So I land in NZ the next day and find that my luggage didn’t make it. No big deal, right? Airlines will cough up some cash to help pay for the things I need, and Qantas did. I went to my hotel and ask where the nearest cheapo clothing store is, only to find that everything was closed due to the New Year holiday. Oh, and everything would be closed the next day as well.
f*********ck.
At least I didn’t have to lug my suitcase around. I called my next hotel and learned that there was a small outfitter nearby. Great! The next morning, I take the train to Tongariro National Park thinking I would just get a change of clothes there, but when I showed up, I was greeted with this lovely sign…
Oh, yeah, the bad weather. Did I mention it was pouring rain in NZ? yeah, so much for summer. Also, the shuttles at the park weren’t running due to 70-km/h winds and record rainfall… thus, I would lose one of my two hiking days. I chose to ditch the Mt Ruapehu summit lake hike, and do the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. What did I do on that first day then?
I watched Easy A, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and Night at the Museum 3 on NZ Netflix. Apparently the Kiwis LOOOOOOVE American rom coms (there wasn’t much else to watch).
Alright, day three rolls around, the sun is out! and the hotel lets us know that the trailheads were open, and the shuttles were running!
The mountains are covered in some morning clouds, but there was hope that they’d burn off during the day. We were warned about winds, and told to pack all of our layers. Everyone in town piled into three shuttles and we get taken out to the trailhead!
The wind is FIERCE (still in the 65+ km/h range) and mist is getting blown everywhere. It was hard to keep my lens dry, but the photos turned out kinda neat. Mount Ngauruhoe was still covered in clouds, but you could see them moving
Shortly after, the clouds pass over the valley!
15-20 minutes later, the the clouds shifted to only cover Mt Ngauruhoe!!!
My hopes were high, but after bit of elevation gain, one was greeted with this lovely view…
The precip and wind really picked up, so I stashed my camera away. Also, it got cold… like -1-deg C cold… I’m glad I had packed all my layers, but silly old me forgot to pack gloves… so I hiked with my hands in my pocket. The views were non-existent… but when I got to the high point of the crossing, I decided to take some shots…
^Do note, I used plenty of the “dehaze” tool in Photoshop…
These shots were taken around the major stopping point around Red Crater… I snacked and shared a large flat sitting rock with some Germans…
Right after that stopping point, the ground changed to this crushed volcanic rock stuff. This ridgeline was also very exposed, and we suffered the strongest winds here. I actually got knocked over once (well it was more of a combo of wind+slipping a bit), so I unpacked my trekking poles to navigate the mess…
A friend once mentioned that hiking in the clouds triggers a different set of your senses… and that it’s unique in its own way, and I mostly agree. You get some surreal views that otherwise wouldn’t exist
Also, there’s just so much unknown in front of you… there was a lot of “oh, so this is what I’m walking towards.” For example, after spending the first 2-hours or so hiking on rocky trails and volcanic rock, everything suddenly changed to this alpine vegetation.
The next hour or so was just more of this, and a whole buncha wind. I took a video which I’ll add later…
After of descending another few hundred meters, I took another short break at Ketatahi Hut, shared a table with some folks from LA, ate my gummy bears, and hit the trail. After clearing the mountain zone, the clouds parted and one got this lovely view from the trail…
What I’m not showing is the view behind me, which was just one massive cloud. Seriously, it was just a wall of cloud…
Then the trail transitioned into your typical forest… which was filled with all sorts of weird stuff
…and 5.5 hours later, I was at the end!
The shuttle arrived at its designated time and took us back to the National Park town… Looking back, one could see what we hiked through… Also, while my shuttle was full in the morning, it was only 2/3 full on the return trip. Turns out a buncha folks turned back in the morning…
#funtimes
After cleaning up, grabbing dinner, the sun was setting, and the clouds had cleared a bit more. I had some regret of not renting my own car, to dictate my own schedule… but oh well. Next time!
I ran into another German couple who were taking photos. They had been in the US earlier in the year for a trip to all of the big Utah and Arizona National Parks, so we chatted about Zion and Bryce. At one point this convo happened:
Guy: Heyy, sooo, I have a question for you, ya know, since you’re from America
<me totally expecting some ridiculous question about Bush, Trump, Chuck Norris, Texas, or guns>
Guy: So on our trip, we bought an annual National Parks pass, because it made sense at the time, buuut now we don’t need it… would you want to buy it?
<pulls out NP Pass>
I laugh, and decline the offer since I have my own… they were slightly disappointed 😛 We watched the sun set a little more and walked back to our hotels.
The next morning was the day I had to catch the train back to Auckland, and I woke up before sunrise; so I decided to take some more photos. Stepping out of the hotel, I found a cloudless sky… sh*t! I contemplated staying a second day, to re-hike the Alpine Crossing, or another trail, but the logistics just didn’t work out. There was no train the next day, and there was no bus that could get me to back to Auckland to catch my flight out the next day…
However! I’m glad I didn’t change my itinerary! because by noon, the clouds had moved back in!
Soo, I packed up and walked to the train station
Some of the default views along the way… I’m sure Hobbiton is somewhere out there.
I got back early in the evening, found a nice sushi spot for dinner and then tried waiting in line for Auckland’s best ice cream. The line was super slow moving, so I went to the froyo place next door. Then strolled to the Sky Tower, which was still decked out with Christmas lights, and then I called it a night.
The next morning, the plan was to walk to the nearby grocery store, to buy a cup of yogurt for breakfast, and then to catch the bus to the airport. However, I happened to find a Chinese restaurant that sold 油條 and that was filled with Chinese people speaking Chinese. Soooo, I ate there instead since the Seattle Chinese breakfast food scene ain’t the greatest. I still got my NZ yogurt afterwards though..
Everything at the airport went smoothly. I even saw the SQ A380 with the special livery!
#airplanetax
Alright, next stop, Sydney!