On Friday we walked the crossing alongside Mount Tongariro, beside Mount Ngauruhoe (otherwise known as Mount Doom). Mount Tongariro used to be the tallest mountain in New Zealand before it lost it's top two thirds. A bit careless really. We checked behind the mountain and it definitely wasn't there. We're sure it'll turn up, perhaps down the back of a sofa.
Even though it is now a lot smaller than it used it be, it's still pretty big..... there was even snow in places! Just overlook the fact that, for various parts of the walk, we were in shorts and t-shirt. We were also wrapped up in fleeces, jackets and gloves in other parts!
So we got up at 5:20am (yes, really!) to get a bus over to the other side of Lake Taupo for the walk. This wouldn't have been so bad if some other folk in the hostel hadn't chosen that night to have an all-nighter, keeping Andy awake for most of it. Still, the morning dawned dry and bright and we dragged ourselves out of bed in time to have some breakfast before the bus arrived.
We won't bore you with the details of the crossing as we could write a novel about it, but suffice to say it was absolutely amazing. It was fairly hard going as you climb up the side of the volcano before walking across a crater, climbing out of said crater before heading down hill, and the total distance is 18km, a lot of which is on volcanic sand (as well as uphill), but it was worth every moment. It is, without a doubt, the best thing we have done so far and we doubt we will be able to better it. The views were incredible and no photos or descriptions could do it justice. We then made use of a great voucher deal at a pub in the town and had some well deserved (so we think!) pub grub and a few beers.
Anyway, the next day Chris stupidly went for a short run in the morning to try to loosen off, Andy was much more sensible and stayed in bed then made coffee then just wandered around for most of the day. The weather had taken a turn for the worse and it was overcast and windy. The crossing that day was cancelled due to the weather, so we were really glad we had gone when we did.
Sunday morning it was really nice and sunny again, and Chris stupidly went for another run, Andy again did the sensible thing. We then, sadly, left Taupo. We have taken a detour north west again to visit caves with gloworms. Andy wanted to take a scenic route, which had us glad for our 4-wheel drive as we found ourselves driving along gravel roads inbetween forest parks! Happily, the other side of the mountains the weather got really hot. Sorry folks, but it's true! We were chatting to a guy who's brother is married to a woman from Currie, where they still live, and he has been having a great time telling them about the weather over here - at least we feel slightly guilty about it!
So we found our way to a cave full of gloworms. It was quite cool, although fairly short. We weren't sure what to do with ourselves after that, so went to a tourist information office nearby and were given a few good ideas. As it happens, having felt that we shouldn't have arranged to stay here for the night, the sights we went to see were excellent and we ended up having a really good afternoon, including some more rally-inspired driving roads. Did we mention it was hot? Sorry......
Tomorrow we are heading south again to Mount Taranaki for more hill walking. Our poor legs!
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