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Published: March 25th 2013
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After a sad departure from the hut at Fay's we drove all the way over to Hastings to drop off Niko at the farm he was to work at, before starting the drive all the way back over to Tongariro NP. After driving for several hours away from Hastings we managed to find a nice clearing to park the car in and go to sleep for the night, despite Caro's fear of axe murderers in the forest park.
A fairly cold night in the car but we survived anyone trying to kill us so we headed off towards the volcanoes, arriving around lunch time at the holiday park in Whakapapa where Caro promptly reversed Niko's car into a stone wall. Inquiring at the Doc Site as to whether we would need crampons and ice axes for the Northern Circuit of Mt. Ngauruhoe (Mt. Doom) was like drawing blood from a stone, they refused to give any straight answers as they didn't want to be liable, so we thought screw it we'll manage without and made out delicious meal of toast and cans of spaghetti.
It started snowing as we went to be so we both put on all the
clothes we owned and rugged up for a cold night, it was not enough. Literally the coldest night of my life! My thermometer read 0°C in the morning, so much for the endless summer! We got up and parked the car in the Doc Site carpark, packed out bags for the hike and set off towards the first hut around midday.
The walk was very beautiful and got great views of the volcanoes and the sapphire lakes just thawing on the side of Ngauruhoe, after about 6hrs of walking we arrived at Waihohonu Hut. Talking to others who started their hike that day was scary as 2 guys who stayed in the campsite last night said they had icicles growing on them by morning!
Set off about 8 the following day towards to alpine crossing, and after 2 and a half hours of trekking across barren waste land of volcanic rock we got to Otarere Hut where we stopped and topped up on porridge and snacks before tackling the climb up to the Emerald Lakes and Red Crater. Stunning views from up at the crater and the most unique landscape I've ever seen, just nothing alive for miles,
and heaps of snow everywhere and 60km/h winds, got soaked crossing the southern crater but not crampons needed! The decent down to Mangetapopo Hut was a gentle slope down for about 2-3hrs which was welcome after the killer climb to the top. Arriving at the hut about 9hrs after setting out that morning. Beautiful sunset that night but my camera was on the blink so all the photos from that day are poor quality, oh well will just have to come back!
Leaving for the last leg was a lot more relaxing knowing we only have a few hours of walking back, though cold it soon grew to a baking hot day. Only too a couple of hours to get back to Whakapapa so we went on another walk, 2hrs, to see the Silica Rapids and more amazing views across the NP. Then set off for the Mangahuia DOC site to sleep. Rose early next day to see the sun rise. Worth it. Had our last look around the area by driving to Ohokune to see a LOTR filming site.
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