Iron Man

Wednesday 6th October 2010


Weather: cold, cloudy and windy ... especially on the top of the mountains

MP3 track of the day: Windy City – Doris Day

Today I was going to walk the 'Tongariro Alpine Crossing', New Zealands best one day hike … or so it said in the brochure ($55 it cost me so it better be good). This required getting up stupidly early to catch the 6:20am bus to the start of the walk. The weather reports said that today was supposed to be a fine day with little cloud and great views, and this was confirmed by an English friend I had just met waiting for the bus, his name was Richard.


The drive took around a hour and a half and then we were at our starting point, 1150 meters above sea level. The clouds were really close in and you couldn't see much at all; this was different to the weather forecast everyone had herd so the lady driving the bus radioed for an update; it said that the day would begin cloudy but brighten up late morning, when were due to hit the summit.


Richard and I walked together and chatted along the way; it was very cold and I was wearing my fleece, coat, hat and gloves which I hadn't seen for a month. We set ourselves a good pace and was soon near the front of our group, only an American was in front of us, charging into the distance. Due to the cloud there wasn't much to see and so we really plowed through the walk. We made it to the Soda Springs in the exact same time as the sign posts said we should; I took off my fleece (as I was too hot) and had a drink. We soon continued and made it to the Devils Staircase; an area with what seemed hundreds of stairs forever climbing upwards. Forty-five minutes of strenuous climbing was in front of us and all around the winds were picking up, so it was pretty cold.


I heroically managed it up the last stair and was confronted by our first crater, the South Crater. Well my map said it was a crater, I couldn't see far enough through the clouds to see the edges of the crater, however walking through this flat desolate land was pretty amazing and, with all the snow, I did think that I could have been on another world. There was a footpath that branched off here to the summit of Mount Ngauruhoe, however we were told on the bus that both mountains (Ngauruhoe and Tongariro, which was further into the walk) were far to dangerous to climb as there was still too much snow; the lady even said that you would probably die if you attempted the climb so that kind of put me off.


Next up was probably the hardest climb I've ever done. 'Not too difficult' my information sheet said; we were confronted by a snowy assent that turned into a rocky climb. Add to that 70km winds with a ice-chill that put frost on your clothes and it was really difficult I can tell you. Both Richard and I were pretty exhausted halfway up but we kept going as there was no cover from the wind on this side of the mountain. Slowly, with every effort of my aching muscles I got to the summit of the crater.


Up here we met the American who had legged it into the lead at the beginning of the walk; for some reason he had waited up here to make sure others from our group hadn't decided to turn back when confronted by this bombardment of mother nature … why he decided to wait at the summit I don't know, as there was no cover and he must have been frozen.


As soon as we made it to the summit of the red crater we were descending down inside it. It wasn't long before the craters outer walls were shielding us from the worst of the wind, however we still couldn't see much in front of us as the clouds were still very low. Again the red crater, with snow on the floor and white cloud all around, had this ethereal feel to it which was pretty spooky. Only briefly did the clouds subside for us to have a look around; however it was gone before most people could take out their cameras.


After this it was all pretty much downhill from here. We had only been walking four hours yet we thought we were at least 2/3 of the way through this eight hour hike (I think it's because we didn't stop for photos that often due to a) the cold and b) the fact you couldn't see anything). For the next part of our epic hike we were confronted by some small narrow snow ledges, which had the mountain on the left and it's steep snowy side to our right. One false move to the right and that was it, you were sliding all the way down the mountain and that would have been curtains for you. It was pretty scary I can tell you, especially now that the wind had picked up again.


We made it through and were now descending pretty rapidly; we had now gone so low that we were out of the clouds and we had our first view of the valley below us … which was nice. At 11:50am we had made it to the final hut on the walk where we stayed for 30 minutes to have some lunch. French couple were also in the hut and so we chatted as we ate. Even though we were in a hut, I was starting to get cold and so we decided to pack up our stuff and prepare for the 'final push'. A one to two hour walk that was pretty easy going; first you were climbing down what was left o the mountain range and then we descended into a rainforest. Within the rainforest I saw my second beautiful waterfall whilst visiting New Zealand.


At 1:50pm we had made it to the car park; six hours it took us with probably an hours worth of breaks … so not bad for an eight hour hike. The only problem was that our bus wasn't due here until 3:30pm and so we chatted to all the other people who had made it down the mountain safely. I met a couple who were doing a months traveling for their honeymoon and they seemed very nice (the guy was recounting a bus ride with a driver called Ben, who would just stop off along the way to see bird sanctuaries, wooden posts and tell the passengers the most random facts … some of which weren't entirely true … it all sounded hilarious and I want to get this driver for one of my bus journeys).


The time flew by and soon the bus pulled up. On the bus I tried to get some sleep, as I was shattered, but it didn't really happen. Once back in Taupo it was 5pm; everything seemed so mundane compared to what I had just done … an iron man six hour hike through the wind, snow and craters. Sure we didn't get to see a lot, which was gutting, but I still enjoyed myself and I found out that I had walked where part of 'Lord of the Rings' was filmed (I had walked up mount Doom … and if I was Frodo I would have told Gandalf he could stick it).


