21.29 Tongariro Alpine Crossing , North Island, New Zealand—always a 'wow' and more.
We don’t take slogans and hype too seriously—there’s an awful lot of it going around in the modern day. So when a hike is rated the best in New Zealand and many say, in the world, we smile and wonder where we’ve heard that before. We have undertaken this hike a few times before and the hype may in fact be the truth regarding the Tongariro Alpine crossing. Even the name is exciting. The Atlantic Crossing, the Sahara Crossing, the Tongariro Crossing—all have a stylish ring to them. Say it out loud and sufficient number of times and an excitement builds within. Then again that could just be us. Talking of crossings, to get to North Island, we made another crossing, the Cook Strait. The three of us sailed on a ferry from Tipton, arriving in Wellington three hours later. For the first time in nearly four weeks, we came across poles with green, yellow and red lights blinking periodically. By the way, the third traveler was our rental car. Man, the place is steaming. Eruption...