Stopping off in the little town of Turangi, we booked onto the main attraction of the area; the Tongariro crossing. Having missed out on a sunny day in Nelson to do the Abel Tasman National Park, we thought we would redeem ourselves with a 7 hour walk across mountains and lakes instead. Our hostel was situated in a quiet street next to the river and somewhere we thought will be lovely to relax over the next couple of days, especially after the walk.
The day before our walk, a group came back to the hostel that had just completed it and they said it was hard work but very rewarding. It is hailed as the best one day walk in the whole of New Zealand as it encompasses mountains, forests, emerald lakes and volcanoes - not bad for a one day walk! An older lady had also completed the Crossing and so we felt confident in our ability to conquer the mountains!
In preparation, we went out on a mini walk around the river for about an hour. The weather had finely gotten better and we felt good about our walk the next day. Whilst walking along taking pictures, we walked past some other couples on the narrow pathway suspended above a cliff and river and then alongside a mother with her two toddlers. Just as we approach them, the little boy slips and falls down the side of the pathway into the bushes and down towards the edge of the cliff. In a matter of seconds, Nick had thrown himself down through the bushes after him with not a thought about himself. It happened so fast I couldn't believe what had happened. Nor could the mother who then managed to slip arse over head down after Nick and the little boy. Nick had managed to catch him from falling any further and I was left consoling the little girl at the top. Nick and the little boy were then in the middle of a load of thick thorn bushes. Slowly the little boy was lifted up to me (unhurt but pretty shaken) and then the mother (pretty embarrassed), followed by Nick (covered in thorns but unhurt). How brave! I couldn't believe he had done it. A real live act of heroism! After much thanks from the mother and a lot of wailing from the poor little boy, we continued on our walk. Who knew a stroll around the river could be so full of adventure! Linda and David, you should be very proud of Nick! Shame I didn't capture it on camera really...
We awoke early the next morning with the thought of our long day ahead. The pickup was supposed to arrive at 6am but there was a "mix up" with the bus company (our hostel owner forgot to book it!) and so we waited around still encouraging each other and managed to squeeze onto the next bus at half 7. After a short picturesque drive to the start of the track, we looked at the track ahead of us and Mount Ngarahoe (or Mount Doom known by the tourists) loomed above us. After seeing the Lord of the Rings films in Dunedin, the thought of scaling Mount Doom like Frodo and Sam was cool (what geeks!).
Our bus was to pick us up on the other side of the crossing at 4:30pm so carrying 3 litres of water each and lots of energy releasing foods, we set off on the track and tried to get into our stride. The track is said to be well travelled, although on some parts we were almost rock climbing! After an hour of solid walking, I wondered how good an idea this actually was. Arriving at the base of what they call the 'devil's staircase', we ascended up the mountainside on the most amount of stairs I have ever seen. Being very out of breath, we permitted a brief stop and consulted the map to find out we were not even a quarter of the way through and had many more steep rises to climb - that's the thing with mountains, they are bloody steep!
Getting to the top of the staircase, we arrive upon one of the sites we had been waiting for; Mount Doom! It looked so high (an extra 2287 metres to climb to be exact)! As an additional part to the crossing you can climb Mount Doom in a proposed extra 3 hours return. Although we thought it could be tight for completing the crossing (being only a quarter of the way through) and catching our return bus, we thought sod it! When would we ever have the chance to do this again?
Mount Ngarahoe is actually an active volcano, like some of the other mountains around here. The last time it erupted was 1978 and apparently it is overdue for another eruption (being on roughly a 25 year cycle)! That confirmed it for us; we were going up. On the way to the base of the climb, we ran into a guy coming down who said "f*ck that! I got halfway up and couldn't go any further". Nick just looked at me and he could see that there was definitely fear in my eyes! After convincing me it would be fine (and that we could always turn back), we set off. Being a volcano and not part of the normal crossing, there isn't an actual path up the side of it. It is just a sheer scrabble up the side of it. This doesn't discourage people from climbing it and we weren't the only ones on our way up. What a bunch of idiots!
