The Tongariro Crossing

The Tongariro Alpine Crossing is one of New Zealand's 'Great Walks'. It is 19.4 km over steep volcanic terrain. We did it in 7 hours! It circumnavigates Mt. Ngauruhoe (2287m)  (Mt. Doom for Lord of the Rings fans) and affords great views of Mt. Tongariro. We had to wait for perfect weather which was delivered on Dec. 29, 2010.

Many people were all waiting too and busloads were dropped off by shuttle buses at 7:45 am at the Mangatepopo car park.

It was a bit like walking in a queue all out for the Boxing day sales!  It was well worth it though!
The only bonus to having so many people about was it offered the chance to 'people watch'. There was one gal with blue Genie pants and red Maryjane shoes on- and she finished before us!
There were couples with babies and there were older people too, puffing it out up the steep parts. Good on ya!

The weather is known to change quickly so we were ready for heat, cold and rain. We also carried 2 L of water each and a lunch. The track passes through a variety of vegetation zones ranging from alpine scrub, tussock, no vegetation to lush podocarp forest as we descended through the Ketetahi forest to the end of the track.

So with aching feet and sore leg muscles we finished in time for the 3pm bus. We had a great sense of achievement!

On our way home we decided to visit Waverly Beach to finish off an already fabulous day.

All in all a great day!

Thanks for reading!