The weather really makes a difference on a mission like this so I was anxiously checking the report (which changed its mind like twice a day) to make sure the day we planned to walk was going to be a clear and beautiful one!
We drove from Auckland, and it was a nice ride. It was during the week so we mostly had the road to ourselves apart from a few big delivery lorries. Michal booked us into stay at Club Habitat which had a motel look going on. It was pretty ghetto but did the job for two nights.
Over dinner we discussed how we were going to get to the national park. The shuttle buses offer to take you to the start of the trek for $20/$40 for return. Since we had a car we were reluctant to pay this price- it would have been $200 alone on transport, we said pfft! Many options were discussed, we tried to ask if anyone else was doing the trek the next day so we could share a lift; hitch hike; just pay the shuttle. Turangi is closest to the END of the trek, I didn't know this, and just thought it would have been closest to the start so I don't think my input in the discussion really made any sense. ANYWAYS, after phoning the bus company, we decided to drive to the end of the trek, and then jump on the 7.30am bus which would take us to the start of the trek. The woman at the hostel reception told us we could only buy return tickets. Don't believe her lies.
Ok, so the next day we wake up at 6am happy as can be, and eat some breakfast. Porridge with a banana, tea, toast. Energy, energy. It was really cold, and I was tired but also kinda nervous and excited.
Scenic lookout point! (NZ roads signs are pretty accurate)
8.30am
In NZ, they call this sort of activity, 'tramping'. You can see Michal's tramping gear which consists of thermals with shorts on top. So many colours! We weren't going to lose her.
The trek starts off relatively easy until the part where you start climbing up towards Ngauruhoe. There are huts dotted off the trek so some people were doing it with all their camping gear, like 50l packs. I don't know how they managed it.
Ngauruhoe in the background.
Mt. Ngauruhoe is the biggest peak in the crossing. Its a monster, and its not part of the trek so there is no path. We had all decided before that we were up for climbing it, and there were several others already half way up by the time we got there.
Looking up Ngauruhoe
Not sure if the above photo does it much justice but it was small grey rocks at the bottom which were easy enough to walk over, and then it changed to like black ash so every time you took a step you would slide down a little which, you know, isn't ideal. Two of the group went racing ahead, and I was kinda in the middle on my own but it was good just going at my own pace. I would stop every now and again to look back at my progress, absorb the view, take some photos, drink some water. It was tough! Definitely a mental challenge as well as physical.
Michal, and Annie
Keep on, keepin' on. I think you can get a sense of what it was like from the above photo. Nothing for miles, crumbly rocks, crazy steep gradient, and tiny little figures following me up.
After a while, these big boulders appear, and people were climbing over them and I was thinking to myself what would take less energy- to walk round the side of them and use my arms to help pull myself. Or climb over the boulders. I did the first option for a while but it was getting tough with no gloves, and the people in front of me who climbed over them seem to have created some distance so I tried that after a while. When I turned back, I couldn't even see Michal and Annie anymore. Boulders must have been huge. Then the rocks change again, to red and kinda less crumbly but still very loose under foot. I could see Nil, and Molly at the top, and my tummy was rumbling and I just wanted to sit down for a while, and eat, and not have to climb, haha.
Anyways, just as I'm about to climb up the last few boulders to the top, I hear a grumble. Which was scary because it echoed for ages, (I know it wasn't my tummy), and I thought to myself, it can't possibly be an active volcano otherwise we wouldn't be allowed to climb it. Why is it grumbling then?!! To the left there was a smoking peak, and the sulphur was a lot stronger here. I look up at the others who are already up there, and they don't seem too concerned about the noise so I carried on pushing to the top.
TOP OF THE WORLD! I love that feeling when you reach the top. TOP OF THE WORLD.
THE CRATER
The view from the top. MEAN.
Take a hat for the top, its gets really windy, and an extra layer too for when you're eating your sandwiches and cooling down! We stayed up here until everyone was up, and just relaxed for a bit. I was thinking as I was going up, hmm, this isn't going to be easy coming down...
yikes!
These rocks were LOOSE. I found the best way was just to have one foot in front and slide. It created a small avalanche of sorts but there was no one directly below me. I had cleared a path with my path but didn't let Annie use it because she was sending rocks tumbling down after me, pretty scary. This sliding down gets a bit tiring, and boring after about 10 minutes. Took me about 40 mins to get down. Can you imagine sliding for that long! It was fun though because there was no path you actually had to think about what you were doing. I loved it.
Ok, the whole trek took us 10hrs so I'm going to break this into two parts...
http://www.tongarirocrossing.org.nz/
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