My final acts for the day was to get something to eat followed by packing my bag to move onto Wellington in the morning; however the most important thing was to have another early night as I was shattered.


Toodle Pip!

P.S. I've now been traveling for over a month; yes indeedy the 6th Sep 10 was when I took my flight to LA ... where has the time gone? This first month seems to have gone faster than my first month in Canada ... and in Canada I had done a lot more in that time, weird hey!

Been to the moon and back

5th October 2010

Weather: Very cold this morning, but getting quite hot as the day went on

MP3 track of the day: To the moon and back - Savage Garden

I had a wonderful nights sleep, so much so that I didn't want to get up into the cold morning. The bathroom was bibically cold, but that didn't matter; you see that's the thing about cold, you just put a few layers on and it's all okay ... there are only so many clothes you can take off when it's stupidly hot, without being arrested that is.

Before leaving for the day I booked myself onto 'New Zealands best one day hike', a must do according to Alex and Sarah ... the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. Tomorrow I shall be walking across this national park for 8/9hrs climbing mountains and crossing the wilderness ... lovely. I was quite lucky too ... only yesterday did the prices change from the winter rate of $155 (as you need lots of equipment and a guide) to the summer rate of $55 (where I shouldn't need to hire any equipment or need a guide).

Whilst in reception I spoke to the receptionist and said what I planned to do for today including getting a bus to the Huka Falls followed by a bus to the 'Craters of the moon'. She said that I didn't need a bus as there was a lovely 1hr and 30min walk to the Huka Falls from here and the craters were only another 45 minutes after this. Great I thought as this would save me a little money.

Armed with my coat, camera, a bottle of water and a packed of Cadbury's caramel bites I went around the town of Taupo photographing it before reaching Lake Taupo. Lake Taupo is big, but not on the same scale as Lake Ontario in Canada (here you can actually see the opposite shoreline). The lake is beautiful and it took a little while to photograph it.

After this I headed north up the path the receptionist recommend; it was a lovely walk and, on the way to the Huka Falls, I saw some natural hot springs. The falls were pretty impressive, though I would class them more as extreme rapid than falls. Apparently there is a tourist boat for people with a death wish (though the company advertisers it for 'thrill seekers' ... same thing in my book) that actually travels down these falls.

After spending a little time here I walked for another 45 minutes to the 'Craters of the moon' a geologists dream. The area was full of hyperactivity with loads of geological vents pouring gasses into the atmosphere. As I walked around I thought that the name, 'Craters of the Moon' didn't really describe the area. To me 'Craters of the moon' should be a desolate area of big craters (and maybe a black sky if possible) but here the area was teeming with life and activity. Not only were the vents hyperactive, but the land was covered in moss and grasses that manage to survive in this acidic environment. I thought that the area looked more like a scene out of a dinosaur film and I fully expected a miniature stegadon to walk around the corner into one of these craters. For the rest of my time here I was thinking of better names: 'the land that time forgot', 'Jurassic Park', 'Geo-tastic' ... anything but 'Craters of the moon' will do.

Once I got back to the ticket office I enquired to see if there was a bus between all the attractions within this area of Taupo; you see, besides the 'Craters of the moon' and the falls there are quite a few other attractions spread over quite a large area. One free attraction that a few people had told me about was Aratiatia rapids; a man-made set of rapids done by a dam opening it's gates only at certain times of the day. It was about a two hour walk away and I wouldn't make it in time for the next gate opening. To my relief there was a shuttle service that operated within this area, only costing $5 per ride; the ticket office called the shuttle service and the shuttle would be at the 'Craters of the moon' in about ten minutes ... brilliant, just enough time to by an ice cream and eat it.

Whilst eating my ice cream I spoke to one of the ladies who worked here and asked why it was called 'Craters of the moon' as I didn't think it resembled anything of the sort. Apparently it was because when this area erupted, due to a power station being built roughly five miles away, the craters that were created had no vegetation, the land here was barren, like the moon.

After this the shuttle bus picked me up; there were a couple of people to drop off before me and so I had a small tour of Taupo and the surrounding area. I arrived at the falls 2:02pm ... just after the gates had opened. It didn't matter to much as the gates remain open for 30 minutes, however I would have liked to see what the area looked like before the enormous amount of water flowed through. I have to say I wasn't that impressed with the rapids; I'm glad I made the effort to see the rapids as I would have been wondering what they were like if not, but I certainly wouldn't do it again.

After 20 minutes I prepared myself for the long walk back; my map said I had a 2hr walk to the Huka Falls and then another hour back to Taupo. As the time was 2:30pm I was looking at getting back at 5:30pm and I had to get food for tomorrow, eat and get to sleep as early as possible as the bus picked me up, for the Alpine Crossing, at 6:20am. I decided to frog march it back to Taupo only stopping a couple of times for water or a quick photograph.

