Our editor said that she could do this hike any day of the week. “How about Shabbos?” We asked. That’s when she nearly slapped us. Of course, she wouldn’t but we felt like writing that. We were most excited with her positive attitude as the wind and rain turned us back from completion the previous Monday. Since then we have kept our attention glued to the forecasters, the sky, internet weather reports and Diet C… while getting soaked at another volcano in the interim. We didn’t realize that volcanoes spewed clouds and rained water; we naively thought they had something to do with eruptions of lava. Live and learn.
Up early again, do a little work but prepare for the alpine crossing, not only reputed to be New Zealand’s finest, but also rated by, we don’t know whom, as one of the best ten hikes in the world. Strong stuff but at least we did not make that statement. Nevertheless, the number of people undertaking the crossing is the most we have ever witnessed. It has everything needed to make it spectacular including ‘add-ons’ for those needing more of a challenge. Last year, we added a hike to the peak of Mount Tongariro. Our aim for the next visit is to climb the cone, Mount Ngauruhoe, which we understand is pictured in the trilogy series.
As mentioned on Monday, instead of going all the way across and through the forest, we stopped at the end of the Tongariro highlights and then retraced our footsteps. Our distance was 20kms, longer than the track itself as we had hiked beyond the middle section. The elevation gain was 2,800 feet and then some because we descended sharply, turned around and ascended again, on very soft sand mixed with cinder.
We had such energy today that we reduced the allotted time considerably. We mention this not to be braggarts (what a horrible sounding word) but we would expect by this stage to have ‘flagging energy levels’. Not true. When we woke this morning, there was verve, an excitement that set the tone for a solid hike with tremendous enthusiasm. Back to the weather. Should you have read any of our previous writings, it is clear that the weather in the area is erratic. Today, we started in a drizzle under complete cloud cover. Within ten minutes, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. This pattern repeated itself frequently but fortunately, without rain. Of course, the higher we climbed, the colder we felt, exacerbated by high, icy winds at the peak. Such winds create fear on the cliffs whereas rain is uncomfortable but not dangerous. Watching nature manipulate the weather is in itself a marvel.
Until we turned, every hiker on the ‘crossing’ was walking in the same direction. Thereafter, we felt like ‘salmon swimming upstream’. We had, what we thought, was a funny incident. To set the scene, imagine a few hundred people spread over a short distance walking in the same direction. We were amused when two people, on separate occasions, asked us whether they ‘were going in the right direction', after seeing us. Hundreds going one-way and only two in the other direction. Not funny? Okay, maybe you had to be there. It certainly isn’t our leadership qualities.
Everything we missed on Monday because of heavy clouds and mist was on display today. However, we do find the changing weather patterns, particularly involving mist and low clouds, to be haunting at times or just plain gorgeous. Seems like there is no accounting for taste.
It happened again. During the initial stages of the hike, we recognized Yves, the Swiss youngster that we met and hiked with on the Milford Track, three weeks ago. For whatever reason, it is wonderful to have coincidences like this occur. He’s a particularly strong hiker and adventurous young man. We wanted to offer him hospitality and a ride in the morning as we move north again but we ‘lost’ him somewhere on the volcanoes; hopefully, not in a volcano. How that happened, we cannot say. However, we have warned our editor about being so careless.
We were talking with our 'temporary landlord', after extending for a night so that we would be positioned to make our ‘assault on Tongariro’. It meant moving from the cottage to a studio apartment. Not a problem as we didn’t bring too much furniture with us for the trip. Jack and Betty have been married for about fifty years. He was complaining a little. ‘How can there be a problem after what looks like a very good marriage,’ we encouraged. “The thing is,” said Jack, “Betty is an Aussie.”
“Say no more, we understand,” we answered, “but realize this, Jack, you can’t have everything.”
Cheers,
Jenni and Jeffrey
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