We got up at the unholy hour of 6.15am to catch the 7.30am shuttle to the start of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. The crossing is a 19.4km hike across volcanic terrain along the slopes of Mt. Ngauruhoe (the volcano used as Mt. Doom in Lord of the Rings) and Mt. Tongariro, past many volcanic features. We had checked and double-checked the weather the day before and were assured a fine day, but with some possible drizzle in the morning. We arrived at the start of the track to heavy "drizzle" and only had around 20 metres visibility. We donned waterproofs and set out into the rain, along with around 50 others who had also caught various shuttle services from the surrounding area. We couldn't see very much, although we could tell we were hiking along pretty barren landscape.
After a while the track started climbing and we assumed we were now on the slopes of Mt. Ngauruhoe, and a sign soon informed us that we were hiking through a pyroclastic flow. This was the wonderful view we had of it.....
We reached the top of the ridge and hunkered down behind some rocks to get out of the ever-increasing wind to scarf down a banana. We were amazed how quickly we became really cold but couldn't stop to put on our thermals which we had dutifully packed in our daysacks due to the wind. We carried on, hiking through a huge crater....one minute you could see where you were headed:
and 2 minutes later you couldn't:
The track then led us up to the top of another ridge but when we reached it the wind was so strong that we couldn't stand upright. We decided it would be a stupid decision to carry on so we turned back (a number of other hikers had already passed us having made the same decision). We had hiked to about halfway down the slopes of Ngauruhoe when the sun suddenly came out and the wind dropped. By this point we were starving so we stopped, had some lunch and Sarah put on her thermal gear. As the weather suddenly seemed to have improved, we decideed to have another go at the ridge to see if we could get over this time. A repeated attempt found two women sheltering behind some rocks and another couple returning down. We deliberated over whether to carry on but didn't want to make the headlines in the local paper as the stupid tourists who attempted the crossing in horrific weather! So again, we returned down the mountain (when we turned around and crossed an open ridge on our way back down Sarah was struggling not to get blown over the ridge by the wind). By the time we got to the bottom, the sun had well and truly come out and we had warmed up. We could also see the terrain we had bee hiking through in the mist that morning...we had no idea we were surrounded by these mountains!
We made it back to the start and got a lift back to the main road. We called our shuttle which stopped to pick us up and take us back to our motel and more specifically the spa pool, where we sat recovering for an hour! It was a shame that we didn't manage to complete the hike as just after the un-crossable ridge you got to walk around the edge of the main crater, see some active volcanic vents and an emerald lake filling another crater. But....we will be back sometime to try again! NB. A few days later we noticed a story in the local newspaper about an American girl who had to be airlifted off the volcano because she had lost her way and slipped down a ridge... maybe we made the right deciaion to turn around?!.
The next day we decided to hitch out of Ohakune to Lake Taupo, slightly further north. Our first lift was a guy working on one of the wind farms closeby and he dropped us at the intersection of the main road. We were then picked up by our first Maori, a lovely guy who worked for Maori TV! The road we took travelled alongside the Tongariro National Park and we were dismayed to see that hiking conditions were perfect with not a cloud in the sky! In fact, we could clearly see the ridge on which we were stuck at the day before. Oh well, bet it was still windy up there though. Our lift took us all the way to Lake Taupo and dropped us off in the centre. We hiked a little while out of town to a Top10 holiday park where we pitched up the tent. Most of the holiday parks in the area take full advantage of the geothermal activity and provide heated swimming pools and spa pools, so while John went off for a walk, Sarah spent the afternoon swimming and wallowing in the hot water.
The next day we hired mountain bikes from the park and cycled the Rotary Track along the river to Huka Falls (after getting slightly lost and ending up on a motorcross track....). The water at Huka Falls was the most lovely colour and we had lunch watching one of the adventure jet boats scream it's way right up to the falls and then hare off back the way it came!
We cycled on to a place called Craters of the Moon, an area of intense thermal activity and craters, named for its other-worldy environment. When we arrived you had agood view of the whole site and could see steam coming out of the ground in many different places! We walked round the designated boardwalk, with many warning signs telling you to stick to the paths or get burnt feet, and had a look at the various craters.
On the way back we cycled through some lovely pine forest
The folowing day we hitched a ride from Lake Taupo to Rotorua with a lovely lady who actually shot straight past us..... then reversed back up the highway shouting "sorry, I thought you were 2 guys hitching" (SB: hmph!). On the way to Rotorua she showed us all the sights, including a natural thermal pool on a farmer's land.....something only a local would know about. Driving through Rotorua there is steam coming out of the ground all over the place though the local council have done their best to fence in all the main areas. Jenny dropped us at the holiday park, after a comprehensive tour of the area, and we booked into a cabin (after 2 days of camping we felt we deserved some "luxury"!). In the evening we walked to Kuirai Park, where many of the steam and mud pools are located and had a wander round.
After a pretty long walk round Rotorua, we returned to the holiday park and spent 10 minutes soaking ourselves in their outdoor hot mineral pool before cooking our dinner.
Today we woke up and it was pouring with rain so we partook of the mineral pool once again before waiting out the rain in our cabin. It showed no signs of abating so we braved it and walked up the road to a car hire place, Rent-a-Dent, to see if we could score a bargain! We turned up soaked through, despite waterproof coats, and the guy took pity on us/wanted our business and so he gave us a week's hire for the price for 9 days. We drove away in another Hyandai Getz! This time only for the evening as we are hopefully going to swap it for a manual tomorrow.
