The Chronicles of NZ: The Crossing (Written 1/4/07)

So our day began with a  6am wakeup call to eat some breakfast before the big hike. What was the breakfast of champions on this glorious day – oatmeal! I really couldn't eat a lot because I was so nervous about the long day ahead.

At 7am, we got on the bus that would take us to the start of the Tongariro Crossing and would pick us up at the end – 7 to 8 hours later. The bus was crammed with people who were also doing the hike – so we definitely were not going to be alone on this journey. Before starting the journey, we got a checklist of the necessary items for our hike: food, water, windjacket and a fleece – the weather can change dramatically along the way, so you have to be ready for anything. I started the hike in two shirts, pants, fleecejacket and my cargo pants which unzip to become shorts. When we started walking, it was so cold you could see your breath – so I was well dressed. But no less than 20 minutes into the hike. I was ripping the fleece off and turning my pants into shorts – it suddenly felt like summer in NZ.

I won't bore you to much with the details of the hike, but the coolest part of my journey was walking alongside Mt. Doom (it's real name is long and hard to pronounce – so I'll call it Mt. Doom). I felt like I was walking right in the middle of Mordor – it was freaky. There were plenty of spots where I was basically climbing straight up rock faces – steep rock faces. But the reward was getting better and better looks at Mt. Doom up close. When I reached the top of one of the craters the wind was just blowing like crazy – it was then that I realized how true it was that the weather can change quickly up there. The weather was perfect – the view was so clear you could see for miles in every direction. From the top I could see Mt. Egmont to the southwest and Lake Taupo to the north. Josh and Kevin were a lot faster on the trail, but slow and steady won the race – my safety always overrides my pride. The trail wasn't extremely hard, but it required a good level of fitness (or sheer determination – there were folks in their 50s walking the trail) and a willingness not to quit.

I was so excited once I got to the top and was able to just descend – it took a lot of knee power to stop me from tumbling down (and it would be quite a tumble – the top of the walk is 1886m above sea level). The strangest part of the walk were the parts when no one was in front of me or behind me (that I could see) – I was alone just soaking in the beauty of the walk. Altogether, it too me 6.5 hours to do the walk and my feet were killing me but I am definitely glad I did it and finished it. It was only a 17km walk – but what a walk!

After getting done with the hike, we headed off for the western coast of NZ – towards New Plymouth. Josh was driving and Kevin was the navigator and together they came up with a route that might be considered a short cut. And we all know how "short cuts" usually work out – add to the fact that along this route there were no gas stations and we were on a quarter of a tank and you can understand why I was a bit nervous. This route literally took us through the backwoods of NZ – the scenery was beautiful but there was a lack of people, cars and houses around us. Being in the middle of nowhere was definitely an experience but adding even more intrigue was when the paved road turned into a gravel road! So we were driving on gravel road for at least 40km with no idea when the end would arrive. Fortunately it did revert back to paved road and we were able to safely reach New Plymouth.

Unfortunately, we arrived at the city without a place to stay – all the backpacker places were looked for some peace festival that was taking the next day. Fortunately, the Quality Inn in town was having a $75 special on their rooms – so for the price of a hostel we got to stay in a nice hotel room (away from the hippies) – not a bad deal.

After having our first non-self made meal, we are resting comfortably in our hotel room, preparing for the last leg of this North Island trip….to Wellington!

*Side Notes*

 -           Hiking is called "tramping" in NZ. I have no idea why.

-           The elevation of the main spots on the Tongariro Crossing:

o        Mangatepopo Hut = 1200m

o        Soda Springs = 1400m (1 hour to reach)

o        South Crater = 1650m (1 hour to reach)

o        Red Crater = 1900m (1 hour to reach)

o        Emerald Lakes = 1705m (20mins to reach)

o        Ketehai Hut = 1450m (1 hour to reach)

o        Ketehai Car Park = 800m (2 hours to reach)

-           As you can see, that's a tough 17kms to walk!

-           The town of New Plymouth has Mt. Taranaki as a backdrop – Taranaki means "Peaks without vegetation" in Maori.

-           Mt. Taranaki was renamed Mt. Egmont by Captain James Cook in an attempt to ingratiate himself with the Earl of Egmont but most people still call it Mt. Taranaki

-           The movie "The Last Samurai" used Mt. Taranaki as a replacement for filming Mt. Fuji.