In Picton I was rejoined by the others, slightly happy from wine-tasting that morning, and we caught a boat out to the Lazy Fish guest house. The Lazy Fish is in its own little bay out in Queen Charlotte Sound, with four bungalows and a little apartment set in gardens by the beach. It's utterly peaceful, isolated though not really that far from Picton, and we had a wonderful couple of days there just doing not much at all! It was particularly nice after a week of running around Wellington trying to get stuff accomplished and living in a hostel. Mum and I played several games of scrabble; I went out kayaking with Mum and Dad; we had a swim and snorkel in the cool clear water of the sounds; and we walked around the bays at low tide as far as we could go, only to be stopped by a very large seal sitting on the rocks at the end of the walk. He sat up and showed us his teeth and we prudently stopped - but it was a great conclusion to the walk.
Back in Wellington the others helped me move into the flat, including a raid on the great place that is The Warehouse (for cheap furniture, etc.) Then R&E left, flying out of NZ home via Sydney, Thailand, China and South Korea. They're somewhere in China now as far as I know, hopefully having a good time and avoiding the hideous-sounding Chinese toilets.
Meanwhile Mum and Dad and I consulted the weather forecast, and came to the conclusion that it was worth making another attempt on the Tongariro Crossing. I knew I'd always have another chance, but they didn't have that luxury, so it seemed to make sense.
We arrived in Whakapapa again to discover that we could see the mountains, getting glorious clear views across to Mounts Tongariro and Ngauruhoe as well as most of Ruapehu.
That afternoon we made the most of the fine weather and did a couple of short warm-up walks in preparation for the big one the next day. One took us down to the Tawhai Falls, used as a location in The Lord of the Rings. The falls were pretty and the spot peaceful, and we were rather glad we'd made the effort!
The next morning dawned a little cloudy, with a wreath around the summit of Ngauruhoe. Rather disappointing after the clarity of the previous day. Nevertheless we shouldered our bags, packed correctly with food, water, warm stuff, dry stuff and cameras, and set off.
The main problem with the Tongarir Crossing is that it's a very popular walk. Hundreds of people walk it each day in high season, and while we were just out of that we still set off amid a crowd of people including a large and inadequately-equipped school party (lots of kids in trainers). The crossing starts off fairly easy, with a gradual climb across the plains at the feet of the mountains. Then there is the "Devil's Staircase", a steep climb up a rocky path - but it's fairly short and eminently doable. At the top of the staircase we felt the first few drops of rain, which were fine even for me with my rowing splash top; showerproof rather than rainproof. However it kept on raining and by the time we were across the flat South Crater, a bowl between Ngauruhoe and Tongariro, we couldn't really see even Ngauruhoe and it was too wet to get the cameras out. We climbed up into the clouds, getting steadily wetter and wetter.
At the top the clouds parted just for a few seconds and allowed us to catch a glimpse of the famous Red Crater, which was indeed red and would be spectacular on a clear day! Then we had a steep descent along the crater's edge. I'd been worried that this would be like the Taranaki scree, but luckily Tongariro's soil is darker and finer and it was more like walking in sand - much less scary to come down. Through the clouds we saw the Emerald Lakes, which get their colour from the minerals in the area so were still distinctly green.
I was a bit chilly now, and soaked through despite my splash top. We kept up a good pace across the top, every now and then seeing a bit of slope or the weird, moonlike volcanic landscape around us.
And then we suddenly came out of the cloud and saw, spread out below, the land beyond. The view stretched to the vast Lake Taupo and was really worth the climb and the clouds. It also stopped raining and we began to dry off.
We had a pause to get out some food at the Ketahi Hut, which was a mass of wet people trying to dry off. We decided drying off was a bit pointless and we'd be better off carrying on the walk. The descent took a long time - if you're ever thinking of doing the crossing, go the standard way and not backwards. Backwards would mean a very very long climb upwards and a nasty steep bit on the way down.
Eventually we made it, rather dryer, quite tired, and happy we'd made the effort. A great walk despite the weather.
Mum and Dad dropped me off in Taupo the next day as the rain poured down so I could fly back to Wellington and they could carry on north, back to Auckland and home. Hopefully they'll be back here before I go home.
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