Tongariro Crossing

(This post is a few weeks old...just haven't gotten around to it!!) Another one of the ER docs in Wanganui, Willem, invited us to go with them to do the Tongariro crossing. We took off early in the morning and met up with him, and his son, his friends, and his son's friends - All transplants from South Africa. We spent the morning surrounded by a fun mix of Afrikaans and Kiwi accents. When we had reached the first part of the saddle, we stopped to pose for a group picture, our first of many chances that day to pose with the South African flag. After reaching the top of the saddle, the teenagers and their adults moved on, but since we were making good time, Patrick and I took off on the out-and-back hike to summit Mount Tongariro. Here we are at the top of Tongariro, with Mount Ngauruhoe (pronounced nair-a-hoe-eee) and Mount Ruapehu behind us. Amazing views!!

We stopped atop Tongariro for a few snacks and then pushed up and over the middle section of the hike. The first third is all up-hill, the latter two-thirds are down-hill. Sounds fun until you've been going down-hill for 4 hours...Your knees beg for mercy! The steepest down-hill section is pictured here, as you descend over the Emerald Lakes (aptly named, no?) This is a very steep little section which is all gravel-y...very high-yield down-hill! For every 2 steps you take, you probably get another 2 steps worth of just sliding down the path. I was glad I had my boots so the gravel didn't sneak into my shoes.

We continued down, had a picninc lunch at the Blue Lake and caught back up with our South African friends at a hut situated over the last couple of hours of down-hill, finishing as a happy team, all together, and of course, stopped for a picture with the South African flag!

Willem and friends headed back to Wanganui, only about 1 1/2 hour drive from the National Park and it's Whakapapa Village. We had another day off so opted to take advantage of the summer-time hotel sales in this ski village. (That's right, in the winter you can ski on Ruapehu...just mind the sirens. If the mountain erupts, get to high ground, usually situated under a lift, to avoid the lahar - lava flows. You can check out the mountain's safety website here.) This is the view from our hotel room at the Skotel in Whakapapa. We finished out the day with burgers and fish-and-chips...we were hungry and tired!
It was a great day.