The first day on our own gave us the perfect weather to strike out on the famed Tongoriro Crossing.
Not being sure if we could comfortably manage the entire crossing, we opted to do an out and back from the high side.
Mikaya’s journal:[I went up mt Doom it was so fun. I wontid to go on the volkano but I could not. I took a pick chr with our new camera from our friends Brigit and Rob.]
Marc here: Mikaya wanted to summit Mt Ngauruhoe aka Mt Doom but we told her no. She really thought it would just add a few minutes bc it looked so close.
As it turned out, we certainly could have managed the entire crossing. Mikaya was skipping and running and jumping streams at the end, and no one was even particularly sore after 17k in the sunshine and about 800m elevation gain.
We stopped for lunch in an incredible crater plateau just short of the red crater rim. We found the only bit of shade we had seen on the entire hike under a boulder, but the kids were soon out and exploring.
This landscape at altitude was otherworldly.
After lunch we clambered up the rim of the red crater and turned back down to our starting point.
Missing the throughtrip and the far side views was vastly outweighed by the complete lack of crowds.
We heard from other hikers that the through trip was so crowded you couldn’t even pass on the trail. Everyone arrived with the same shuttle buses and moved through at a similar pace.
We arrived at a leisurely 11am and mostly had the trail to ourselves, occasionally passing other parties in both directions.
Levi’s journal: [once our cousins left we climed Mt doom from lord of the rings it was sooo long :( but fun it was 21km up and down but we did 17km so we didn’t do the full thing.
Then our friend Maddi came for the night and we played a new game called coyote it was really fun.]
After an evening of snacks and games we drove up Mt Ruapehu to Whakapapa ski field the next morning for some enjoyable scrambling.
Maddi bravely rescued Mikaya’s hat! When she left her school to drive to us she told everyone she was visiting her cousins. Relatives by choice are a special bond.
From Levi’s journal again: [Maddi showed us a drink called bundaberg then once she left we went to gollums pool where they try to shoot gollum in lord of the rings.]
“Rock in pool so nice and cool
So juicy sweeeet
Now we wish to catch a fish
So juicy sweeet!”
The next morning we said goodbye to Whakapapa and it was back on the road to Wellington. The roads straightened out as we came off the mountains. I got a speeding ticket for going 111 in a 100 zone on hwy 1. The cop was initially sharp then eventually friendly. I got a 5 minute lecture on the dangers of speed and then 20 minutes of NZ travel advice. Yes sir. Excellent idea sir. Thanks for the advice sir.
Dropping the van off in downtown Wellington was the most stressful part of our trip by far. Driving a big manual van in a tight downtown was made even more scary when my phone kept taking me to tall office buildings it identified as gas stations (?shell Corp headquarters) and pedestrians confidently strode into traffic right in front of me. I almost backed into a car while taking a run at the ramp into the rental yard. If they hadn’t honked I probably would have crunched their hood. Whew close call.
Goodbye to our minibus. Hello Wellington!
