Tongariro Alpine Crossing

Tuesday morning we slept in a bit and went back to Lake Taupo to enjoy the sun, swim in the crystal clear water, relax, and gather strength for the task scheduled for Wednesday. Tongariro Crossing was on the agenda, which meant a 19.4km hike along two volcanoes through an area consisting only of lava rock.

The journey from Lake Taupo to Tongariro was already a dream... along the beautiful Lake Taupo, through beautiful forests until just before the volcano, where we found a great "campground" once again. A spot between horses in a paddock, next to a small grove... awesome! Since we were driven to the starting point by a shuttle at 5.40am on Wednesday morning, right in the middle of the night, we didn't stay up late on Tuesday.

In the dark, we drove our car to the "end point" of the Tongariro Crossing and were taken from there to the starting point. Just before sunrise, at around 6am, we began the several-hour hike in rather shady temperatures. In a wonderful landscape of volcanic rock, we experienced the sunrise - with the 2291m high active volcano Ngauruhoe always on our right... until we passed it as well and had a breathtaking view of the entire area from another summit. Above the clouds, a view of the mighty volcano, beautiful mountain lakes, smoke rising from the mountain... it was overwhelming!

Refreshed by a snack at the three mountain lakes, we started the second half of the route, which seemed to drag on for the last few kilometers. Our bodies agreed the day after that going downhill for a long time is quite exhausting... we were both so tired. 🙈🙃 but it was so worth it. After 6.5 hours, we got into the car completely exhausted, but just as happy. No, rather fell into the car. 😛 on the way to Raglan, we had to stop at a small brook again to rest our eyes. We were just so tired and spent 1.5 hours inspecting pillows before arriving in Raglan early in the evening.