There and Back Again

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  National Park Village, North Island, New Zealand
Wednesday, January 21, 2009

New Zealand is Middle Earth.  And for the inner-Lord of the Rings-nerd it is paradise.  I restrained myself from doing a full-on Lord of the Rings tour of New Zealand, but when it combined with my love of hiking, the opportunity to see the "best day hike in New Zealand" and "Mt. Doom and Mordor", it could not be passed up.

The Tongariro Alpine Crossing is a 12 mile hike past three volcanoes, one of which was used for all of the filming of Mt. Doom (volcanic eruption added in post, although we saw a wimpy little wisp of steam coming from the top).  It had a steep uphill followed by a longer downhill, passing through grassland, volcanic terrain, sulphur lakes, crater lakes, and rainforest.  The day before our hike everything was overcast, and a French couple who did the hike went through all the stress and saw nothing the whole way.  For our day, the weather cleared and we had a crystal-clear blue sky, warm weather, and perfect day.

The only downside with this hike is that it is very popular.  I don't think there was any point where we were all alone on the trail.  In the beginning there were many people tramping along.  Eventually they spread out, but you were always reminded that yes, this is a tourist destination as well as a beautiful hike.  But don't get me wrong, for such a popular hike it was not easy.  The beginning was a very, very steep uphill, before leveling off and then getting even steeper.  Then once you got to the top (and saw a spectacular view of a deep red canyon that looked like you could be in hell) you started down a gravelly steep downhill sliding more than you were walking, to reach a good lunch spot next to a gorgeous emerald lake.  That is, if the emerald lake didn't smell like rotten eggs.  The sulphur vents did not make the smells live up to the sights.  You think when you reach the top and start down you're halfway done.  No such luck.  The downhill was much longer then the uphill, and after what seemed like forever we thought we were done going down the mountain, only to enter a lush green rainforest.  The path levelled, the views were pretty, but those last kilometers lasted forever as the view was indistinguishably green and thick enough to not give any sense of where the end was.  Finally we passed a pretty flowing stream, and broke through the forest to reach the end just in time to not be left behind.  It was a full eight hour day, packed with nature at its most beautiful.

We had a great package through our hotel.  They provided breakfast, a packed lunch, van to the starting point, pickup at the end point, a jacuzzi while you waited for dinner, and a good cooked dinner to finish off the evening, and then a t-shirt to say "we done it!"  Couldn't ask for more than that.  With a hike like this, pictures speak much more than words, so I'll post a few (along with catching up on Beijing and Hong Kong) to give a sense of all that we saw.

Off to South Island now.  We've had to cancel our final country, Fiji, due to the storms and flooding they've been having in that country.  Instead, we are extending our stay in New Zealand, and exploring the South Island, where originally we were going to stay just on the North Island.  Next up, kayaking, glacier hikes, and more....

Ernie

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