We are aproximatly here
It took us a while to get moving after the Christmas celebrations. We slept in-major! And missed our checkout time by 40 minutes. Good thing these Kiwi's are overly nice. After checking out we walked into town and immediately went to Jasmine's Cafe (a thai place) to pre-gorge ourselves before going into the grocery store for resupply. We've found that this is the best line of defense against over buying food for our trips.
Once out of the store and all packed up we took a bus to the next trail head to avoid 20kms of HWY walking. We met our favorite group of 3 German TA hikers there who were trying to catch a bus to a bigger city (New Plymouth) for New Years Eve. Not a bad idea, but we were already booked to bring in the New Year in a canoe paddling down the Whanganui River. No fire works, but still a once in a lifetime oppertunity.
Met a guy from Austin TX on the bus to the trailhead. Small world! We started hiking the 42 traverse at about 3pm. We met three of our other TA hikers who had walked the 20 km section of HWY at the trailhead. They were planning on stopping early for the night. Since we hadn't done any hiking for that day we pressed on.
(Ken, Cam, and Peter)
Met another TA hiker on the trail who was North bounding (going backwards from the normal flow.)
The rest of the day was a labyrinth of trails. The 42 traverse is a very poorly marked network of off road trails for quads and motorcycles. We have a GPS which made things easy. But both of us felt sorry for the guys behind us who relied solely on maps. It would have been a bit of a headache to navigate.
My Precious: Back story
I've been keeping a bit of a secret which I probably should have mentioned in an earlier post. Along the TA trail I found something very ...precious...buried in the mud along the trail. The ring had a pull that commanded me to take it. I could sense that it was the one ring to rule them all.
I asked every hiker that we passed if they'd lost a ring, which know one had.
Now it's mine, my very own, precious!
While on the 42 Traverse we got our first glimpse of Mordor (Mt. Ngauruhoe) It was huge!
And ominous. My ring fealt heavy with anticipation so very close to Mt. Doom. Could I really toss the ring into Mordoor? We had been through so much together.
December 27th: 42 Traverse continued
We continued our trek through the maze passing many beautiful motorcycles and quads along the way.
Even with the GPS we missed the unmarked turn off for the DOC (department of conservation) track that we were supposed to divert to. Backtracking with the GPS we located the track and diverted off the nice wide 42 traverse path and into the poorly maintained and overgrown DOC track-typical.
Luckily we saw some horses on the track. Always a good sign since horses need a certain level of good trail standard. We followed the horse prints and quad tracks, encountering lots of overgrown muddy trail. The conditions stayed at what I would consider as barely passable for a horse trail which meant that it was almost pleasant for us to walk through.
We crossed a large stream and saw our first blue ducks! Supposedly rare and protected in NZ. We had a lot of fun watching those birds surf in the little rapids.
Finally we exited the trail and came across the main HWY.
Met a friend along the way; he was doing a very good job at trimming the grass.
That night we ended up at a cabin next to Margret (TA hiker) and her boyfriend Rory at a Holiday park. .
December 28th: Hiking to Mordor!
We got a ride from the Holiday Park to the trailhead to Tongariro crossing (a.k.a entrance to Mt. Doom) with Margret, her Dad, and Rory.
It was very cloudy as we started our steep acent...the cloudiness continued all the way to the very top.
Tongariro crossing has active volcanoes and in 2012 an eruption took out one of the huts along the way.
Flying boulders went straight through the roof and both bunk beds. Luckily no one was sleeping there at the time.
We kept moving, eager to get to Emerald Lakes and Red Crater.
It rained on us while we were at Blue lake.
Once at red crater we had what we thought was the option to detour to the top of Red Crater. The trail was very steep and sandy so all but Margret's Dad headed up. We left our packs with Bob so we could get there and back easier.
The view was spectacular (once the clouds shifted around) it was a constant battle trying to take photographs. Red craters Mars-like appearance was an otherworldly sight. And the Emerald lakes shone like bright gems from the top.
After a short break we all headed down the steep sandy "trail" towards Bob and the packs.
Once down I ran into the first ranger that we've seen in NZ.
She informed us that the TA trail was indeed the one that we had just climbed...uh come again? You want us to climb a very steep, sandy, rocky volcanoe with a heavy pack? How did all of us miss this? It might have been because we're spoiled Americans used to nice trails that don't go up rocky sand dunes. We grabbed our packs and headed up the crater once more. On the bright side the ranger told us there were switchbacks on the other side of the mountain -a rare treat on the TA. Trails here are usually straight up and down.
