Taupo Tings and the Tongariro Crossing,

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While writing from Raglan I realised I neglected to write about Raglan. So, Raglan, ok, cool. It would be an injustice to call this a sleepy town on the west coast of New Zealand. Now I'll give you that it is on the west coast of New Zealand but it isn't sleepy, its just resting.

For you see, during the summer this town is home to nearly every surfer in New Zealand descends on the 3 local beaches to catch some of the best waves in the country. There is that "You weren't there man! You weren't there!" look in the staffs eyes when you ask about the summer months. Raglan Backpackers is without doubt probably the best backpacker in the southern hemisphere. It boasts free baking ingredients, a free make you own pizza night, free to use kayaks and insanely cheap board and wetsuit rental. Not only that but once you've rented your board they actually give you the keys to their "Surf Car," and let you drive yourself down to the beach.

Unfortunately the day I took them up on the board and car offer, the waves down at the beach were quite possibly the worst I've ever tried to surf in. They either dumped without warning or came in from the side and broke other waves, in technical terms it was messy. Still a good afternoon was had on all accounts. Possibly due to the previous days caving and the mountain biking the day before that my right knee was playing up, so for the couple of days that I was in Raglan for I shuffled about the hostel and generally got in everybody's way.

Moving on from Raglan my next destination was Taupo. This town is located on the largest lake in New Zealand with nearly as many adrenaline inducing activities as Queenstown. One of those is the skydive, be it 12000 or 15000ft jumping out of a plane is bound to get the old heart racing. How I ended up jumping out of a plane starts with a typical backpackers conversation.




Me: Oh hey there Iain, hows it going since I last saw you in Raglan?
Iain: Its alright, what are you up today?
Me: Dunno, might have some lunch first.
Iain: Yeah.
Me: I was thinking about doing a skydive at some point though.
Iain: What, today?
Me: Maybe, do you think there's still time today?
Iain: Lets go check

So down to the reception we go and 10 minutes later we're picked up by a minibus to take us to Taupo Airfield. An hour later we're falling at over 200kph at a height of 15000ft strapped to a maniac with a parachute. There is probably not many other ways of spending so much money in such a small amount of time.

The plane, carrying just me, Iain, our tandem masters, 2 cameramen and a crazy skydiver climbed into the Taupo afternoon, the lake looming large beneath us clouds dotted around and about us as we pushed on ever upwards. Distracted by the pre jump checks and routines, I didn't notice the light going green, there was a rush as the door opened out to the big blue yonder. I looked round in time to see the crazy red jump-suited skydiver literally dive out of the plane. Before I had time to reflect on the fact that a human had just willingly thrown himself out of an aircraft with just a piece of linen to arrest his fall, my tandem master had already shuffled us up to the door, legs dangling out of the plane I look round for what could be my last ever photo, better make it good. Too late we're already falling. I'm sure you're aware of that feeling when you fall like you stomach rising higher than your throat. The first ten seconds of free fall are just like that. Once the initial suicidal shock has cleared the experience of falling is rather enjoyable. We span and fell and fell some more. With air temp being in the minus your extremities do get cold but since the whole free fall only lasts just over a minute you don't really notice.

After the 60 seconds of complete and utter adrenalin overdose the tandem master deploys the chute and the camera man races past us. We slow right down and turn to face the largest lake in New Zealand. With the suns rays reflecting off the surface it is a truly awesome sight, marred only slightly by the severe number of G's pulled in the side slips and tight turns that control our descent. Never before have I felt such a wedgie. As he pulls the cords to execute said maneuvers 2 things happen;
1. Blood rushes to the feet and you fight to remain conscious.
2. The harness rushes up through the crotch and into the stomach and you fight to remain a man.

The landing was the softest I have ever had especially since every other landing I have still been seated in the plane. I suppose for 500 bucks a plane ride, dvd and a highly skilled technician willing to throw themselves out of the plane with a complete novice strapped to them isn't really too bad.

