Tongariro Alpine Crossing - Part 1

 It starts something like this.

Early morning. Substantial breakfast. Coffee. Sportswear (yes, I do own some of that stuff - no hiking boots though, don't push it!). A backpack containing three litres of water and nutritious snacks. A fucking heavy camera. High expectations - by this point, you've met so many German backpackers raving about it that you think, Scheiße, this has to be good.

So you're all set and ready for this 19,4 km hike through an active volcanic zone.

That sounds like more exercise than what you've done in total over the past 8 years. Probably because it is. But everybody you've spoken to managed to make it to the end (alive, might I add), so why shouldn't you?

The drive into the Tongariro National Park is stunning, in itself. The beautifully calm, lush green New Zealand countryside suddenly changes - rough, wild, almost hostile.

You take a silly picture at the signpost at the start of the track and you're ready to go.

The first couple of kilometres are more or less flat and you think you can handle it.

The landscape becomes more and more arid.

Then you hit the Devil's Stairway. This is just the beginning of it. Soon enough, your knees start to scream and the camera goes into your backpack. You wish you'd been to a spinning class or two, like your friend whose knees seem fine.

You make it to the top, feeling pretty good about yourself, and take in the view. Stunning doesn't even begin to do it justice.

But that's when you notice those tiny little dots, up there. They're moving. No, can't be. Shit, it is. That's people moving up there. That must be the track.

And then it hits you - shit, you're going to have to get up there yourself.

The climb that followed - well, that was an ordeal, I'm not going to lie. I'm not good with heights and this bit was steep. Very steep, in fact. Brittle, loose, sandy rocks. And, all of a sudden, windy too. Fuck.

Ever heard of the expression "no way out but through"? I'm pretty sure it was penned by someone who found him or herself, somehow, at this particular spot on this particular trail. Turning back's not an option. In fact, looking down (or anywhere but straight ahead) is not an option. Deep breaths, small steps.

It's a short stretch, this steep part - it felt like it went on forever.

But hell was it worth it: you reach the top and you've landed on another planet. Photos of that next time.

Lake Taupo, planning the Tongariro crossing

To think that I almost missed the Tongariro Alpine Crossing...

From Rotorua, my plan was to go directly down to Wellington, and then to cross over to the southern island. I'd read and heard about Tongariro, but I have to admit it scared me a bit. OK, a lot. I didn't really fancy doing a 20km hike through an active volcanic zone.

Turns out I just didn't feel like doing it on my own.

I am so glad that Bettina [ Hi Betti! I'm typing this while sitting in a perfect Brunswick cafe - you'd love it! And I never want to leave ;) ] convinced me to join her for the stroll. Ha. More on that later.

So I changed my ticket to Turangi, and Bettina and I stopped along the way to spend a few hours at Lake Taupo. A good place for skydiving, I was told (I passed on the skydive this time round - I won't next time).

Not much to see in Taupo. Most NZ towns are pretty anonymous and boring. But the weather was glorious and we spent a good few hours sitting in a cafe by the lake looking over at Tongariro in the distance (the one with the little white cloud hovering over it).

We then stocked up on nuts and water and chocolate, hopped on the bus to Turangi and went to bed early-ish. We had an active volcano to climb the following day.

Wai-o-tapu geothermal wonderland, Rotorua

New Zealand consists of two islands, which are quite different from one another.

The north island was created by volcanic activity, the south island by seismic activity. The north island houses over three quarters of the population, leaving the south island wild and unspoilt, and painfully, heartbreakingly beautiful (I am biased, but you'll see why).

Anyway, Rotorua is located in a very seismically active area - don't ask me for details, the science-y facts about the place, which I found fascinating at the time, have been since long forgotten. Ha!

The minute you hit Rotorua you become aware of a strong eggy smell that follows you everywhere. It's actually not as bad as it sounds, and you get used to it pretty quickly. The pool of lava that Rotorua sits on is to blame (I think).

Just outside of Rotorua is Wai-o-tapu Geothermal Wonderland, a rather grand name that kinda sorta failed to live up to expectations. Yes, weirdly coloured water and rocks and bubbling mud and all sorts of strange things going on. But I guess at the end of the day, science just ain't my thing.

Paihia, Bay of Islands

Paihia was a slight disappointment. I was really looking forward to a few days of beach lounging, and instead I got three days of almost uninterrupted rain.

 

Mangroves, Bay of Islands

Auckland

I actually wasn't going to bother to do a post on Auckland.

Not that I didn't like it. I did. I thought it was a rather pleasant, easy little city - especially after having spent two weeks in Perth, nursing one killer jet-lag and feeling rather lost and veeeeery far away from everything and everyone (yes, it was brutal).

But I digress. Back to Auckland.

You see, New Zealand, well it just kept getting better and better. So even though I found Davenport and Waihiki perfectly charming at the time, the truth is that I then moved on to much bigger and much better. And, until now, I hadn't thought about Auckland and Davenport and Waihiki again.

However I did spend four days there, my first four days in New Zealand, and I was pretty psyched at the time.

PS. I have no idea why the pictures have become so grainy! I'll try to fix it...

On a whim: a month in New Zealand

Apologies for the lack of updates. Clearly, I suck at this.

The last month has been unexpected, and random, and difficult, and wonderful. I have yet to wrap my head around it.

On a whim, I headed to Melbourne for a week. I ended up staying a month. Still counting. I love it. But more on that another time.

In the meantime, let's rewind to mid February, when I took myself over to New Zealand for a month. So stay tuned for some breathtakingly beautiful landscapes, cos there's an obscene amount of those coming this way!