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Published: January 24th 2008
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23rd January 2008
Managed to post yesterdays blog in an internet cafe today, a day behind schedule. This is the first time we have stopped in a motel that does not have any internet access.
The weather did not look promising when we got up today as a fair amount of low cloud hung over the mountains, so it looked as if our attempt to do the Tongariro Alpine Crossing would have to be aborted. Ithe weather forecast said it would improve during the day so we thought we would go and have a look at the start anyway and perhaps climb up to the cloud level and then return if it got too bad.
Annette dropped us off at the Mangatepopo Car Park just before 9am at the start of the track for the crossing but as it was raining and chilly at 13 degrees, we had to put our waterproofs on immediately together with a crowd of other hopefuls.
We started walking and after half an hour it had stopped raining so we could dispense with our waterproofs as we were also getting very hot from the ascent of the uphill track.
The weather was slowly clearing and the
cloud rising all the time, at first just giving us glimpses of the ascent before us and eventually we had the odd glimpse of the summit ridges.
By the time we got to the soda springs an hour after leaving the car park the views were getting better and better. The Volcano Ngaurahoe at 7,000 feet looked even more impressive with cloud spilling off the summit. The volcanoes in this area are still active and one of them Rupea erupted only last year on September 25th 2006.
Vernon set a cracking pace on the way up and left Bob struggling for breath on the climb.
From then on the weather improved and was good for the rest of day.
We continued to climb to South Crater and onto Red Crater which is the summit at 6,700 feet. The wind was quite high on the summit and because of the altitude seemed very cold not a place to hang around to long.
We dropped down into the Emerald Lakes and Central Crater before a short climb up again to Blue Lake.
From this point on it was all down hill to the Ketetahi Hut where we had a short break to
destone the boots and a quick snack and then on downhill again to the Ketetahi Car Park where Annette met us with the car. The descent seemed very long mainly because you could see the finsih from the summit but after an hour descending it did not really seem to be getting any nearer. The temperature by now had risen back up to 22 degrees and descent seemed very hot. Bob managed to stay ahead of Vernon on the descent and Dinah just ran between us looking for photo opportunities. We arrived at the car park after walking 17km at about 3:40pm, 6 hours 45 minutes after starting out. It really was a great day and we are very glad we have done ”one of the best day walks in NZ”
Meanwhile Annette had not only ferried us to and fro the walk but nobly done all the accumulated washing and restocked the fridge with essentials like red wine!!
We are still without an internet connection and may have to wait until we get to Wellington tomorrow to post this blog.
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amy
non-member comment
its just like lord of the rings scenes
Wow its just like a scene out of lord of the rings, As long as i dont spot golem in your pics! it'll be fine. Keep taking the wonderful pics mum and writing the blogs dad as everyone is following them, Bill and Susie are keeping up with you and Mike and Sue are taking notes ready for their trip in the next year or so! Lots of Love Amy