Ola!
Given the richness in natural beauty New Zealand has it comes as no surprise that a major part of what you can do here involves trekking. After the Inca Trail we decided it would be nice to do another 3/4 day trek and New Zealand has several amazing such treks on offer. But before we thought we should warm up with one of the best one day treks in the world: the Tongariro Crossing!
Given the richness in natural beauty New Zealand has it comes as no surprise that a major part of what you can do here involves trekking. After the Inca Trail we decided it would be nice to do another 3/4 day trek and New Zealand has several amazing such treks on offer. But before we thought we should warm up with one of the best one day treks in the world: the Tongariro Crossing!
We based ourselves in Taupo, a town where we could wait until the weather improved while having the facilities to do some much needed updating of the blog and planning of the trip. The crossing takes about 7 hours, covering 17 Km and reaching 1900m at its highest. But the major difficulty of this trek are the highly changeable alpine weather conditions: it quickly goes from sunny-baking-hot to snowy-freezing-cold up there. We hanged around Taupo for a couple of days, keeping a close eye on the weather forecast: strong winds and cold temperatures meant the company operating the buses to and from the trek wasn't risking taking anyone up, although the trek itself is still open. At the informations centre we were told four tourists had died there this year: underestimating the mountains, they were ill prepared for freezing conditions and doing the trek on their own. That scared us a bit, we didn't really know what kind of equipment we should be carrying so we decided to play it safe and just rent everything we didn't have. In the mean time we made a short walk to see the Huka Falls.
At the third day the weather forecast was good enough for us to try and cross it. The group of people going was larger than usual given the backlog of trekkers waiting around as we were. On bus there we got told on how from the top, you can actually see both coasts of the north island. Unfortunately as we approached our target, the thick cover of cloud over the top of the three volcanoes made it clear to us that we'd have to take the driver's word for it.
We started appreciating the marshland landscape which featured as Mordor in the "Lord of the Rings".
The beginning was easy and flat but soon we reached the Devil's Staircase, a highly steep hillside full of loose rocks. To make things more challenging, the winds grew stronger as we went up but fortunately they were pushing us uphill (actually that was a much appreciated help, I would have given up if we were going against the wind)! At the top we were supposedly treking between mounts Tongariro and Ngauhuroe (Mount Doom in the "Lord of the Rings") but the dense mist made it impossible to see more than a metre around us. This is where you realise why people have died: anyone treking alone that slipped down the mountain would have been completely obscured from other trekers or indeed search parties. Still, we bravely carried on, conquering the mountain (we assume it was a mountain based on how we were climbing but you couldn't really tell through the mist ;-). I'm not sure about Mordor, it could have been Morden for all we could see!
At the third day the weather forecast was good enough for us to try and cross it. The group of people going was larger than usual given the backlog of trekkers waiting around as we were. On bus there we got told on how from the top, you can actually see both coasts of the north island. Unfortunately as we approached our target, the thick cover of cloud over the top of the three volcanoes made it clear to us that we'd have to take the driver's word for it.
We started appreciating the marshland landscape which featured as Mordor in the "Lord of the Rings".
The beginning was easy and flat but soon we reached the Devil's Staircase, a highly steep hillside full of loose rocks. To make things more challenging, the winds grew stronger as we went up but fortunately they were pushing us uphill (actually that was a much appreciated help, I would have given up if we were going against the wind)! At the top we were supposedly treking between mounts Tongariro and Ngauhuroe (Mount Doom in the "Lord of the Rings") but the dense mist made it impossible to see more than a metre around us. This is where you realise why people have died: anyone treking alone that slipped down the mountain would have been completely obscured from other trekers or indeed search parties. Still, we bravely carried on, conquering the mountain (we assume it was a mountain based on how we were climbing but you couldn't really tell through the mist ;-). I'm not sure about Mordor, it could have been Morden for all we could see!
The weather at the top was so bad that we did the trek in five hours, with few stops: the lack of visibility and stability up there meant no one spent time trying to take photos. Besides, freezing cold winds are an excellent incentive to walking fast! Here is a picture of me really enjoying the weather at the top! Tom managed to keep going by being fed Chelsea buns continously!
Eventually we started descending to better weather and better views. The walking didn't get much easier though to start with, Tom managed to stack it twice on the scree slope coming down. He and this swedish guy we had met in the hostel were taking it in turns to skid down the mountain, just when one had got back on his feet the other fell over again!
Although we didn't get the amazing views from the top that everyone raves about, the trek was probably the biggest physical challenge we had in a long time and definitely worth the trouble for it.
Back in Taupo we rewarded ourselves with a session in the local hot spa, ahhhhhhh...
On our way home we were bemused at the following sight: (yes, it is a whole house)
Bye for now,
Vania
Back in Taupo we rewarded ourselves with a session in the local hot spa, ahhhhhhh...
On our way home we were bemused at the following sight: (yes, it is a whole house)
Bye for now,
Vania
No comments:
Post a Comment