I arrived back in Taupo at about 5:00pm and went to the local supermarket, 'count down'. I noticed that they had a loyalty card which gave you money off selected items within the store, so I picked up a leaflet to see if I could apply for one (I'm learning from my trip in Canada and my Safeway card). Within the store I purchased some chocolate, more cereal bars (as they were yummy), crisps, biscuits and drink for tomorrows hike. Today I had done about 6hrs worth of walking and so I was quite optimistic about an 8hr hike tomorrow.

I finished the day off in the internet cafe, closely followed by finding some tea. At 9pm I got my bag ready for tomorrow before I hit the sack; I was pretty tired from all of today's walking and I needed to rest up for tomorrow.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day.

Toodle Pip!

Arrived in Taupo

4th October 2010

Weather: Sunny and quite warm

MP3 track of the day: Chinese - Lilly Allen

Waking up early, again, I got ready (in the pitch black as everyone else was still asleep in my dorm) and went up to reception to hand back my 2nd room key. I got my $20 deposit back ... minted.

Not wanting to wait around to see if they realise that they have made a mistake, I left my hostel and headed for my bus stop. My stop was located at the Sky Tower terminal, about a fifteen minute walk away from my hostel. However these fifteen minutes were up hill and I was quite out of breath by the time I arrived at the bus station (need to get fit, too much time laying on a beach in Fiji).

I boarded the coach and, to my surprise, the coach was really nice, clean and very comfortable. The greyhound buses in Canada were okay, but no way near the level of cleanliness that I found here (and no surprise but this coach was a lot more modern than the ones I took in Fiji).

I had planned to stare out of the window all the way to Taupo, however I was so tired from my first two days here (that South American party didn't help) that I kept nodding off. I forced myself to stay awake by eating quite a bit of chocolate (its a hard life) to keep my mind off sleep. Looking outside the window, the terrain was very English; rolling fields full of livestock (which I must say, seemed to have more cows than sheep) all partitioned off with wooden fences ... I could have been in the Derbyshire Peak District.

We had passed our first break stop and stupidly I didn't get off the coach to use the bathroom. One hour and thirty minutes after the stop I needed the bathroom and so I had to use the toilet provided, on the coach, as there was no other breaks according to my timetable. Just like the rest of the bus the toilet was super clean, but it was so tiny ... so much so that I could not turn around on the spot without hitting my head on something, my knees hit the door when I sat down and all-in-all, other passengers must have been wondering what on earth was going on. After what seemed an age I returned to my seat ready for the last two hours of my trip to Taupo.

After about 20 minutes the driver came over the radio to say that we were now stopping for lunch ... what! My timetable said that the lunch stop would be at Taupo, that's why I used the toilet on board ... damn!

So we pulled into this very nice diner where I had a chicken sandwich, (which was a chicken sandwich, no sauce, nothing, just bread and chicken ... these Kiwi's do mean what they say when they label products) a piece of 'okay' cake, a packet of crisps and a hot chocolate. Just like the breaks on the Greyhound in Canada we didn't have that long so I had to throw my meal down me to stand any chance of making it back to the coach on time.

We soon arrived in Taupo which seemed lovely. Taupo was a lot bigger than I imagined but that just made it better; there seemed to be loads of places to eat and all the basics I required were here.

After getting a little lost I made it to my hostel after about 20 minutes of walking around. By this stage it was 3pm and I was really tired; however I didn't want to go to sleep to early and so I headed into town to post my Fijian souvenirs home...

$55.00 it cost me to post the lot home, which I actually didn't think was too bad as it was two packages (plus all the packaging) traveling half way around the world ... I just hope my cannibal fork makes it home in one piece.

After this I chilled around town before heading to the super market at around 6:50pm; on my way I past a fish and chip takeaway which, I thought would go down nicely tonight. Once in the supermarket I bought breakfast (some cereal bars) for the next three days and a drink to go with tonight's fish and chips. I left the supermarket at 7pm to find the takeaway had just closed ... what! I know Sarah told me that places close earlier here than in the UK but 7pm for a fish and chip takeaway ... that's worse than the Georges at Park Farm, Derby!

So no fish and chips for me then ... never mind I found a pizza place and purchased a pizza for the reasonable cost of $9.00 (four pounds and fifty pence). I took this back to my hostel and ate it; it was now 8pm and I was really tired. I decided to have a nice, long, hot shower before going to bed around 9pm ... my plan was to get up around 8/9am the following day and have a look around Taupo before heading to the 'craters of the moon' ... a geothermal area just north of the city.

Looking in my wallet the $200 (100 pounds) I had taken out two days ago had all gone; even though I was below my daily budget, I had just had two days with Alex and Sarah (they were very hospitable and they practically fed me for two days) therefore I wondered how I had spent so much so quickly, I needed to watch how much I spend a lot more closely from now on. Still none of this mattered at this point in time, all I wanted was sleep.

Toodle Pip!