Finally, today is the day! We get up at 5am, have our stomach filled, and hop on to the shuttle bus, which is going to bring us to the the legendary Tongariro Alpine Crossing!
Tongariro National Park is New Zealand's oldest national park and a dual World Heritage Site. It is rich in both cultural identity and dramatic, awe-inspiring natural scenery. Unique landforms, including the volcanic peaks of Ngaruhoe, Tongariro and Ruapehu ensure the Tongariro Alpine Crossing is considered a world-renowned trek.
Today, we are going to trek the 19.4 kilometre journey, which is heralded as the best one-day trek available in New Zealand.
Go Go GOOO!!!! Awesome scenery is waiting for us!
There are 6 tracks in this alpine crossing.
1) Mangatepopo Car Park to Soda Springs
The shuttle bus drops us at the Mangatepopo Car Park. The first section is fairly flat, well formed and board walked in damp areas to provide staibility under foot. As the altitude increases, we notice a change in plant species along the track.
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| Spotted the snowy mountain behind us? |
2) Soda Springs to South Crater
This section of the track, known as the Devil's Staircase, is steep. We have to take special care while walking on this track as underfoot there's over layers of ancient and modern lava flows and other volcanic deposits.
3) South Crater to Red Crater
This is a flat route and it's time for us to have some relax walk. However once we have passed south crater, there is another short climb on an exposed ridge, the track follows this ridge to Red Crater.
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| We've to walk across all these stones! |
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| The wind is so strong that it blows away my blue hat, so sad! CRY~~~~ |
4) Red Crater to Blue Lake
The descent from Red Crater is very steep and we have to walk very cautiously. The beautiful green emerald lake is here. Minerals leached from the surrounding rock cause the color of the lakes, where the steam vents above the lake are responsible for the sulphurous smell.
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| Finally, we see the beautiful emerald lake during the path in between red crater and blue lake |
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| The really steep slopes at red crater that scared me off!!! |
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| This is how I got down from the steep slope, too afraid that I dare not to stand up straight and walk normally. Eventually, I slide all the way down slowly, making my friends to laugh so loud :'( |
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| my timid look, really scared of height :( |
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| Emerald Lake |
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| The Blue Lake, which is cold and acidic |
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| People swimming in the blue lake O_O |
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| My tired look |
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5) Blue Lake to Ketetahi Hut
This is a short and easy climb top the edge of North Crater. The crater was once filled with molten lava and then cooled and solidified to give a level surface more than 1000m wide. The outlook is dramatic and inspiring. Here, we continue to zigzag our way down to the Ketetahi Hut.
6) Ketetahi Hut to Ketetahi Car Park
This track crosses the stream that flows down from Ketetahi Springs. At this point, the track drops steeply to the Mengatetipua Steam. A short side track streaming a "forest" leads down to a waterfall, just a few minutes before we reach Ketetahi Car Park.
Finally, we succesfully completed Tongariro Alpine Crossing! We started our trek on 7am morning, and managed to reach Ketetahi Car Park at 2.45pm. This is a memorable 8 hours journey to us, as the view is so unforgettably beautiful, and there's some point that the slope is so steep and the peak is so high, which really really frightened me. The wind up the mountain is so strong and cold. However, we're overwhelmed with joy as the feeling to have conquered the alpine crossing is truely awesome!!!!
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