Thursday, February 14, 2008

NZ part 8 - Tongariro crossing

13/2:
Grown up in Bonn (link) right at the doorstep to the Eifel (link) I kind of had an idea of what a volcanic area looks like but this was different...cause still active! And we were lucky to get this chance because the track is closed quite often due to bad weather conditions (and our schedule's been so tight that we couldn't spent more time in Taupo)

Being well equiped with food and proper shoes (I simply love my Adidas Samba...



good for everything!) we started at 9:30am the next morning aside Mount Doom (Lord of the rings) aka Mt Ngauruhoe,


climbing the steap ascend (especially in the begining) until having lunch to get rewarded by awsome scenery



also during the descent



We crossed the finish line at 3:35pm as the first group and had some time to relax in the sun whilst waiting for the other.



Ben (British fella, living in Perth) made us laugh our but off when he puled out a bag of nachos AND matching dip, having a big smile on his face and explaing in best british accent: "You gotta rewooaaard yourself!"



After getting back to our ski resort like Park lodge we did some more relaxing taking a shower an hop into the jacuzzi and eat...hoping not to feel too sore the next day.

This an NZ experience I'd definitely advise to everyone...even for people like me who're not so much into hiking...some of our group struggled quite hard though due to very bad fitness.

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