’s face got burnt pretty bad.
The following day we tenderly moved onwards down to Wellington, it was a long drive but
The Tongariro Crossing
Taking a break at Soda springs before our steep climb. the beautiful scenery helped, especially the drive over the volcanic plateau which was directly south of where we had walked the day before. We spent only two nights in Wellington and we were very unlucky with the weather; payback for the beautiful weather we had doing the Tongariro crossing. It quite literally didn't stop raining from the moment we drove into Wellington until we got on the ferry over to the South Island. We didn't do much here as a result; but we did go to the Te Papa Museum which is the National Museum of New Zealand, A good activity to do on a rainy day. We spent a couple of hours looking around and then chilled out back at our campsite catching up on a few chores like washing before leaving for the South Island.
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