The Plains of Gorgoroth...sort of.

Hey all. Thanks for all the comments, I'll get round to replying soon, I promise. This blog simply covers my 4 days of the Tongariro hike, so I'll try not to waffle..too much.

Deciding to do the Tongariro Northern Circuit itself was the 1st difficult decision; most just do the famous 1-day 'Tongariro Crossing' and leave satisfied with it ticked off their list. But to do the Northern Circuit, and to do it justice, takes 3 to 4 days. I hadn't done a serious hike since my curtain-hairstyle school days of Iceland and DofE, and not sure if my body was up for it. But what the heck? There's no adventure in not trying (which, I know, at times can be a stupid philosophy).

The Tongariro Northern Circuit basically circles round Mount Ngarahoe (which I always call Mt Doom as I can never spell the damn name right), through endless varieties of photogenic landscapes, and is classified as one of NZ's 9 'Great Walks' - and to many, the most stunning, as the 4th oldest National Park in the world.

Day 1:
Checked out and prepared the flimsy tent. Although the circuit was quite busy, I was the only one camping. People seemed to either laugh at my stupidity, or admire my crazy mental state at even contemplating camping. On the night leading to day 1, I already found out why. Oh dear. It was a little chilly to say the least! A hot morning shower had never felt so good. Then I started the walk.
Quite simply, Day 1's walk was the best single-day walk I've ever done. The scenery was absolutely spectacular, from crystal blue crater lakes, to spring waterfalls, rainbow coloured mountains and views 100kms away of Lake Taupo, and other mountain ranges, all the while with Mt Doom towering above - a precariously steaming. I took more photos this day that a week in Belize - over 50!, and every one would make you go ''oooh''. It was a geographer's heaven.

Day 2:
This time, Joey-style, I wore all the clothing I packed - 4 tops, my sexy legging thermals, 2 pairs of trousers (you get the idea) - still a little nippy, but getting used to this camping lark, no fuss! I decided on a day walk, back-tracking on yesterday's walk, so as to climb Mt Doom. However, there is no poled route, no wooden steps, or green signs saying "keep going, 10 minutes'' - just one direction - get to the top whichever way you can. The mountain is basically one big scree cliff, which was great for 'surfing' back down on my heals non-stop for 30minutes, dodging falling boulders where necessary, but was a nightmare to climb up. A real nightmare. For every 2 steps up, you slide back down one, and proving to myself how unfit I am. But, after 2 hours of climbing, slipping, groaning, swearing and saying to myself "if a hobbit can climb it, so can I", I made it. The view was beyond stunning...until an unsympathetic cloud wafted over and stuck, producing a very eerie feel to the red-rimmed, snow-covered crater. Grinning with my achievement, I surfed back down, and spent the evening boiling and filtering water after 'harmless' worms were discovered in the now-brown water. Hut wardens assured as it was fine to drink, but personally i'm not a fan of brown, wormy water.

Day 3:
Survived 60/70kph gale force winds - or rather, my cheap, no frills tent from "The Warehouse - Where everyone gets a bargain", survived the winds. Camping up here is a breeze - not sure what everyone is worried about! I continued round the circuit, replenishing my water supply and walking through New Zealand's only desert, Rangipo - home to Orc marching and the Black Gate setting. A flatter walk through the valley, the views no less inspiring, this time with the snow-capped Mount Ruapehu towering in the distance. A big film area, Ruapeha was also used as a Mount Fuji look-alike in "The Last Samurei" and last exploded less than 10 years ago - eek!

Day 4: All goes pear-shaped. Woke up at 2am to hear the pitter-patter of rain and the sound all campers fear - the 'drip'. By 4:30, I woke to find the tent filled with water, but miraculously missing my possessions. In the darkness, I sat fighting a losing battle, scooping water out with the lid of my insect repellent. By now it was getting lighter and figuring I wasn't going to get any more sleep, proceeded to make dashes between my tent and a nearby [clean] portaloo carrying my stuff, the only nearby cover from rain, before messily packing my tent. All before 6am. As a Glastonbury veteran, I was used to this, but must say, the warm hut was looking quite jealously appealing for once, and was finally understanding the laughter from days before.
The walk was not the best, it must be said. For 5 hours, I just kept walking, determined to get to the end, not even stopping for a drink, as having done so would have involved a full 30 minute Jane Fonda workout. So I kept walking, through horizontal rain hurting against my face, strong winds, low visibility, flash-rivers, mud, bogs, where my shoes became swimming pools within the 1st hour and every minute I could squeeze my gloves by making a fist, to produce a long watery trail of drips. When I arrived, cheering, at the Visitor Centre, I looked like the Hunchback of Notre Dame walking out of a watery apocalypse. I'll look back on it as a ''physically and mentally strengthening experience".

Overall though, it was an amazing time! The last day was pretty crap, but was lucky the other three days had perfect weather. And now, sitting in Wellington, in clean, dry clothes, I'm wondering what all my fuss was about. It was a great 4 days. Staying in Wellington for a couple of days now, a city I'm already liking, before going back up north while i wait for my Indian Visa to get processed.

Happy Advent everyone - hope you all have chocolate advent calendars (something i'm seriously missing! New Zealanders don't have them that I can find?! Strange people).
Simon x

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