Tongariro Crossing: A Walk to Remember

Our travelling friend Emma along for the walk
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The Tongariro Crossing or "Mount Doom" for all of you "Lord of the Rings" fans has been mine and Michael's favorite part of New Zealand so far. The guide book stated that this hike would be 6 - 7 hours and listed a million different safety precautions that people should take. Well, me and my ego were like "as if it will take that long and as if we really need to take that much water". Well, I am sitting here eating my words because it took just under 6 hours and we could have used way more water. This was one tough hike. It started out easy enough across flat plains, but we quickly came upon some steep elevations - apparently this was not going to be like the "tea house" climb at Lake Louise! Well I am so glad that I had my best cheerleader with me because there were many times that I wanted to turn around and go back. I am so glad that I stuck it out through that first section though because it definitely paid off. I think we took more pictures during this hike than we had taken the whole rest of our stay in New Zealand. There were so many beautiful views - not to mention the fact that we were climbing an active volcano! Our climb up was a gruelling 3 hours and I was definitely "hitting my wall" in exercise physiology terms. We stopped to have lunch and when we sat down the ground was hot. It was a good thing to because it was freezing outside. I tried to have as much of my body touching that ground as possible. After lunch was over it was time to head back down, which we thought would be a lot easier but wrong again. The surface was covered in many layers of little stone pebbles making it very difficult to walk down. Therefore the choices were to either run down like Michael and the crazy boys, walk down very slowly and sideways, or slide down on your bum. I think I did a combination of all 3! Anyway, all in all it was fabulous. There were lakes on top of the mountains, very good views of the areas down below,a mountainous skyline, really neat colours of soil due to the volcanic activity and snow. Michael even indulged himself in chucking a few snowballs at people.

Some other travel friends, also along for the walk
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On completion of this hike we were thoroughly exhausted so once on the bus we all sat in silence. Until, get this, we saw our accommodation for the evening. I don't know why we don't have a picture because it was by far the best deal I think a person could get in this world. We had a whole cabin to 6 people! The cabin was equipped with a deck, bedrooms, a kitchen, bathroom,separate shower room and we even had a tv complete with movies for us to watch! It was unreal. We all screamed and jumped around and checked the whole place out. We had new life. They provided free tea and coffee as well not to mention the soaps, shampoos, and conditioners in the bathroom. This was living! We went and soaked in the hot tub for an hour, went "home" and cooked dinner, and then watched a movie. It was such fun. I am giggling now as I remember just how awesome this night actually was. It was such a nice treat for ourselves after having accomplished "Mount Doom".

Well I am so glad that I had my best cheerleader with me because there were many times that I wanted to turn around and go back.

More travel friends
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Heather and Michael