I was unsure about taking part in the Tongariro Alpine Crossing walk, as it was a 19.6km hike and was going to potentially be quite cold along the way, (hence the ‘alpine’), but I eventually signed up along with most of the people on our bus, and shuffled my way to the 6am take off, back along the windy cliff roads! After having a shoe check (to check that we had the right grip on our shoes) and renting some gloves (alpine!!) we headed off in the shuttle bus to the beginning of the walk. We had around 7 hours to complete the hike, as we set off at just gone 9am, and we were due to be picked up at the other side at 4.30pm. The first 4km of the walk were fairly easy to complete, and lulled us into a false sense of security about the hike, as when we reached the bottom of the Devil’s Staircase (aptly named), it became clear that the next few sections would be a bit trickier! As David steamed ahead, the rest of the group battled with another hour or so of steep stairs, turning the corner, thinking it had finished, only to see another set of stairs! Towards the summit, it also became fairly slippery and easy to trip, but finally we reached the top and stopped for a break. It was at this part that it was the coldest, and we had to wrap up warm while we stopped. At this point we were about 2 hours into the hike, and looking forward to the next, downwards, part of the climb to see the Blue and Emerald Pools. But as we scrambled up a short hill, we were faced with a terrifying decline along slippery stones and a very thin path! I took it excruciatingly slow, to try and save myself from falling over, but lots of people went very quickly and we probably all fell over an equal amount! There must have been a large amount of people falling down the mountain at that point as it was such a thin, but precarious path! Luckily, after the Blue Pool, the walk became much easier for the remaining few hours, with gentle ups and the beginning of the decline (this part had a less slippy path!), as well a beautiful views across the valley. However, as it got towards 3pm, we had convinced ourselves that we were nearing the end of our walk, when we turned into a forest and a sign that told us we still had 3/4km to go! The forest seemed never ending, and while this section was easy to walk, we were all unnerved by a section that told us to not ‘Stop, all quickly’ for 700m, due to a Lahar Hazard! We didn’t know what this was at the time, and the only information the sign told us was to not turn around if we heard a noise! At least this make the last part of the journey interesting, and eventually we appeared out of the forest at about 3:40pm, making the whole journey in about 6 and a half hours! After being taken to our hostel in Raetihi for the night, we were delighted to sign up to the use the free foot spa and tuck ourselves into bed very early!

Highlights: The beautiful sights and views on the walk, completing the Tongariro Crossing

Accomodation: Snowy Waters Lodge, Raetihi (weirdly, the town had a massive fire in the 1950’s, where the fire alarm failed and loads of things burned down, so now they test their fire alarm EVERY DAY at 8:30am!?!)