Wellington - Taupo

We arrived in Taupo under a bit of a cloud... literally - the weather wasn't great - which didn't bode well for the anticipated Tongariro Crossing attempt. Also, Tracy hadn't been well for a couple of days, so that wasn't great preparation either... The hostel were expecting a fax at about 5pm which would decide one way or the other, so we waited with bated breath. The fax came in saying that things were looking pretty good, so I signed myself up. Tracy reckoned she'd reluctantly pass, but asked me to take loads of pictures.

So the next morning I was up bright and early at 5:30am. It wasn't even bright at 5:30 am I can tell you! Getting up early is a problem for me, but this morning I wasn't going to be late! Tracy - like the trooper she is - got up to see me off too. It did mean that we got to meet a Canadian girl called Pam. She was hitchhiking to Wellington after her rented apartment was burnt down by her idiot flatmate - with all their possessions inside. Our bus gave her a lift as far as Taurangi - which is a good start.

We reached the trail head after about 1 hour of picking people up and after quick checks and a toilet stop, we set off up. After a leisurely 45 minutes or so we stopped at the foot of the "Devil's Staircase" - a steep 45-60 minute ascent into the first volcanic crater. About halfway up, most of us were hoping that there was a "Devil's Escalator" that we could take the rest of the way... Luckily when we did finally reach the top, we were blown away by the view (as well as the wind).


We had emerged into a great arena with snow-covered mountain-tops all around. It was like nothing I've seen before - unfortunately the pix don't really do it justice. We tramped across the middle of the crater towards our lunch spot - the summit of Mt Tongariro.


Once we reached the edge of the plateau and the start of the ascent, we had to don our spikey metal crampons so we didn't wind up sliding all the way down the mountain (and over all its jaggedy rocks).


The ascent to the summit was hard going - basically straight up an ice slope. If anything I was finding it harder than the Devil's Staircase - although it wasn't as far. Finally, though we made the summit and stood for a while, drinking in the views.


Getting down again was much easier than getting up. We found a huge slope and just slid down!I'd brought my zeltbahn with me which made a great sled!


It's a shame I pressed the pause button by mistake about a quarter of the way down - it would have been a good one if I'd got it all...

Unfortunately, we couldn't slide ALL the way down the mountain. We had to walk most of the way - which was a shame because after the stunning scenery of the summit, the rest of the walk was a bit of an anticlimax. We passed thermal vents and passed though some rainforested areas - which would have been better if I'd not already seen them elsewhere (and my feet were starting to hurt at this point!). By the time I reached the end, I was ready to get home as I was feeling a bit sick. I found out later that it was probably dehydration because I found I could drink about a litre of juice...

Anyway, dehydration, blisters and the touch of sunburn I picked up aside it was definitely the best day's walking I've done so far and would recommend it to anyone who's dropping by Taupo. I've taken about a day to get over it, but I'd do it again if I ever got the chance - maybe in summer next time...