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Published: February 19th 2010
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Our first lunch in EltonYou must cast the ring into fires of Mount Doom Frodo……..what that’s bloody miles away, even for someone with legs as long as Nath’s!!!
Having left New Plymouth (high five) we headed via the Tawiti museum (another recommendation from Clare, and another disappointment in my eyes) before stopping over night at Wanganui camp site. I had a terrible headache so wasn’t really in the mood to enjoy what the site had to offer, until a little cat who looked like Spence came over and invited himself into the van!!!. We named him Ralf, as he had a little meow that sounded like the word Ralf and after all it is a tradition of ours to name all the animals we meet on our holidays and travels. Our first night in the van was excellent but we don’t remember much as we were both sooo tired we were in bed by 8pm, but awake nice and early to appreciate the soft cushions and sunshine coming through the windows - lush!! As there wasn’t really anything to do in Wanganui we headed straight for the National Parks (with a quick stop off for MacDonald breakfast and to buy some cereal bowls as
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Wow a model in the museum that looks just like me we had forgotten about them in our rush to leave New Plymouth) We were heading to Tongariro National Park to complete one of the “must dos” in New Zealand, the Tongariro crossing; a 6-7 hour walk which traverses between the three active volcanoes in the area over a distance of 19.6km - easy. It took a good few hours to get to the campsite as we had to pass over road works every few miles, and taking our time because we were worrying about all the stones that were hitting the underside of them van. Nath had also been closely following the temperature gauge as this wasn’t reliable still and the van felt very hot, given all the hassle we were both understandable nervous and just waiting for the next problem to happen It also took a little longer to get to the camp site as I missed the turning for the park, a big intersection, as I was busy looking the other way - doh!!
We got to the camp site late in the afternoon and got all signed up for the first shuttle bus to the crossing the next day - at 5.30am!! Hey apparently that’s the
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Where's your pension book??? best time to go as the walk is 7 hours long (what are we doing) so you wanna be done before the heat of the day. We then settled in for the the day just taking the time to enjoy the surroundings. You could see the volcanoes from the camp site it was really wonderful. We also met our next animal friend Kia Ora, a very noisy and nosey black bird/crow type thing. After tea and biscuits chatting about the old days with him, we went to bed very early again (I clearly needed my sleep!) to make sure we were up at 5am the next morning.
Wow was that hard, neither of us slept very well worrying about missing the alarm or sleeping through it, so when we finally got up at 5am we were both knackered. We made our way to the coach that was taking us, I introduced ourselves to the group that was standing waiting by swearing about how knackered I was already (new years resolution to swear less is not really working out it would seem). I got sent back however to get my rain coat because the guide wouldn’t let me leave without
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Busted!!! bringing one as rain was forecast for the afternoon (god they take this walk/climb thing really seriously for some reason - says the girl who always goes out in flip flops!!). With my coat on we were off into the darkness to start the walk. It was freezing that morning when we had woken up and remained so for a good few hours, so I had left in hat, scarf and coat. We arrived at the start of the walk as the sky was lighting up slowly, and took photos of the starting sign so we knew what time we set off. I again looked like I wasn’t really taking the walk seriously as when the guide asked if we all had a map, I had to put my hand up and say no!!! (We did have a map, I had just forgotten to bring it along)
So off we went, for hours and hours, slowly watching the sun come up over the mountain in front of us, climbing slowly up marked and unmarked parts of the walk, and still feeling like we weren’t really fit enough. We kept up with the people we had started the walk with
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Nath enjoing the museum exhibits but as the time went on we were passed by more people that had obviously arrived after us. We were slowing in places but also stopping to take lots of shots of the scenery. This was the region they used for mount doom in the lord of the rings films, so I wanted a good few shots of that. We stopped at the first and only set of toilets for 4 hours, held our breath and took the plunge so to speak. We noticed that the toilet block was tied down with metal rope and wondered why, but soon found out the next day when the weather changed…..they were needed.
We stopped for a short break of chocolate sandwiches and juice before continuing on to the crater, the blue lakes, the smoking waters and so many more sights. After about 5 hours we finally reached the hut where we could use the toilet again and have some lunch before the last hour and half part of the journey. By this point we were both so hot we had stripped down to our shorts and t-shirt (so glad we dressed for all weathers, and enjoyed a well earned rest without
our shoes on (it felt so good). What didn’t feel so good was putting the shoes back on!! My feet were beginning to feel very sore and the last two hours down the mountain to the car park on the other side was agony! It felt like I walked for longer and that it was never gonna end but finally it did. We entered the car park to find a sheltered area full of people collapsed on the floor, sleeping and resting whilst they waited for their buses. I joined them very quickly and dozed off for about half an hour before waking to realise I was now cold again. The walk took us about 7 hours and 40mins including all our photo stops and lunch breaks, so I don’t think we did too bad really and we would have kept up with everyone else on our bus had it not been for my feet hurting on the last down hill section. (We could describe the sights of the day more but I think the photos speak for themselves…..enjoy)
Luckily the weather had held out for us for the entire hike, as we were collected by the bus, the
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After all our searching we still couldnt find a camper Nath would fit in!! heavens opened and it poured for a good few hours. I would not have wanted to be up on the mountain when that happened!! By the time we got back to the camp site the wind had really picked up (now we understand why the toilet block half way along the walk was tied down with metal rope!!) So we were really glad we had a camper and not a tent!! So cup of tea sorted we had a relaxing afternoon laying around and massaging our poor feet. When the wind and rain had stopped we heard a very wet and noisy Kia Ora moaning I guess about the weather. I felt really sorry for him, I think his cries were saying “help me Mandy I’m all cute and wet and sooo hungry” (stupid anthropomorphising!!) so we invited him into the van and he came!! He was a noisy attention seeking bird, who we fed rice crispies because he made a funny noise when he ate them!! However this sweet bird who we called Kia Ora (from the advert - I’ll be your dog) went and shat on our carpet so he was soon kicked out of the van again
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Our first dinner in Elton to go and bother someone else.
That evening we had booked a meal at the onsite restaurant as we knew we’d be tired from the walk. The food I thought was really nice, we both had a casserole, something I haven’t eaten yet as a new meat eater and it was lovely. Nath however was less than impressed with his “soup” casserole!! Bloody whingeing pom!! (Nath- I have never before had a “casserole” that was dished up in a bowl and served with a bread roll…… you could eat through a straw………..it was soup!!)
We were indeed knackered and already aching, but also really sleepy so we ate as quickly as possible so we could go back to bed again (to sleep you dirty minded people!!). What had already been an amazing day of sights was then concluded by a stunning sunset before bed.
After a very good nights sleep we were packed up and heading off again back to Rotorua to see the sights we had missed previously, this mainly included dangerous activities like white water rafting and zorbing, neither covered on our travel insurance but hey I’m sure they’d be worth the risk……….
(Just
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Little Ralf - meow (We named him) kidding parents, all covered in our insurance…….we think!)
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Charlotte
non-member comment
The Crossing
Isn't it great? Well worth all the blood sweat and tears. We did it in winter in the snow so it was terrifying! Enjoy Roturua! I chickened out of the white water rafting as it was so so cold but you will love it I am sure. Are you going to the hangaii (or however you spell it!) x