Yuk! 4.45am wake up call was disgusting, we did however manage to not make any noise, it was so cold in the common area I think because they have plastic roof and it has holes in the sides. Brrrr!

Quite a few people from our hostel doing the crossing and the bus was full also. I think I’m underestimating how busy this crossing is going to be now that it’s open and the snow has pretty much gone up there.

It was just over an hour to the car park where the crossing begins, a German lady did not stop talking from the moment she got on until we got off. No one wants to talk at 5.30 in the morning so why not just be quiet? For the sake of us all.

The sun was rising and there was not a cloud in the sky! Perfect weather! Lots of check points and information at the bottom of the crossing, we all had to sign our names and numbers down for the company to know that once we get the bus the other side that we have returned safely and they didn’t have to put a Search and rescue team out for us. We joke but this hike is actually quite dangerous, considering silly people do it in the snow and someone died up there four weeks ago because they left their group and continued to walk up to the highest peak and died of hypothermia it’s probably something we do indeed need to take seriously. They gave us a leaflet on the hike and what to do if there’s an emergency and which point we need to have left by in order to get to the pick up point in time for the last shuttle, which is quite useful. We started at 6.50am and we had to leave the red crater no later than 12pm which was the highest point of the trek at a 1886m above ground level at the bottom (the bottom of the trek was already 1150metres above sea level) so we needed to climb 1886m to get to the peak. With the advice on the sheet as ‘caution is required on this steepest part of the track, when winds get strong you may get pushed around and even need to crawl up on hands and knees’. Awesome.

We headed off straight away instead of sitting about and having a breakfast bar and risk being stuck amongst the crowds of people, with that we checked the sheet again for all the camouflage port-o-loos on the track and read their strict advice of... ‘the mountains are sacred to the Maori culture and local tribes, it’s a huge cultural offence to leave rubbish, touch the lakes OR have a poo on the mountain’. Best be holding that one in all day then!

The track began very much like a lot of the other tracks we have done with the man made boardwalk creeping through the valley of all mighty huge mountains with volcanic rocks and sut everywhere. Home to 500 different types of ferns it made it all look very alien like. As though we weren’t still on planet Earth. This country never stops amazing me with its scenery it’s bloody incredible!

Just a reminder that we are 1150km about sea level already, there was ice and frost still on the ground. Strange looking ice though, it looked like long shards of glass all stood up grouped together with volcanic dust sat on top of it making it camouflaged and look just like mud/sut. Very bizarre ice, thinking maybe it’s something to do with the environment it’s in with the volcanic materials.

Hoping Ellie is going to be okay for this walk, she is only wearing her trainers and if that was me I’d probably not be able to walk after a hike this long with my back but just don’t want her to have sore feet in the morning. They were letting you hire boots but she forgot to ask me for hiking socks. I’ve got a new name for her too :) Miss. sniffles, she’s always got a snotty nose and no blinking tissues! Especially today when it’s going to be -5 degrees at the summit.

We were beating a lot of the crowds, the first hour and half was like I said fairly easy with the DoC putting in boardwalks and wooden stairs everywhere, next we had to find ‘the devils staircase’ well... that next hour of our life was indeed devilish. Holy crap balls that was tuff! I found it more tuff than Ellie because my back, butt and hamstrings were so tight and a little painful so I took it slow and steady. We stopped half way only to see another huge volcano covered in snow out to the west of the country (they told us the name and I can’t think of it but they said it looks like Mount Fuji and is the biggest of the west coast) well it was indeed huge and it was sitting above the long white cloud, making it look like it was floating. Absolutely beautiful, photos couldn’t grasp it. It looked magical! Starting to see the benefits and beauty of this walk we ignored the signs of ‘think before you walk on, do you need to turn back?’ And carried on! We got what I thought was pretty much the end of the devils staircase, only to realise we weren’t at the end we were walking on the flat in between the two volcanoes of Mount Ngaueuhoe and Mount Tongariro. Mount Ngaueuhoe also known to lord of the ring geeks as Mount Doom, looked very dooming with red volcanic ash down the one side of it and reminding us that he is very much still alive with steam coming out of the top. He’s supposed to erupt every 25 years... the last time was 1977 and by my calculations that means he’s very much overdue a rumble! Rumble as much as you want on Monday but not today! Mount Tongariro on the other hand looked very docile and calm with the snow still stuck to parts of it but even that one could go off at any point.

Up a tiny hill to think that the craters and lakes we were looking for were on the other side... nope! That was just to tease you, look to your left and now we had to climb Mount Tongariro to get to the Red Crate Ridge, our map told us it’s a difficult ascent for 30 minutes, the part where in bad weather or windy weather you have to crawl on your hands and knees. Honestly, I think it would have been easier to crawl on hands and knees than walk it because crap that was tuff! As if the devil itself didn’t kill us off with his staircase he is now punishing us for defeating the stairs and getting to the next level. The ascent yes I think that made it hard but the scree was so difficult to climb because it was so loose and unstable. Everyone panting, our little lungs were hurting, my back was aching, everyone’s calf’s screaming at them but it’s going to be worth it!!

30 long ass minutes of the ascent to the south ridge deep red crater and yep! It was worth it. One of those moments where you think you might cry in accomplishment, but we were only 6km through our 19.4km walk today. The beautiful scenery, looking behind us to stick our middle fingers up to that damn devils area and see the rest of the rat race walking across that flat south crater not knowing what they have to come next. Poor guys!

