As previously announced, our next hike took us to Mordor, also known as Tongariro on the map. It was the most impressive hike I've done in New Zealand.
Tongariro Crossing
The Tongariro Crossing takes about 8 hours. And the problem with such long one-way tracks is that you have to find a way back to your car in the evening/afternoon. That's why we booked a shuttle bus. It was the most expensive bus ride of my life: 30 dollars for a 20-minute bus ride. Luckily, the Kiwis are a bit more relaxed about everything, so it wasn't a problem that we couldn't show our booking confirmation. And even two Germans who had actually booked with another bus company were taken along because they had missed their bus.
After a bit of hiking, we already had this view of Mount Ngauruhoe.
After asking a local for advice, we decided that we had enough time to hike up the mountain and come back to the car in the twilight. Our assessment was ultimately a bit wrong, but not our decision to climb up. The view was simply amazing.
When we were back down, it was almost dark and a bit late to walk to the car. So we went back to the same parking lot and some nice Malaysians brought us to our car.
After that, we needed a day to rest and then we did the other half.
