Tongariro - Lord of the Rings

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Off to Tongariro the same day our car got broken into. We didn't want anything to slow us down. We stopped in at Tauranga for a new car from Avis. We received excellent customer service from Avis there. They helped us get on our way fast. We stayed at National Backpackers that night in National Park, a town outside of Tongariro National Park (we were confused by that). I really liked the rooms there and would recommend that for sure.

The next day we started the Tongariro Northern Circuit. In our book it says to do it in 4 days, but we decided to do it in 3 days. The first day was an easy 8.5 km walk that took us 3 hours. We stayed at the Mangatepopo Hut where we watched a beautiful sunset. We chatted with the Warren Officer there who was our age volunteering there - I guess they are looking for Officer's for up to 8 weeks. Not a bad opportunity to do tramping around National Parks and get your accomodation and food payed for.

The next day we climbed 1600m to get a great view of Mt Ngauruhoe (2291m). Mt Ngauruhoe is apparently the volcanoe used in Lord of the Rings (Mt Doom). A few people were eager enough to climb to the top of the volcano and look into the bowl (Keith was one of these people). He encouraged me to come, but I wasn't feeling up to it. I waited at the bottom and was content doing so. However, I payed for it for the rest of the trip because when ever I was tired, Keith would respond, "You know what is tiring... climbing up a volcano."

Last day, we walked 25km. Knowing this was going to take us at least 8 hours, Keith made me get up at 6am. Each morning he has a new way of getting me awake. Usually it involved poking me, but other nights it has been deflating my pillow or taking my sleeping bag. I continue to be out of it when I first wake up (takes me a good 30 minutes to be completely functional). We finished walking at around 4pm.

Keith and I are now nursing swollen feet, blisters, scraps around the ankles and sore muscles.

We are off to Wellington next to go to the Canadian Consulate (wish us luck). Hopefully we don't have to change our flights around because we no longer have passports.

One thing after another I tell ya.

Hopefully, I can convince Keith to make another entry since he thinks all my entries are boring.

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