Doing the Tongariro Crossing has been on my bucket list for a while now. Andrew was meant to go on it with me but with him living across the ditch this year, it was never going to happen. So when an accommodation deal cropped up on my favourite daily websites, I snapped it up and sweet talked Damon and Rachel into going with me. Yeeha!
I had fun packing as always - Clothes, check. Footwear, check. Pillow, check. Snacks, check. Backup snacks, check. Backup snacks of backup snacks, check check and checked!
After picking up Damon and then Rachel from what felt like Middle Earth aka Takanini (??) heheh, we made our first pit stop for the day - Carl's Jnr.
I think I got the Star Burger without the cheese. It was HUUUGE. I still prefer my BK double cheeseburger. The crisscut fries were amahzing though.
Shot of Rachel trying to run away from my camera.... not fast enough, Ray Ray!
After driving for 5 hours but what felt like 10 thanks to Damon's dubious Iphone playlist, we finally caught a glimpse of what we would be conquering very soon. How you doing?
We stayed at some lodge which was basically a backpackers. But the things going for it were that it was quite new and also, we had a room all to ourselves.
Not sure why there were tents there. I think some nutcases were camping. Why would any sane person do that????
Our loft room for the next 2 nights...
Damon got the room upstairs - a decision he came to regret the next day when he had to climb those stairs using very very sore legs. Mwahahahahaha.
Hellooooo Rach, stop hiding.
Anyway, we woke up bright and early the next day to have breakfast before catching the 8 am bus to the start of the crossing. Our deal came with breakfasts and when we rocked up to the dining hall, the dude was like "there you go, you can help yourselves to the table"... which consisted of bread, cereal and fruits. There were meant to be hot options too but I didn't bother asking. Once we started eating, we saw another couple who challenged the dude and got bacon and eggs instead!!!!!!!!!! Darn it!
After breakfast and a couple of last minute panicky toilet stops (no toilets on the mountain, dudes!), we went out to wait for the bus and were given our packed lunches (included in the deal too, I rock!). I forgot to take a photo of the lunch, drats. It was basically a very very squished banana, a ham or beef sandwich, trail mix and a banana muffin. My pack had TWO sandwiches - both a ham and a beef. Score! Take that, dude who cheated me out of bacon and eggs. The day was not very nice as you can see.
Damon on the bus, looking perky.... for now.
We were given a piece of paper each with information about the crossing.... gulp!
*bigger gulp*.... words that strike fear in my heart - "no toilets" and "little cover". Yikes.
Obligatory group shot right at the beginning of the hike. 19.4 km here we come!
Day was very overcast and stayed that way all day.
This is how it should look:
This was what it looked like for us:
We got to Soda Springs after an hour or so and i made a beeline for the toilet of course... even though I haven't had ANY water since breakfast. Whaaat. Damon was starting to resemble Ice Man. Oh and I bumped into an ex-BDO colleague, Herbert. I was pretty sure he had no idea who I was because he stared at me for what felt like 5 minutes after I said hello. I helpfully said "It's Diana?" and he huffily said "I know". Hmmm no you don't dude.
After Soda Springs, it was the start of what Damon would like to call "I wish I was dead" period. Heheh.. it involved conquering the Devil's Staircase. Lots and lots of stairs which felt endless at times. Poor Damon's legs kept cramping. But he soldiered on.... despite our constant jeering and teasing. Heheh.
After that, we walked in the craters for a while (i think!). It just felt like a foggy desert.... but i liked this part the best I think. It was very cold but very calm, almost eerie.
This way to .... more fog.
Rachel didn't hide from the camera this time.... wooooo.....
We got to the summit but it didn't feel like the summit because of the heavy fog...
THIS is what it should have looked like....
Instead we got THIS. The crossing was packed full of people. It was ridiculous. What is this? A sunday stroll?
Oh oh Damon's legs starting to cramp again for the next uphill climb. We stopped to have lunch here.
After that, it was all downhill. Literally. We skidded downhill as it was all loose volcanic ash. It was scary at times, especially when idiots whizz past causing the loose ash to shift even faster. Halfway down, the clear mountain air took on a decidedly rotten smell - sulphur!
We came to the bottom and was greeted by one of a trio of volcanic lakes... pretty huh?
Well, it would have been if what we saw was this:
or this:
By then, I was dying for another toilet stop. I have had a grand total of TWO sips of water. Meanwhile Damon and Ray Ray had guzzled their water and acting like they were seasoned army pilots who can go without a toilet break for days. Damn them! So I was very very grateful for the heavy fog because the 4 dreaded words had come back to haunt me - NO TOILETS and NO COVER.
I walked into the fog for ages and then quickly went behind a giant boulder. The whole time I was panicking that the fog would clear and I would discover that I was right in the middle of a walkway ahaha.. didn't happen.
Who is that?? The abominable snowman?
Nope, just me back from my adventures hehehehe... and yes I had a wardrobe change at some stage heheh.
Rachel starting to feel the effects of altitude sickness I think because she seemed giddy with excitement at the prospects of getting her photo taken!
Another comparison shot of what the terrain look like at this stage:
After all that excitement, we were facing the business end of the hike. It was just endless looping around the mountain going downhill and to be honest, it wasn't challenging. It was quite boring.
I took this photo to keep myself amused - the pointers were the EXACT colour scheme of Viv's wedding. heheh.
Finally, the fog lifted enough for me to take a photo of the horizon. Pretty.
Then came the most boring and demotivating part of the day - we walked through the forest to get to the end. Some kid walked past us and told us the end was 10 minutes away. Well, it was more like twenty, which made it worse. Every time we came to a bend, we were convinced it was the end and it never was. Sigh.
Yaaaaay! We did it and we did it in under 7 hours. High fives all round.
We were all shattered and lights were out by 7.50 pm that night. Heheh. It was good fun and I would do it again. In fact, I AM doing it again, in Easter. Let's hope for better weather this time, Ray Ray.
