Tongariro Northern Circuit

We've been rather busy since the last blog entry, so there'll be two close together now. We drove from Taupo to Raurimu last Saturday. Raurimu is famous for its 'spiral' – a feat of engineering to enable trains to scale the steep incline – it comprises a complete spiral partly tunnelled into the rock, and a couple of horseshoes too! As the Lonely Planet says – fascinating for train buffs, whilst others are left wondering what they're meant to be looking at!

We pitched up at Wades Landing where we'd organised transport to enable us to do both the Tongariro Northern Circuit and to hire a canoe for the Whanganui River Journey (see next blog entry). Wades Landing turned out to be an ex-school outdoor pursuits centre; initial impressions were not too good, the place had clearly seen better days, the organisation seemed pretty chaotic and the guests' kitchen was better not described. All 128 beds were booked for that night as they were mainly being used for people attending a nearby wedding. However, read on. The people were friendly and there was beer on tap. The room was clean and the showers hot.

We spent the evening sorting our gear out and making sure we had all we needed for our 3 day tramp. At the last minute we decided it was pointless to take the stove, gas and billy as the huts provide gas cookers. It was a 7.30 start in the morning and we were dropped at the Mangetepopo car park in thick mist and drizzle. Spirits were undamped and we set off with several others on the first leg up to the volcano.

The Northern Circuit is a walk around two volcanoes, Mount Tongariro and Mount Ngauruhoe, which was used to portray Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings.

The mist stayed low and the wind was very strong. We made our way up to the saddle with some difficulty as the wind was almost blowing us over – but we'd been in worse before. We reached the turn off point to do Mt Tongariro summit in rain and thick cloud; we set off for the summit but after about 50 metres, decided it was just too windy. We carried on around Red Crater and as we started the descent, both got blown off our feet (partly due to the large rucksacks) – I've still got the bruise a week later! We continued down the crater rim with great caution and suddenly the mist cleared, giving us a view of the Emerald Lakes below and hundreds of people!

Descent to Emerald Lakes

The walk continued across Central Crater to Blue Lake and then finally descended to Ketetahi Hut where we were to spend our first night. We soon realised we'd made a terrible mistake as we'd left the billy can behind with the gas and stove and had no means of boiling water – there was gas but no pans! There appeared to be nothing in the hut that we could use. Undeterred, we tried a few wild ideas but nothing worked. The next plan was to wait for someone else to turn up at the hut and see if we could borrow a pan – that wasn't much good either as there was only one other person expected and he had less kit than we did. Finally, a brainwave! The cookers provided had small grills. We were able to remove one of the grill pans and take the plastic front off, and were left with a rather flat, but serviceable pan to boil water. Oh what joy, we were able to have endless cups of tea and our dinner, and even provide hot water for the next arrival to make his soup – lesson learnt, we will never forget the billy again!

The following day we retraced our steps uphill to the Emerald Lakes and then dropped down into a desolate landscape of ancient lava flows, ash and pumice. I don't know if this was used for Mordor in Lord of the Rings, but it certainly could have been. We got glimpses of Mt Ngauruhoe as we descended.

Red Crater

Mount Doom with lava foreground

We reached the Oturere hut at lunchtime, but our way continued on across desert-like landscape, finally arriving at the Waihohonu hut. This was a modern hut and very luxurious compared with the first night, but still no pans! However, a friendly couple lent us theirs to boil water. The final day was misty and drizzling again as we crossed tussocky moorland.

Maggie descending

We reached our destination, Whakapapa village, at about 3pm, without having seen a great deal. However, we spent a pleasant three hours having coffee and beer in a bar, and learning about volcanoes at the visitor centre. Wades Landing were as good as their word and picked us up at 6pm – then back for tea, beer, shower and dinner.