Sauron Strikes Again!

Really, at this point it's just ridiculous. I now understand what a pain in the ass it was for Frodo just to make it to Mordor. So, John and I once again attempted the Tongariro this week and we thought for sure bringing along other people with us would change our luck around. NOPE. Taupo Road is still EVIL and the Tongariro is still cursed--we just managed to shift the bad luck onto someone else!


We invited our roommate Lui, and John invited his South African friend from work, Glenn, to do the Tongariro with us. Glenn has a big camper van with a big bed in the middle and a little propane stove and ice box in the back--perfect for a camping situation. We had everything organized and headed out of Hastings around 6:00--this time determined to make it! Our car Kingsley was doing just fine. We were literally about 10 minutes outside Taupo when we got a call from Glenn saying he had to pull over because his van was overheating. It's a pretty old van, and a manual, so he said it struggled a bit over the hills. Those flipping hills--I really want to write a letter expressing to the NZ government that they should really just plant dynamite along the whole road and flatten it out--or at least make tunnels. They do enough unnecessary road work as it is. 


Anyways, so we turn around and head back a little ways before finding Glenn pulled over the on the road. We pull up behind him and John gets out to go help him with the van. Luckily, Glenn had a big 5 liter tank of water in the back that he used to try and cool the van off. We stood around for quite a while, giving the van some time to cool down. Mind you we first pulled over at about 7:45, as the sun was just beginning to set. However, after a while, and a lot of water, his van was not doing much better. So Glenn called a mechanic friend of his and asked for his advice. His friend said it was possible that he had, unfortunately, yup--a FREAKING BLOWN HEAD GASKET. Poor guy--we felt like we just shifted our crappy luck onto him. Apparently though, he had already once replaced the head gasket on the same van. He did the same radiator test, and yup, not good. Luckily Glenn had AA and we were literally only 10 minutes from Taupo and he was able to call a tow. 


We waited for a while for the tow guy, and pondered whether or not to just grill our steaks we bought right there on the side of the road with his grill--but we decided against it because we weren't sure when the tow guy would actually show up. We did crack open some beers, though. The tow guy didn't end up coming until about 9:30 and by that point it was dark.


We were hoping that Glenn could just drop off the car and keys and still come with us to the campsite and do the Tongariro and we would drop him back off in Taupo the next day. However, the garage was closed which meant he had to go first thing in the morning and give them his keys. Luckily, Glenn has been in the country for a while now and had some good friends in Taupo that he had planned on staying with the next night anyways. We felt bad that he couldn't come with us and that such a crappy situation happened to him--we could empathize. It was ridiculous and very deja vu-like as to how much we could empathize!


However--turned out that it didn't matter he couldn't come! When we called the campsite to let them know that while we were not canceling, we would be getting in rather late--they dropped the bomb that actually they were canceling the shuttles to the Tongariro Alpine Crossing in the morning because of too strong, gale-like winds that was predicted for the area that day (but that they would make a final call at 7:30 a.m.). FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. Just. Wonderful!


We still decided to head there though, and figured if it did turn out that it was cancelled we could always have a fun day in Taupo. After dropping off his van at the garage, we dropped Glenn off at a bar downtown where we was to meet his friend he was going to stay with. We left Taupo at about 10:00 for the hour and half drive to the campsite just outside Tongariro National Park. The stars were actually gorgeous that night, but it was difficult to enjoy with all the crap that seems to happen to us whenever we make this trip!


We FINALLY made it to the campsite around 11:30 p.m. After all that trying at least we had made it this time! One step closer! It was dark and no one was awake--but the nice staff had left us a note on the door giving us instructions to our campsite and letting us know to come see them in the morning about other possible walking tracks if the Tongariro was still canceled. So John went about setting up our tent and air mattress and Lui set up his. It turns out there is a communal building right next to the lawn for tents that has proper bathrooms, showers, a kitchen facility with a refrigerator, hot plates, cooking utensils, and a microwave! So I went about cooking dinner for us--which we finally ate at around midnight. We finally went to bad at around 1 a.m. I slept fitfully that night, as the wind was flapping on our tent--but the new sleeping bag I got on sale a while back at this store called Kathmandu was great! Kept me warm.