The next 4 days are a complete buzz and blur that I shall write about in due time. But now I shall skip them to regale you with tales from the Tongariro Crossing.

Up bright and early at the ungodly hour of 5.30 am to be ready for 6 when I would find out whether the expedition would go ahead. Like many of the activities on offer in New Zealand the Crossing is completely dependent on the weather, something which would become clear later on in the day.

The go ahead is given and the shuttle bus arrives at twenty past six. En route we are kitted out with thermal trousers, heavy duty hiking boots, a mountain grade overcoat and crampons. It takes just over an hour to reach the car park from where the expeditions set out from. The first hour of the walk is a quick jaunt over broken terrain and frozen streams bordered on 3 sides by mountains and a world of plains on the 4th side it was hard to concentrate on the ground beneath my feet.

We reach the rendevous point without drama, a long line of around 30 hikers strung out across about 2 kilometers piles up to listen to the guides who give us the run down of the next stage. "This is the devil's staircase, it will take us over 40 minutes, I will be leading the way and no one will pass me and no one will stop along the way. If for any reason you do stop Colin at the back there will make you do 20 press ups. My advice is to take off your top 4 or 5 layers as you will get hot walking up the path."

With this encouragement we set off up the path and with much panting and eating of chocolate we reached the top of the staircase. The brilliant blue skies of the early morning were slowly being replaced by clouds circling impressively overhead. The sun still shone through to illuminate our path as we crossed the crater of the volcano we were climbing. Keeping Mt Doom to our right we proceeded along until called to halt in order to attach the crampons to our rugged boots, which by this time had rubbed the skin from my heels. These metal spikes fit on the bottom of the boot and give extra grip on icy and compact snow. We start to climb the side of the crater, past a jutting square rock called Cathedral Rock for some reason.

Once past this impressively named escarpment the steep inclines give way to yeild a stunning view of the mountains all the way down to Wellington. As we drink in the scenery and gorge ourselves on more chocolate the weather starts to turn. Only after 20 minutes of further climbing the winds and driving snow force our guide to turn us round and take us back down the way we came.


This foul magik of the Dark Lord prevented us from reaching the summit and completing the crossing. The return journey was possibly more trying on myself in particular as the tight crampons had aggravated the blisters on my heels Added to this my right knee was feeling the pressure of too much walking. Lunch was a welcome break allowing me time for a quick repair job on my feet. We take a detour from our original route to climb a steep hillside. The thing with steep hills, sky dives, sandboarding, bungee jumping etc is that there is always only one way down. This snow covered near vertical slope was no different.

Half the group had already slid down the slope by the time I got to the top, providing me with a nice channel to luge down. The human toboggan that I became started off feet first, broke the sound barrier and ended head first on a collision course with everything. Luckily a build up of snow at the foot of the hill arrested my descent. Taking a minute to assess the damage I stuck my hands into the pockets of my now white trousers and dug out handfuls of errant snow that had joined me on the thrill ride down.

The grueling last hour was one that aggravated my knee and my blisters to near breaking point. Still the bus and car park finally plodded into view and after taking my seat with relish and polishing off the complimentary beer I promptly fell asleep.

In the end we failed to destroy the ring, quite frankly I don't see how a couple of hobbits managed it even if it was summer but this time round the Dark Powers were too strong and middle earth will remain in darkness until next time.

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Photos

Hey there!
About as staged as the moon landings...

Hows it going?
3,2,1 WEDGEEE!

Taupo at 15000ft
Thats the lake right there.

Keep It Secret Keep It Safe
The traveler sets out for Mt Doom to destroy the One Ring etc etc.

The Long Climb
2 hours in and 40 minutes since stopping, the devil's staircase lives up to its name.

These Boots are Crampon my style
Due to the snow fall, attachable spikes give the grip that the hobbits could have used.

Snow Joke
Yours truly after sliding down a steep hill.

Mt Doom
7 in the morning and the fortress of the Dark Lord looks quite inviting. Who knew what foul tricks Sauron had waiting for us?