So we left Rotorua and made our way with Newmans Buses to Taupo. The bus driver seemed to find it inordinately amusing that my name was Newman and so was the name of the bus company. What do they say about simple things??? We managed to calm him down enough to get him to get the bus started and away eventually though. Anyway we arrived in the afternoon and settled in in the usual way- normally means a trip to the local supermarket to get our dinner sorted ;).
Taupo is the skydive capital of the world- i think more skydives happen here than anywhere else but we are planning to do ours over the glacial west coast of the south island instead!! Instead we booked a trip to do the Tongariro corssing. Its described as one of the ebst one day hikes in NZ. what we were thinking when we booked it i dont know!! We decided to book the early bird bus over to the starting point (we figured we need as much time as possible to make sure we were back by the time the bus left!!!) which m,eant we had to leave at 5.30am. So, we got up at 5am and headed outside to wait for the bus with very bleary eyes. We then drove an hour and a half to the start of the track and set off. It was really cold to begin with as the sun hadn't come up over the mountains yet. After an hour of walking we had soon warmed up though but we knew from what we were told that the biggest climb of the day was coming up. Its named the Devils Staircase and we soon found out why- a steep slope with loads of big rocks- no actual stairs as i'd hoped!!! It took us 45 minutes of stumbling, crawling, gasping for breath and a few questions as to why we had decided to do this.. eventually though we reached the top and were met with a spectacular view of the surrounding countryside. To our left was the mountain that was used as Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings ( he one with the eye!!) - very imposing. You could actually choose to climb this as a 'sidewalk' and then continue on our path but it looked more like a day trip in itself to us! Anyway onward, and definitely upwards, we went. We literally walked across the crater of a volcano and up the slope on the other side. At this point the wind was really blowing and we had a sheer drop off to one side which meant we had to be extra careful. We then had to begin the descent- the first part of this basically involved sliding down a gravel slope- if you wanted to stop you sat down!! This did lead us to a beautiful view of the 'Emerald Lakes' which are as in the description a series of small lakes which shine like jewels! also in the distance was the Blue Lake which was much bigger and a bit more blue ;)
By this point we were getting tired but we plodded on- only 5 more hours to go!! We eventually reached some more level ground and then started descending once again. This time there were actual steps which made it a little easier. We stopped for some lunch at a hut two hours from our finishing point and Tom even managed to shut his eyes for ten minutes. We decided that the sooner we headed off though the sooner we would be back on the bus and the sooner we would be back in our room where we could put our feet up and sleep!! So off we trudged once more- heading past hot springs and running streams. The landscape then changed dramatically into a forest which kept giving us the impression that around each corner the tracj would suddenyl turn into the car park and we would have finished- this didn't happen!! Maria did seem to get a second wind and surged on at one point but it did feel as if the track was never ending. EVENTUALLY, after nearly seven hours walking we turned a corner and headed onto concrete- what a feeling!! It was one of those experiences that you'll remember forever as great- only because you push the bad bits of your mind i.e. the hurting feet, the overwhelming urge to stop every minute and Maria whingeing (only joking- she was a star!!).
Whjen we got back we had some food before Maria crashed out at about 7.15pm- i did last a bit longer but it i think we both had a really good nights sleep- and deservedly so!!