We woke up around 7 a.m. and after getting dressed we went up to the reception area where Lui had kindly already paid for our tent sites--but also gave us the unfortunate news that, yes, the Tongariro Alpine Crossing was canceled that day (and would probably be as well the next day). SIGH. However, the woman showed us another walking track called the Tongariro Northern Circuit that makes a big circle around the park--which was still open due to the fact that it was at a lower elevation and thus the winds weren't dangerous. It seemed a bit weird that it would be cancelled as there was no wind at the campsite and it was a gorgeous morning--but later in the day we would soon discover why they indeed canceled the trip. We decided to do a different 6 hour (return) tramp that would take us past a waterfall and to some Emerald Lakes. It was a tramp that was to the South of the Alpine track and didn't cross through the Tongariro and Ngauruhoe volcanoes, but went in between the wide gap between Mt. Tongariro/Ngauruhoe and Mt. Ruapehu.


So we ate some breakfast, packed up, and headed out to the village of Whakapapa! The only village located within the park itself. Now, the thing about the Maori language is that the "WH" letters make an "F" sound. So the name of the village, when pronounced, sounds like "F*ck-a-papa." Fun stuff!


So anyways, we set out at around 8:45 for our tramp through Tongariro! Just not the one we had planned/hoped for. But it was still a great time! Here are some of the best pictures and video for the day:

View on the way into Whakapapa. Mount Ruapheu in the background. In the winter that mountain is a popular ski place.

 

Mount Doom! This was the volcano that they filmed as Mount Doom in the Lord of the Ring movies--with lots of CGI effects added, of course. (Technically called Ngauruhoe--don't ask me how to pronounce that--I have no idea. So, I just call it Doom.)

John and Lui posing in front of the sign for the start of the tramp.

 Start of the tramp--some cool clouds made Mount Doom very ominous and neat-looking.

It's still an active volcano. The last major eruption was in the 1970s. The first one was 2,500 years ago. It's actually a second vent of the Tongariro Volcanic Complex.

Towards the beginning of the tramp we stopped at this river as it was a really pretty site. The land is mostly brown now, since it's the summer, rather than green. Plus, the landscape of the area around a volcano is not very attractive--lots of shrubs, bushes, grassland, and rocks. However, the river with Ruapheu in the background made for a nice view.

The first major site we reached was Taranaki Falls. It cuts through old, hardened lava and volcanic rock.

John and Lui wanted to get a closer look. Note the rainbow!

It was about a 2 hour tramp from the falls to the Lower Tama Lake. But it was a beautiful site! The lake is that color because of the volcanic sulfur. It was created from old eruption craters. Back in the day, people thought it was good for your skin to swim in it--they know better now. The lake has about the same acidity as battery acid. Definitely NOT good for your skin.

A nice panorama view.

Once we got to this spot, it was SUPER windy! We then understood why they canceled the Tongariro for that day--the wind was enough to blow you around!

Here, John and Lui wanted to see how long they could lean forward and let the wind support them--it was that strong!

Here's a video of Lui to help give you some more context:

You could go even further on the tramp to the Upper Tama Lake--but first you had to walk up a STEEP hill into the wind! It was quite difficult.

Taking a little break to catch our breaths.

View from higher up. I was clinging to my cameras for dear life!

Upper Tama Lake was different, but equally beautiful. It was quite a hike though! At the top of this mountain we were very exposed and so experienced some incredibly powerful wind!

We actually managed to do the whole tramp, there and back, in 6 hours. I thought it took us at least 7. By the time we got to the end we were pooped! My legs were so sore (and still are!) I can tell you that we slept very soundly that night! And yes, good ole' Kingsley brought us back safely (and without problem) to Hastings. I think Glenn managed to get his van all fixed up, which is good. I was glad, actually, that we were able to have the chance to do this tramp--we may have never done so if we did the Alpine Crossing to begin with. I start work soon--next Wednesday--so it will be harder now for John and I to coordinate our schedules for the next few months.

HOWEVER, someday, somehow, we WILL defeat the Tongariro Alpine Crossing!