After about half an hour's climb, we were still a very long way from the summit. The climb had started to get gradually harder and because of the loose rocks you would take one step forward and slide about four steps back! We decided to stay closer to the bigger rocks and ended up on our hands and knees rock climbing up the side of the mountain. I have never had a work out like this before. All of me hurt from my head down to my little toe and we were both exhausted. I really did feel like Frodo!
After 2 hours, we reached the summit. Surrounded by ice covered rocks and fiery hot steam erupting from crevasses in the rocks, we climbed the last 100 metres to the top and I was genuinely awestruck. We were standing on the crater rim of a volcano! The crater was huge, half being covered in ice as the sun hadn't heated it yet and the other half being crusted magma, it was so cool. Although it was sunny, it was freezing cold. The view was amazing and we could see for miles and miles, looking down on the clouds rolling in around us. We were the only ones at the top and enjoyed our lunch on the rim of a volcano before turning around and thinking how the hell do we get down?! Climbing up was steep but going down was scarier and very difficult (although it was faster). Most of the time we just slid on the loose rocks and ended up on our asses! So I thought why fight it and ended up going down a lot of it on my ass. Yes I did end up with crusted lava rocks in my butt and in my boots but at least I didn't break my neck!
So after 3 hours we ended back where we started absolutely exhausted, bruised, aching all over and covered in dirt. Realising again that we were not even half way through, we set off to complete the crossing. I think that we may have over done it on Mount Doom and although it was amazing, I was now wondering whether it had been a good idea. We had left ourselves 3 and a half hours to complete what usually takes 5 hours! Whoops!
The track only got steeper and steeper before it eased up. I was dying and almost thinking about camping there for the night. Somehow Nick and the promise of a massive pastry that he would buy me if I kept walking got me through it. We passed through amazing sights such as the Emerald Lakes and the Red Crater. At one point I wasn't sure whether it was Nick or the smell of the surrounding streams but there was a definite horrible smell. Nick blamed it on the sulphur escaping from the rocks around the lakes but I still think it was his bottom.
Arriving at a hut, we stopped to take a quick breather before carrying on. We had another 2 hours to go and only half an hour to do it in before our bus left! My pack felt like a ton of bricks and my legs felt like jelly but we thought we would try our best to catch the bus. On the way up Mount Ngarahoe, we met a few other people that were supposed to get the bus too and they were quite a way behind us so at least we were in the same boat.
The track that winded down the mountainside was still quite steep and I tried to work out which was worse, going up or coming down? Both mine and Nick's hips and knees absolutely killed. We contemplated going back to the hut and staying there - that's how bad it was! Instead, we kept going being the brave little soldiers that we are and being the only ones to blame for over doing it!
Arriving at the forest, we knew we were not too far from the end. We walked for another hour before arriving at a stream that had burst its banks. The path had been completely lost and we couldn't work out which way to go. Being very irritable and tired by this point, I just wanted to get out of the forest! So I took the lead wading down the stream until finally it ceased and we managed to find a path. Given new hope that this was the end, we walked faster. When would it end! It went on and on before we finally burst free of the trees and arrived in the dark car park. Well we definitely missed the bus. We finished at 5:30, so was only an hour late! Luckily for us, the nice Maori driver felt concerned for our safety and came back with his bus to pick up any stragglers. There were about 10 of us in the end that had missed the bus so at least we weren't the only ones. Within no time we were in the bus and back into town and I was looking forward to that promised pastry!
I have never done something so physically challenging before. Nick felt exactly the same so it wasn't just me being lame. Usually a lot of people do not do Mount Doom as well so at least we had that as a testament to our aches and pains! The sweat, blood and a couple of tears that we went through was worth it in the end, looking back. Would I do it again - hard to say but I am very glad that I did complete it. The next couple of days we were both walking like OAPs but hopefully the memory will live longer than the pain does!
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