The other Alps

So at the end of my last entry, I'd just said a teary goodbye to the Norwegians and endured eight hours of bus travel to get to the, frankly underwhelming, Turangi. My initial plan was to do the Tongariro Alpine crossing (over part of New Zealand's Alpine mountain range - copycats) the day after I arrived (reputably the best one day hike in New Zealand), but everyone was telling me not to go because the weather forecast was bad and that I wouldn't see anything. I wasn't doing the hike for the views, I was doing it because it's a twenty kilometre hike over a mountain with the option of climbing Mt Ngauruhoe (AKA Mt Doom from the Lord of the Rings trilogy). Because of everyone's advice, I decided to do the hike the following day (Tuesday).

As it turned out, the weather on Monday great, but because of the bad weather forecast, I hadn't set an alarm and had missed all the shuttle buses. It wasn't all bad though, as I spent the day catching up with this blog, lazing in the sun, and sorting out my onward travel (though it was nice, I was slightly irked by the fact I wasn't standing on top of the mountain).

Tuesday arrived and I got up at the horrific hour of 5am to catch the 6am shuttle bus and start the walk at seven. The weather looked like it was going to be alright - there was some blue sky with patches of clouds. As it turned out, the weather was not alright, and there were eve thunderstorms later on in the day. This annoyed me, because I could have been away from this place and could have spent a bit longer in Wellington.

So as I started the walk, it slowly began raining heavier and heavier. I actually didn't mind the rain though. Being British, I think I'm used to it, and still had a bloody brilliant time. At the front of the pack with me were two other men (one in a red jacket, and one in a beige jacket), who shall hereafter be referred to as red man and beige man. We plodded along silently, using each other to set our pace and for moral support. I sensed that beige man was quite competitive, and tried to hurry away, but red man and I wouldn't let him and kept up with him. Beige man seemed annoyed, maybe due to a combination of the weather being bad and the fat that red man and I could keep up with him. The three of us, who all set off at 7am, got to the end of the crossing by 11.10am - four hours and ten minutes. I felt slightly proud of myself, because everyone says it's supposed to take about eight hours!

About a third of the way through the climb, you could go and climb to the summit of Mt Ngauruhoe (one of the two mountains used as Mt Doom). I was told before I set off not to climb it if I could see clouds at the top. I did it anyway. It was too much of a cool opportunity to pass up. It was a tough climb, especially in the wet, and I came down pretty much as soon as I'd got to the top, but now I can say that I've been to the highest point in Middle Earth. I had a nice day climbing, but because of the weather (low lying clouds, rain, etc) the views were not great. This is how the emerald lakes looked when I got there...

 And this is how they could have looked on a nice day...

So maybe I'll be back one day, when I have more time to waste waiting for the weather. I know I definitely want to come back to this amazing country - I just don't know when. I did, however, learn some important lessons that day:

1. When I next decide to walk through clouds and heavy rain, use waterproof shoes
2. When I next decide to walk through clouds and heavy rain, bring dry clothes for when I finish
3. Waterproof jackets are less waterproof than described

Drenched at the end