The gang headed up for the 2nd time, maybe we are the first TA hikers to acend red crater twice in one day?
We got to see a guy get choppered out for a sprained ankle. Good to know the helicopters are quick to respond.
Cody refused to carry me on his back to the crater of Mount Doom even though he had the oppertunity. Twice! Instead of tossing the ring into a fiery volcanoe it still remains with me. We will carry it to Bluff and toss it in the ocean where it belongs at the end of our journey.
Still waiting to run into those switchbacks.
We got to Whakapapa (actually pronounced fockapapa, the worst name we've heard yet) at 7:30. Both of us hadn't eaten enough and were starving. Unfortunatly for us the fancy hotels didn't appreciate two hiker bums in their dining area. After feeling very unwelcome and walking out of two restuarants we ended up at the local pub for dinner. I ordered a pizza and Cody ordered a beef burger (after requesting that the chef bring out a beef pattie for inspection since burgers can be dodgy in NZ) the guy taking our order brought out a veggi burger and a pizza. Not quite what we ordered. Cody was so hungry he said he'd eat it reguardless. But the chef wasnt satisfied with that. So he gave us the veggie burger for free and said he'd fix up another beef burger too. Best chef we've run into, we got double the fries, salad, and more food than we could handle. We ate almost everything with only 3 slices of pizza left over.
Great chef
December 29th: National Park
I had a fair amount of blogging to catch up on and still wanted to keep to our schedule for the river trip, so Cody and I decided to skip the remaing 20 km of road and scrub brush to the next town where we could reasonably hitch to river outfit we were renting canoes from. We stayed at a YHA in National Park and booked a room to share with 5 other TA hikers.
When we got to our room we found there was already someone's stuff in it. Since I'd booked the whole room we just moved the pack outside our door. Once all of us were settled this French guy showed up looking for his pack. We showed him where it was then told him the whole room was booked. He then set his pack down on a bed and declared he was going to stay with us in our room. Cody told him again it was all booked. The French guy decided he'd go talk to management then came back later on and started unpacking his stuff. Thankfully Cody was onto his game and grabbed management to kick this guy out of our room. Obviously this guy had tried to stay in dorm rooms for free before by just acting like he belonged. Normally when the dorm wasn't fully booked this might have worked. We saw him again later digging food out of the "free food" bin in the kitchen. He was the ultimate free loader! He must have found another room to stay in that night.
Cool perks about our room, we had access to a rock gym right outside our door.
The TA dorm room slumber party went well, and I got most of my blogging done which was a relief.
December 30th: We got a hitch from a rival canoe company to Yeti Tours in Ohakune.
I was starting to feel sick but it wasn't that bad so we checked in with the owner Gavin, and confirmed a 4 day river trip via Canoe. We were told to be ready to go by 7am. We resupplied at the local market and got all our provisions for the trip. Staying that evening in a spare bedroom that our driver had for hire.
I'm famous for having really bad stomach issues and that night was probably my worst. Neither Cody nor I got any sleep the entire night.
December 31st: Rest Day
I was in no shape to paddle so I had to call Gavin at 6am to postpone the river trip for a day.
I wasn't sure what I had but I knew it was different than anything I'd experienced. I spent most of the morning calling hospitals and getting price quotes for consultations. I got pretty familiar with the NZ health care system and I can definitely say it's way better than back home.
Cody and I are covered for accidents by ACC (accidental compensation corporation) Unfortunatly this wasn't due to an accident, and doctors visits were anywhere from 125-400$. Acting on advice from my Dad I went to a pharmacists and she was able to diagnose me and prescribe antibiotics in less than 5 minutes. Something that would have taken up half of my day and a lot of money back home.
I was in bed for the rest of the day, Cody and I watched Apollo 13 and The Interview on my little phone. And walked to the only attraction in town, a giant carrot sculpture. The town was famous for carrot crops and skiing.
Neither of us stayed up to bring in the New Year in NZ; which was a bit if a shame considering we were in one of the few places in the world that gets to celebrate first.
Getting sick turned out to be quite a blessing, it was gusting gails at 70km and hour the whole day. That night it hosed down a ton of rain. I was very thankful to be in our warm bed instead of paddling on the river in such bad weather.
Oh and speaking of the New Year, Cody and I have resolved that for 2015 we want to loose more weight...in our packs! Happy New Year everyone.
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