The crater, the volcanoes, the emerald lakes the blue lake, the snow, the view beyond these volcanoes it’s was breathtaking, you can see where the fascination is with climbing mountains I totally get it! But why people would risk their lives to come up here in the snow I do not know! The snow covers the best parts, the colours of the lakes and craters. It’s just plain silly. There was a huge pile of rocks stacked up with a shovel in it at the summit of the red crater which is where we are assuming the Chinese tourist was found who died of hypothermia, clearly not even the geysers that we steaming around us could keep her warm.

We sat there admiring the view for a little while, whilst our bums got warmed by the geyser rocks. It was bloody cold! Not a cloud in the sky, the sun was shining but that wind was bitter!

The next obstacle was to get down the very steep hill towards the emerald lakes, the scree again was so loose and unstable you sort of had to stand at a slant and slide your feet down it as though you were walking through thick snow, down to the lakes, they look even more incredible up close. How does water become that colour?! ( I know because of the sulphur from he volcanoes but I mean wow!) even the blue lake was sparkling like it had crystals sat on the top of it.

The sheet said we had to leave the red crater and the emrald lakes before midday, well we arrived to the summit at 9am and after a few photo stops we had left the blue lake at 10.15am so we were way ahead of schedule - absolutely smashing it! Ellie taking carrying the pace, I was struggling with my back at one point struggling to pick my legs up from the nerve in my butt. I will do this!!!

Couldn’t resist a ham sandwich at 10am though at the blue lake admiring the crystals on the surface from the sun. We did however have to move pretty fast because we got cold, no time for sitting we mustn’t get cold from the sweat on our backs coming through every layer we had on. Delightful.

Ellie’s fancying a cooked breakfast she says the smell of the eggy farts from the geysers (BOFF) makes her want a cooked breakfast. Now I’m not sure where or who she gets her cooked breakfasts from but I know that the smell of egg farts does not ever make me fancy a cooked breakfast. They make me want to spew.

The map says we have an easy yet long descent after this lake, the easy part.

The path became a lot easier to walk on and it was going down the side of the volcanoes with DoC making the lovely paths for us to walk on again which made it easier, despite the landslides of snow still blocking some paths and us having to manoeuvre ourselves through the icy snow, trying to avoid the slip down the hill which was probably going to happen to someone today on the next few days because it’s inevitable, Ellie had to cling on and sort of crouch because her trainers don’t have any grip on them like walking boots; but she managed it. Whilst us having a ice/snowball fight. Who can say they’ve had a snowball fight on an active volcano? Not many people!

There were people practically running down the track, I’m not sure if there’s a prize at the bottom or anything but it definitely wasn’t worth running down if the first shuttle bus wasn’t until 2pm! Although karma works in funny ways... every person that run passed us or got up close to try and push theirselves passed (all men) tripped over their feet or the floor at least once when they passed us. Haha!

The descent was indeed long, the first part zig zagged through the mountain, with a lovely view of the lakes in front of us down below and the path was nice and easy but you couldn’t help but walk extremely fast because of the terrain on it.

We had to get down to lower ground than the beginning of the track, the end point was at 750metres above sea level and we were starting to get warm finally. We found the sign for 14km! 14km complete 11.10am not bad going, time to take the coats off and down a pile of water.

Another 5.4km left to go, we can do this! And way ahead of schedule. There were people walking up, what were they doing? Probably the worst way to walk the track and at this time of the morning, they weren’t going to be finished for a very long time!

We got to the Ketetahi Shelter, still at 1454metres and signs to tell us we still had another 2 hours to go so if you weren’t going to make the last shuttle to ring the pick up company to let them know your okay. We weren’t going to let that be another two hours, up’d the pace and eventually found the 16.4km sign at 11.50am. 3km left! We can do this....

That last 3km took what felt like forever! We were in the forest/rainforest or what ever it’s called (still strange to see palm trees growing this far down in the world away from the equator).

12.30pm we reached the end! Omg, we made it! In 5 and half hours, instead of 7-8 hours! Smashed it. The weather still beautiful and warm! Now we had to wait for the shuttle, the one piece of advice they gave us this morning was don’t sit on the grass and fall asleep in the sun, just come straight to us and check in... well we were that early that there wasn’t anyone at the buses for us to check in with so that’s exactly what we were going to do, eat a ham sandwich and dose in the sun.

I went off into a deep sleep but Ellie woke me up snoring. At this point we were surrounded by loads of people and it was 1.20pm, lovely nap in the warm sun! Feet tingling and my big toe nails were killing from pushing against my shoes for the last three hours of descent.

2pm the bus left - finally! Only an hour back on the bus, so you think we could walk when we got off. Haha, no! We were so bloody stiff and I was lopsided again - here we go, come on back don’t do this to me! Stretching is definetly in need tonight and tomorrow!

We walked over to countdown to get some fruit for the morning. I say walk I mean delicately place one foot in front of the other without trying to walk like we have poi’s ourselves. That was a sore and tough five minute walk!

After the dreaded walk back to the hostel, a very hot long hot shower was required with a sorting out and packing up of the rucksacks (because I’m not getting out of bed early to that in the morning) and a well deserved Monteith Apple cider in the garden to enjoy the sun.

We weren’t cooking tonight - no way! So we had the $9 chilli con carne and a wine mea deal at the hostel which was delightful! Then we watched a movie and went to bed. I couldn’t keep my eyes open at 9pm, I was so bloody excited to get to sleep!

Our last night in a New Zealand hostel tonight, woohoo! We are so done with hostels now.