Tongariro National Park: 6 Mar to 8 Mar

Tongariro. Beautiful. Haha, who would've thought I'd say that?

It's on the other side of Lake Taupo from Taupo. We stayed at National Park, which is a small village. Yet it boasts this amazing quality...

Ward street - yeah man!

We came to do the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, the "most famous" one day hike in New Zealand. When we got there, it was really cloudy. We were afraid we weren't going to be able to do it. But then it completely cleared around sunset, and we saw the mountains! They were amazing! On the ride in, we had no idea they were there. 

Mountains!

We were pretty excited to see the clouds disappear! And the mountains were awe-some!

Happy to see the mountains

It was cold. The morning of the 7th we got up and ate. 

A side note: all along we stopped at grocery stores. Most days we only ate pb and crackers, or something similar. Nutella! And nectarines! And muesli bars! About every other day we either cooked a real meal, or went to a restaurant. 

And something else of note: you don't tip in New Zealand, which helps out us poor college students! And at almost every place you order and pay at the bar, before you get your food. 

Anyways, we were all ready with our backpacks and granola bars and water. We got on the shuttle to take us to the mountain at 8am. 

Driving to the start

It was so sunny and beautiful. Tongariro has the only true alpine terrain in the north island. 

Still driving...

When we got to the drop off, we realized we were behind about 100 high school boys. Horray! But we were excited to start. It was very cold already. 

Woo hoo! It's about 12 miles

Now unfortunately, I had to hike in kapris. On the top half, however, I had two tanks, two tshirts, a sweatshirt, and a wind breaker. Oh, and best of all, I had a hat! It was my purse. Yes, my (personal) hand-knitted 100% wool purse. It actually worked very well as a hat, if you tucked the strap in. I let it fly in the wind like a perverse skull-protruding tail. 

(Unfortunately, sarcasm doesn't convey very well over text.)

Anyways, we hit the trail!

Starting out

It was amazingly gorgeous. I had a grin on my face the whole time! Or at least, I wanted to. The wind got so strong it was impossible to use facial expressions. They said it was 90 km/h winds, I think. All I know is I've never experienced wind like that. A few times I crouched down. It was especially terrifying on the top, next to sheer drops. I was afraid I was going to blow off the top!

The long trail behind us

This, as you can tell, is one of my favorite pictures. I think it's just amazing! Jen took it. 

Beautiful!

There were quite a few mountain streams for a while at the beginning. 

Up the trail

After the beautiful, sunny, strolling past mountain streams bit, we hit the stairs. Ay. That was where I realized I was quite unprepared! And where we really started experiencing the wind. 

All those stairs!

I kept stopping to slow down my heart. Luckily it was an amazing view. I said "oh my gosh, it's so beautiful" so many times that day it lost all meaning. The clouds were especially cool. 

The amazing rolling clouds

You could look up at them and see them moving so fast over the tops of the mountains. It was so awe-some. After the steepest part of the stairs, we went through South Crater. It was like the moon. 

South Crater

It was much less windy! Although it just got colder. Which I should mention - I lost all feeling in my legs way back. It was so cold. My knees were very red. After the worst of it, I realized my hands were so swollen and red. I couldn't extend them all the way at all, and they were very stiff. Gloves would have helped!

Almost to the top

As we worked our way to the highest point, we walked into a cloud. Everywhere around us, for a while, had been covered in the most peculiar ice. The dirt was covered in it, and you could brush it with your foot and it would all move together. 

There really wasn't much to see at the immediate top. It was 1886 m, a little more than 6000 ft. It was so gosh-darn windy! Getting down from that high point was quite scary. It was like a sand dune, only dirt and lots of wind and scary drops on either side. And really steep.

At the top looking down

Luckily, we got out of the cloud very quickly and from there could see so much! It was all volcanic landscape and it was so amazing! I kept thinking, "gee, this descent should be scaring the heck out of me! But it's so beautiful!" I told this repeatedly to Stephanie. I also told her that I didn't care if I fell and died, because it was a beautiful place to die. I was a bit slap-happy. Probably from that wind slapping me about. 

The beautiful volcanic views

At the bottom of the steepest part of the descent were the Emerald Lakes. They were so blue! They were also cold. I was hoping they would be warm from the geothermal steam. 

Emerald Lakes from higher up

It was a great place to get all that dirt out of my shoes. Unfortunately, my fingers forgot how to work, so it was difficult retying my shoes. 

Emerald Lakes

After the Emerald Lakes, we went through Central Crater. It gave me a chance to eat a One Square Meal bar, which really filled me up! And a chance to warm up my numb hands. As it turned out, they got much warmer! We got to the edge and started working our way down the mountain. This was absolutely beautiful. 

Down the mountain

It got lots warmer, the wind left (!), and the clouds were all back higher up. I was in love. 

Down

I started singing The Sound of Music in my head. It was so beautiful! After a while, more and more plants appeared. Flowers popped up. It was amazing.

Beautiful rocks

We wound our way down the side of the mountain. We could see Lake Taupo in front of us. 

Lake Taupo in distance

Really, these photos do it no justice at all. Something else they don't show is how painful it was. The constant down down down on your legs really hurt! My thighs were in pain. My ankle, that I had hurt back in Paihia from climbing on rocks in jandles (bad idea), really started to hurt. So I would stop every few feet and just admire the view. I let so many people pass me! 

So amazing!

Streams came out too, and it was paradise. A few times I sat in the path and just couldn't stop smiling. It was so pastoral. Then all of a sudden, without warning, we were in the jungle!

End of the hike

The last few km's were through the amazing trees. I would stop about every three trees and say "this tree is so cool!" If I had had my camera...you would have died of boredom now! 

Cool jungle part

It got really quiet, apart from the birds, and it smelled so good, and I was just at peace with the world! Then there was a waterfall. It was like a picture from a book. 

Waterfall near the end

I was half torn between "this is so beautiful I don't want it to end" and "my legs hurt so bad". I guess I was glad to come out and see 100 people sunbathing. It felt great to take off all those pesky layers and lay in the sun. It was a long hike. It took me from 8:30 am to about 3pm (although I sure stopped way more than I needed to to look at the trees and flowers). 

Part of the map of where we hiked

All-in-all, it was amazing. It was certainly hard, and quite scary at bits, but so beautiful it was completely worth it. I definitely recommend it. Luckily, we had great weather. It would have been very hard in rain or lots of clouds. 

New Zealand, you're beautiful. I love you.