The traverse of Mount Doom

---

Up at 6am which was a bit of a struggle after a heavy nights sleep - inside! Managed to get going eventually as we are booked onto the 7am bus to get to the start of the Tongariro crossing. We raced onto the bus at the last minute before it left - Beck was full of glee at the excitement of it all and Paul a bit stressed as he thought we were going to miss it. A lesson in there for the future!

Took about 30 minutes to get to the start of the crossing. The weather has been really kind and its sunny, bright and clear today. The weather can be really bad; its very open so it can be extremely windy making the crossing un-dooable. A few buses dropped their clients before ours so there was a bit of a herd at the start as everyone set off together. But after 10 minutes or so it evened out a lot, but its not what you would call a secluded walk!

The route is amazing and passes the base of Mt Ngaruhoe and then traverses across a thermally active area, taking in some amazing turquoise lakes, steaming sulphur vents (really smelly!) and an active crater along the way. Even though it was a settled day the wind on the top was fairly strong and Beck got blown off her feet a few times. Once she was anchored to Paul it all became a bit easier. It was great to do the walk and to see all the different terrain which is a lot different that you would see - certainly back in the UK!

Got to the road head about 2pm - unfortunately about 1 hour before the bus was due to take us back to Wakapapa. Thankfully it was warm and sunny so we got to relax and chill for a while but we both got a bit pink waiting for the bus. Got back to the car and then set off for the next destination of Lake Taupo about 1 hour to the north. Journey passed in a bit of a blur as we are both feeling a bit spaced after all the fresh air (and maybe a bit of sulphur too!). Taupo was really sunny as well so we decided to make use of the tent so got everything set up before a BBQ and a couple of beers.

---