Turangi - Raining Again

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The plan was to get up really early and to see what the weather was like. If there was any chance of climbing the volcano we were going to get up and do it. Unfortunately although the weather was fine low down, the volcano was still completely covered in cloud.
That was it we couldn’t wait around forever we had to move on we had to leave the country today!!

We headed off towards Lake Taupo along the forgotten Highway. We all wondered why it was called this after a while it became quite clear. It had literally been forgotten. Parts of it weren't completed and a whole section of it was a gravel track. That would be like having 20 miles of gravel track along the M5 between Birmingham and Bristol.
It also seemed to be very prone to landslides and rock falls as we spent most of the 200km trip avoiding fallen rocks and wonder what the chances were of being hit by one. We even reached one section of road where half the road had been washed away into the valley below. This had only happened a few days ago and with the whole side of the cliff missing there was no chance of re-building it so they just put a sign up warning you that the road was about to run-out and to slow down!!

Right in the middle of the Forgotten Highway we were about to leave the country. Whangamomona is officially a republic. When the whole of New Zealand was re-zoned Whangamomona was left out so in 1999 they declared themselves a republic. The whole town consists of nothing more than a small collection of houses and a pub/hotel. Nether the less we all got our passports out as we went through and I’m now the proud owner of the stamp from the Republic of Whagamomona.

Safely back in New Zealand we continued to dodge land slides and small boulders until we reached Turangi just below the south of Lake Taupo.
We were here to do the Tongariro Crossing, billed as the best single day hike in the whole of New Zealand.
As we booked into Extreme Backpackers the rain started to fall. It was a lovely hostel with small chalet rooms opening out onto a courtyard. It had a lovely log fire lounge and eating area which would come in handy as the following day the rain didn't stop from the moment we woke up until the moment it got dark.
There was no chance of attempting to do anything in this weather so all we could do was sit it out and pray it would stop. We did all manage to get our hair cut, probably doubling the custom of this little town hairdressers. Unfortunately both girls hated what she had done to them and it did look like the hairdresser had just randomly taken the scissors to them!!

The weather forecast for the next morning looked a lot better so we decided to go for it. We had to book a bus to take us to the start of the crossing as apparently if you park your car in the car park it WILL get broken into. I'm sure this is a scam by the bus companies to keep the money coming in.

We had to catch the bus at 7.30am. Although it was damp it looked like it could be a good day. By the time we had got to the start of the track it was clearing up. This was to be short lived. As soon as we started to climb higher the clouds closed in on us. It was not long until you could only see a few meters in front. So much for the best hike in New Zealand. I could have been in Wales!!

By the time we had reached the top of the first section Orial and Garreth had decided to turn back. We pushed on but it got colder and colder. By the time we reached the emerald lakes we could see nothing. Every now and then the cloud would clear for a second or two just showing us enough so we knew what we were missing. It was freezing cold up here and Carol Anne had only climbed up with a thin top on under her rain coat. She took my fleece but didn’t get any warmer for a few hours. Strangely I managed to stay warm with just a t-shirt in a blizzard. By the time we had dropped back down out of the cloud the sun was out again, but this was too late for any decent views as we had missed it all. We had an hours wait at the bottom for the bus to pick us up and take us back to our hostel.

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