Tongariro Alpine Crossing

The alarm goes off at 6 am on the 27th of June to drive to Tongariro National Park. The country roads are winding and hilly, but you can still speed through the countryside at 100km/h. Here in the center of the North Island, there are mainly cow and sheep pastures. It takes us three hours to reach the volcanic plateau. The weather is clear and we are looking forward to the hike to the highest point of the Tongariro Crossing, the most popular day hike in New Zealand. The two highest volcanoes are wonderful to see from afar with their snow-capped peaks. In the summer, hundreds of people flock here, but today we will only encounter a total of about 20 people. In the first 20 minutes of the trek, we carry food and sleeping bags to the hut where we can stay overnight for free without making a reservation during the off-peak season. After that, we continue with lighter luggage towards the craters. We call the hike "Glandern" (short for "glamorous hiking") because the trail is extremely well-built and you walk on wooden platforms almost the entire time. They have also simplified and extended the trail since my last visit. But we manage to reach the Red Crater in under 2:30. The views are breathtaking and you can see all the way to Mount Taranaki. It gets a bit cold on the summit at 1900m, so after our lunch sandwich, we start heading back. We decide to drive back today because we are already back at the bottom before 4 pm. We celebrate the day with a beer in the nearby pub. The drive back is tiring as there are hardly any opportunities to overtake at night and we trek behind a truck. But we manage to get home by 7:30 am. We end the day with wine and dinner. Unfortunately, despite using sunscreen with SPF 50 and being in the sun for "only" 4 hours, we still got a little bit burnt, and that in winter when the sun is low!