The Tongariro Crossing

After Taupo we made our way down to Turangi, the gateway to Tongariro national park and the best one day walk in New Zealand – the Tongariro crossing. We spent a leisurely day gearing ourselves up for the walk and visiting the nearby Trout farm, to view all those fish we failed to catch in Rotorua. They keep this farm in Turangi to restock the rivers in the North Island in case overfishing or natural disaster wipes them out.

Having stocked up on water, apples and cheese sandwiches we bedded in for the night, ready for our epic walk the next day.

As is the nature of these things, we had to rise heinously early the next day in the dark to catch our bus to the start of the trail. We were told that the day was going to have fantastic weather, but on the drive we noticed the mountains shrouded ominously in mist. As we neared our destination, the driver of our bus got on the intercom and told us that the walk would take a total of 8 hours, and we would be picked up at the end of the trail at 4.30pm (no later!). As it was already 8.30am at that time, we were not given much leeway. If we missed the bus, we were told, we'd have to make our own way back to Turangi. Since the end of the trail was in the middle of nowhere, at least 40km from the nearest house, it wasn't clear how we'd manage this ...

Therefore, we began the walk at breakneck pace, ascending the western side of the Tongariro mountain range. Unfortunately everyone else was rushing as well. Since there were around 10 bus loads of people all being dropped at the same time, the result was a couple of hundred people, all scrambling together on a very thin track, trying to go as fast as possible. It was a bit like rush hour on the Picadilly line. Why they don't stagger the bus drops is beyond me.

On the plus side, about half an hour in, the mist began to lift, and we were given our first view of Mt Ruapehu (aka Mt Doom out of Lord of the Rings) rising majestically from a boulder-strewn valley of dark volcanic rock.


After an hour the mad scramble began to stretch out, making it more like a procession than a scrum, and a lot less stressful. The sun made itself known, warming us up, clearing the remaining haze and giving us better and better views the higher we climbed. Shortly afterwards we reached the dreaded “Devil's Staircase” so called because of the long steep climb we had to endure. To be honest it wasn't that bad. A lot of people were finding it quite difficult however, so we were able to overtake and reached the top with blessedly few people.

At the top of the staircase we were greeted with a flat plateau between the peaks of Ruapehu and Tongariro, complete with great views of both. There was then a short climb up to something called the Red Crater which was along a ridge affording views of the scenery used for Mordor in Lord of the Rings.

After 3 hours of walking we had reached a point just shy of the Red Crater, which marks the end of the uphill section of the walk. It was literally all downhill from here. At this point however, we noticed there was a side trek to the top of Mt Tongariro available. The sign said it would take 1.5 hours return. We surmised that if the uphill section of the walk had only taken us 3 hours, then the downhill would take a similar amount of time at most. We could then do our side trek, and be at the pick up point 30 minutes early. We were pretty confident in our time assessment, but still decided to reach the summit of Mt Tongariro as quickly as possible.

The track to the top was certainly a different proposition to the normal route. Where the main track had been well marked, well maintained and graced with steps where necessary, this was an unmarked scramble over rough rocky ridges with steep drops to either side. The views were unbelievable however and, even better, we didn't have to share them with anyone. Hardly any of the few hundred walkers on the day had decided to do this side trek, probably because we were all warned that we'd miss the return bus if any of us tried.

As we gained altitude, we came across a hazard we had yet to run into – snow. As we were supposed only to do the main walk (and there was no snow on the main walk) we had not been warned of any possibility of snow. On the route to the summit of Mt Tongariro however, it was there in abundance. Our footwear, being asics trainers for me and converse trainers for Liz, were not ideal choices for snow trekking, given that they lost all grip and let cold water in from the first minute. In fact, each and every person of the few we met on this part of the walk commented on our unsuitable shoes.

The going was slippery, slow and very cautious, but finally we reached the top for some stunning 360 views of the Tongariro National Park. The sun was bright, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and we could even see all the way to Mt Taranaki, right on the western coast of New Zealand. Provided we could get back without sliding all the way down a snow covered ridge, and provided we didn't get frostbite on our toes – it would have been a worth while diversion.

After taking time to absorb the view, we needed to get going. Behind schedule because of the slow going in the snow, we were terrified of missing the bus. Since our shoes provided no traction, and any conventional method of descent would have taken too long, we opted for a new and as yet untried method. Liz sat down at the top of a slope in the snow, and grabbed hold of my coat. I then ran, jumped, slipped and slid down the mountain, pulling her sledge-like behind me. Possibly not the most sensible form of descent, but definitely one of the quickest. We returned to the Red Crater back on schedule.

We lingered a little on the Red Crater. Because this crater is actually the crater of an active volcano, there is molten lava quite close to the surface. The ground therefore steams a little and is literally warm to the touch. We heated our bums and feet for a little before cracking on down the eastern side of the mountain range.

The first part was a steep scree slope, perfect for trying out the jumping and sliding techniques we had picked up in the snow. This slope then led to the Emerald Lakes – a collection of strikingly coloured tarns. After marvelling over these and taking hundreds of pictures, we moved on across another plateau to the also impressively coloured Blue Lake. The track then led on to a viewpoint over the eastern part of the national park. The view was fantastic, and a good thing it was, as it was the only one we saw over the next couple of hours of descent.

Finally, pretty tired out, we reached the bottom, only to find we had to endure another hour of trekking through dense undulating forest to reach the pick up point. Already pretty drained from the previous six hours of hiking, this was not very welcome.

Anyway, at last we made it out, and into the car park – 30 minutes before the bus as predicted. Exhausted we caught the bus back to Turangi, and then made our way to some hot springs, for a long hot soak in mineral rich water. Whether it was dehydration, sunstroke or just general exhaustion, but the springs completely finished us off. We could hardly talk, let alone cook that evening, so we headed into town and got ourselves a drive through Burger King for dinner. We also purchased something called a Cookie Time – an large incredibly chocolatey chocolate chip cookie with a picture of the cookie monster on the front. What a perfect end to a great day ...

One of the highlights of NZ so far!