Since my last post I spent a few days in Taupo doing some kayaking, sailing and hiking. It's supposed to be one of the cheapest places in New Zealand to go skydiving, but I don't think you could pay me enough to do that. Especially when on the sailing trip you could see the skydiving planes way up in the air, and see the people jump, and then 45 seconds later see their chutes open up. That's a crazy long time to fall! I don't think my stomach could handle it.
After Taupo, we headed down to a small town called Turangi, right on the edge of Tongariro National Park. We had to stay there for a few days because the weather wasn't good enough to do the Tongariro Crossing hike. So we waited until it was nice enough, and off we went.
Now that's a hike! We had 8 hours to do the 18.5 kilometers, and if you could fit it in there were some side trips. The first hour of the hike was a slight incline through some rocky grasslands. The next 40 minutes was like hiking the chief, only worse. From the top of that climb you could choose to climb to the crater of Mt. Ngaruahoe (Nah-roo-ah-hoe-ee) also known as Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings movies. We decided not to do it because it takes about 3 hours to do, and we didn't have enough time unfortunately. Plus it's all loose scree rock, and it's a straight line up the mountain. It would be a tough 2.5 hour climb, but the view would have been amazing I imagine.
From there, we walked through a crater, and then another 30 minute climb up to the highest point of the hike, Red Crater. That's where you could do a side track to the top of Mt. Tongariro, which we did decide to do since we were going faster than the posted times, and it was only supposed to take 1.5 hours. There was still snow on the way to the top! The mountain is just under 2000m high, and it was really cold up there. After 20 minutes to stop for lunch my fingers were freezing cold. But the view was so cool. A complete 360 degree view that showed us Mt. Ngaruahoe, Mt. Ruapehu (Roo-ah-pay-oo), and even Mt. Taranaki way off in the distance. You could also see all the way back to Lake Taupo. It was still slightly cloudy which was too bad because on clear days you can see the ocean as well.
After we came back down from Mt. Tongariro, we descended past the Emerald Lakes and Blue Lake, and then all the way back down the other side of the mountains to the ending car park. It took about 3 hours to come back down, and that was really hard on my knees and hips! I'm certainly paying for it now. So by the end of the day we were actually hiking for about 7 hours and 15 minutes, and we did over 21km. And not easy ones at that! But it was definitely an amazing experience.
The next day Tyler and I parted ways. He headed off to New Plymouth with some people we met doing the Crossing, and I'm on my way down to Wellington. Right now I'm in a city called Palmerston North, which is famous for it's Rose Gardens. They've been rated one of the top 5 Gardens in the World before, but they're not quite in season yet which was disappointing. But I walked out there anyway, and there were still some bushes that had bloomed, or were starting too. I can imagine how beautiful it would be in the summer, and it already smelled amazing. I also went to the local museum and the New Zealand Rugby Museum which was cool. But while here I've mostly been relaxing and taking it easy because my legs are killing me!
So tomorrow I'm going to head down to Wellington, but I won't be there longer than a day or two. I'm going to skip through it for now and head down to the south island, since I've decided to spend Christmas and New Years in Wellington. So since I'll be there for about a week at that time, I'm not going to stay long this time. I'm really anxoius to get down to the south island too as I'm a little bit behind where I thought I'd be by now, and I'm really looking forward to a bunch of the places down there.
So now it's picture time!
Huka Falls in Taupo
Beautiful sunset in Taupo
Me sailing the boat on Lake Taupo. :)
Pictures from the Tongariro Crossing
Just starting out on our hike! That's Mount Ngaruahoe (Mt. Doom) on the right.
View back the way we had come from the top of Red Crater. Mount Ngaruahoe on the left, and the start of the track to Mt. Tongariro on the right.
Tyler and I on the top of Mt. Tongariro. Mt. Ngaruahoe on the left of the picture, and Mt. Ruapehu just to the left of my shoulder.
The aptly named Red Crater
Emerald Lakes
The view from Blue Lake looking back the way we had come
Bethie, these pictures of the Rose Gardens are just for you. :P But I like them anyway so everyone can enjoy them. In the summer, those trellaces are completely covered with rosebushes...
I have so many more pictures of everything I wish I could show you all, but it takes forever to upload them. :( I hope you liked this set.
Talk to you soon!
6 comments:
Thats a lot of hiking. I remember doing a 10K hike and thought I'd die. And that was like, over small hills on the Trans Canada Trail. And only took jsut over 2 hours.
YOU ARE AN EXPLORER. haha
Sweet pics, Jules.
-Mike
omgosh jules. You were basically in LOTR yourself, lol. But yes, at least we know you are getting your exercise down in NZ. Not sure I could do that myself, but I could try. Great pictures yet again. I can only imagine what the rose garden would look like in bloom. zomg..id have a field day. But the roses that have already bloomed are loverly. Bah, i say this every time too jules. i envy youuuuu! lol stay safe <3
deepy
Hi Sweetie. Great training hike for the one that Ryan is going to take us on in Indonesia. He said it is like hiking to the second peak on the chief and it will take us 10 hours!!!
Love your pictures!
julie boo! good job on the hike! how'd your boots feel?
awesome pictures! i enjoyed perusing through all of them. can't wait to see what's next!
miss you lots!!!
<3<3<3 Janey
Post a Comment