Blown away by the Tongariro Crossing!

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ok bit out of order this but keep promising to mention the walk that blew me away- mentally and nearly physically too!

This was a 5am alarm call- ( see I keep saying its not all cushy!) -followed by an hours shuttle to the walk. The coach was quiet as everybody tried to get their bearings and wake up- apart from 2 chatterboxes at the front ( myself and a Canadian called Trish) . Trish foolishly adopted me as her walking partner when she got on the bus- foolishly as I have come to the conclusion I am a real scaredy cat and this walk proved this further......

The huts at the beginning of the walk were surrounded by a maneating swarm of bluebottles. Actually- it was pretty nasty - they had evidently been breeding and there were hundreds divebombing as you washed your hands outside. Not nice.Plus they made that buzzy sound that only a chorus of hundreds of bluebottles can make. I felt like I was on the plains of Africa rather than good old NZ!

Completely unprepared, thinking I was off on a little stroll, I set off gossiping to Trish and putting the world to rights. The fact the walk was 17kms didnt really register, and after a period of scrambling upwards I thought the worst was over and we sat down to eat lunch. At 10.30am. Onwards and upwards we went until I suddenly found myself on the side of a volcanic crater. Extremely steep and no way out if you fell in. Plus it was steep on the other side too. No concrete handholds, just loose scree...and the wind had picked up so much I could hardly see with my hair battering my face! '"wow what a view..this is fantastic", Trish was heard to enthuse. "I'm sorry I can't look I'm busy contemplating my feet", I mumbled back, truly concentrating on my feet and coming out in a hot sweat as I felt I was going to be blown to my death any moment. This continued for about 10 minutes, and I must admit I wasnt the only person looking a bit perturbed. people were falling over and sliding on the scree , this coupled with the fact that we were walking next to 'Mount Doom' of Lord of the Rings fame didnt inspire much confidence. Then suddenly, just as quickly as this windswept exposure/grit in the eyes/ sheer drop/loose scree/no handholds/I want my mummy phase had started it ended...with magnificent views over the awesome Emerald lakes (sorry picking up NZ speak there!), 3 amazingly emerald - coloured lakes. It was at this point that I realised my fingers had swelled up and I was burning under the intensity of the sun, also that we were running behind schedule for the bus back to base ( 40 miles away) ,I had eaten my lunch 2 hours too early, provisions were running low,and this wasn't just a little tramp in Aston Court .......

We spent the last 3 hours bombing back to bus , me sporting a towel attractively wrapped around my head to prevent further sunburn and a fleece in the hot sunshine to protect my exposed arms. My feet ( which had also swollen) were throbbing every time I put my foot down, and we marched on in grim silence! But the views were truly amazing and we made it back to bus with 10 minutes to spare......

Amazingly, that evening, we were buzzing, and Trish and myself ventured into town to put ourselves ( and others!) through another ordeal. Karaoke! If you hear a story of the local Maori bar being deafened by a tuneless version of The Proclaimers '5oo miles'- it wasn't us....honestly!!

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Photos

Emerald Lakes
Taken from a seriously blowy and exposed ridge!

Comments

[Quinnthefinn]

This is too funny....wish I was there!
Hi Sally, I am enjoying your blog enormously - haven't laughed this much for weeks! (Great anitidote to the dentist's letter last Friday advising us that Mr Spittal is going completely private......we miss you!). Really, your travels sound great, I know it may be hard going at the time but it's wonderful that you are putting so much into it. And it sounds like you're meeting lots of good people. Sorry about your photos. Lots of love Tess, Paul, Scott and Anja xx