Revenge of Mount Doom

Well as I am here typing this I obviously survived the hike called the Tongariro Crossing. It is a full day hike that goes over some pretty rough terrain (well it was rough for me, I am an unfit media type, I wasn't sure I was going to make it).

Many of you may not have heard of the Tongariro Crossing but it is meant to be one of the most impressive one day hikes you can do in New Zealand. However, most of you will have heard of Mount Doom from the Lord of the Rings, as this hike takes us right up next to it (LOTR Fans, fear not I have lots of photos of it for you). Incidentally the volcano used as Mount Doom is still active and there was a definite smell of sulphur along a large proportion of the hike.

You get to see a bit of everything, volcanoes, lakes, alpine scenery and forests all in one day. You can understand why Peter Jackson was so keen to get permission to film here (apparently if you spend 120m on a film in New Zealand you will be allowed to film on a National Park!). The first bit was the hardest as we climbed up the side of the volcano (dormant and kind of squashed, sorry can't spell or pronounce any of the real names of these volcanoes - so "squashed" and "mount doom" it will have to be!) that is next to mount doom (you can do 3 hours extra where you climb to the summit of Mount Doom but that is only for the seriously fit ie NOT ME!).

The climb up was pretty hideous, I had to keep stopping to "take photos" - well I was taking photos but my ulterior motive was to be able to breathe. Thankfully it was a beautiful day as you can have a complete white out up there if it gets cloudy and as I was scrambling clumsily round the rim of the volcano (reassuringly told that if any of us fell in, well it was nice knowing us... by the expedition operators) I was very glad that it wasn't windy (some people were there who had done it the day before when the weather was bad, they had to crawl on their hands & knees as the wind was so strong and they couldn't see a thing through the clouds!).

In fact we really couldn't have had better weather, sunny and still, so the conditions were on my side. Once we had climbed up and made it round the rim, we have to skid down through rocks (I have the bruises on my back and bum to prove that I did part of this on my bottom) towards the Emerald Lakes (very beautiful shade of green, very strong sulphur smell with steam rising out of the crater behind us). After there was a hike to another huge lake, across more desert like land. At one rocky point I went flying forward over a rock, very elegant belly flop/sprawl. Fortunately a nice couple from Watford helped me up, rinsed off the cut on my elbow (I have a nice graze there reminiscent of the scrapes I used to get as a kid). This morning I discovered that I have bruises on my hips and stomach.. What am I like.

I than carried on past thhe lake and you get to more alpine scenery. Very beautiful! I slipped crossing a river and managed to not fall in but to instead shred my trouser leg on a rock. So I was wearing half a pair of trousers. I had to tie my fleece round my leg to make a make shift trouser leg on the other side (umm wearing a bear of summer trousers I got in New Look, possibly wasn't the most intelligent idea!).

So I am bruised, cut, have my jacket tied round my left, am limping cos my toes are screaming with pain and I am covered in dirt. What to do? That is right, I carried right! People walked past me possibly wondering why I was dressed so weirdly but I decided to just play the eccentric card and keep going. I finally make it to the forests which I knew what the last section. Of course by last section they should have stressed that at a hobble it would take me over a hour to get through. But I made it! I went straight to the stinky toilets and changed in to the spare pair of trousers I had in there (so glad I brought them) and wandered around in my socks (boots were out of the question) until the coach was ready to leave and take me back to Taupo.

I was dropped off by my car at the motel (which was full that night, so I stayed at a Backpackers round the corner). The morning had started at 5am so I was pretty tired at 6pm when I checked in and promptly passed out on my bunk (yes of course the top bunk was the only one left, my poor feet had to navigate a ladder). At around 9pm I summed up the energy to shower off the dirt, discover even more bruises before going to bed again. They must have thought there was something wrong with me in my dorm!

So this morning I packed up the car, drove down the road and am writing all this for you! Next stop brunch before I drive to Waitomo where they have caves that are meant to be worth a visit and some black water rafting.

As I ache all over now, I have to ask myself was the Tongariro Crossing worth it. Well I have to say yes. I saw the most amazing and dramatic scenery, chatted to some really nice people (mainly Brits plus some Americans & Swedes) and most importantly finished it all by myself. If I can do that at my level of fitness, I can do anything. Bring it on! Ouch, I shouldn't have moved when I typed that! Picture me now, hobbling to the counter to pay for my internet time like some old, infirm grannie...