Volcanic Quest

The next day stocked up with food water and other delights we headed for Tongariro National Park to conquer a Volcano! (You can guess who’s idea this was) Arriving closer we got a glimpse of the three mighty volcanoes dominating the landscape. All three of them are currently active volcanoes and the most recent eruption was back in August.

The Alpine Crossing which we were planning to attempt had only just been reopened a week ago because the track needed to be cleared of debris from the eruption and snow from winter. In the center of Tongariro national park is the village of Whakapapa (pronounced Fa-ka-papa) where we picked up a copy of the weather report. Just outside the village is the Tawhai falls a short walk from the roadside.

The falls look like something from a movie. A tropical lagoon at the base of a glimmering waterfall. Just before getting our heads down for some rest before the big hike we shot down to the village of Ohakune, for no other reason than to get a picture of this massive carrot installation erected in honor of the towns status as the carrot capital of New Zealand.

6:00am alarm signaled the start of our climb. We were on the track by 7am with up to 8 hours of hiking ahead of us depending on our pace. The first 3k’s was very well tracked out with a gradual incline. The next kilometer was much steeper as we climbed out of the volcanoes shadows in the valley and into the morning sun.

Mount Ruapehu is the biggest of the three volcanoes in the park and the most active. Mount Tongariro was the one that blasted in August and that is attached to Mount Ngauruhoe which we refer to as Mount Doom as it was used in the lord of the rings trilogy. The walk we were planning cuts between the bases of the latter two volcanoes and heads up the red crater to a height of 1883 meters then a slight descent to some volcanic lakes at the top which have formed in craters from previous eruptions.

At the base of Mt. Ngauruhoe the track descends into a giant crater which was still snow covered and tricky to cross, very wet and boggy from all the melting ice.

(video, click to watch)

The track then climbs high up on a ridgeline and once on the top we were immediately smacked by 50kmph winds. The views are totally unbelievable.

We were well above cloud cover over Taupo and the rest of the park and still the track kept climbing. Soon enough as our quads were about to explode we hit the Red Crater summit and from here a steep skree slope (try saying that fast 3 times) led straight down to the emerald volcanic lakes.

At this height nothing grows, yet it is stunningly beautiful. The landscape resembles what I imagine Mars to look like, just red rock, dust and strong winds.

We arrived back at the car by 1pm, surprised by how fast we had completed the trek. Also surprised at why it took Frodo and Sam three films to get up Mount Doom when we were able to climb up and back down to the base of it in just 6 hours…I guess hobbits have shorter legs??

Scooted back up to Taupo for showers at the public facilities, walked in covered in dust and hair the texture of brilo pads. The lady took one look and before we opened our mouths said “you guys need showers”…We obliged…

Been out here now for 9 weeks and need to take some time out to increase the bucket list. Can’t really believe how much we’ve done in such a short amount of time – feel free to get in touch with any ideas or crazy suggestions that you think we should have a go at.

We’re doing quite a bit of rural camping thanks to van, but unfortunately that generally means no Internet or electricity facilities, and so its getting tough to keep the blog updated with events daily. The posts will come in thick and fast as we collecting them up for when we get a chance to bang them online. Other bummers about van camping are lack of showers and non-flushing toilets…just long drops, which you DO NOT WANT TO FALL IN TO!