The 17km Tongariro Crossing is described as the best one day walk in New Zealand and perhaps one of the best in the world so made it on to the list of things I had to do whilst in Taupo.

The walk up over the saddle between two active volcanoes Mount Tongariro and Mount Ngauruhoe, which appeared in the Lord Of The Rings Films as Mount Doom. It’s not just two volcanoes that feature in the walk but craters and lakes and.

It was up for an early start to meet the 5:40 am coach to take me over to the start of the Tongariro Crossing. As we approached the mountains I could see snow on their tops making me realise how high we were going up. [thumb:1225:l]The weather forecast was threatening that a cold front could arrive later that would mean that I wouldn’t be able to complete the crossing. Fingers crossed I hope that the clear view that I had would persist.

At around 8 am we arrived at the start of the walk. This area reminded me of moorland with its lack of trees and extensive scrub. [thumb:1227:l]Donning my gloves and hat and zipping off my jacket I set off.

As we neared the volcanoes I spotted slabs of pummice lying on the landscape amongst the grass and streams. On Dartmoor these would be out of place completely. The sun was coming up and the day was warm so off came the sweater, hat and coats. Mount Ngauruhoe was dodging in and out of the clouds.

At this point the ground began to rise up more steeply and we came to the last set of toilets before the main climb. At this point the ground changed from being grassey to just being rocky with the going begining to get tougher and the temperature begining to drop. After climbing for a while the walk reached an empty plateau with on the far side the climb up the wall of the red crater. At this point the hat, sweater, coat were all back on again. This part was relatively easy as the ground was level. The amount of snow lying around surprised me but added to its beauty.[thumb:1223:l]

There is an option to climb Mount Ngauruhoe summit at this point but we had been warned not to with the weather and at this point looking up the summit had disappeared into the cloud so on it was towards the red crater. [thumb:1232:l]

Climbing up the wall of the Red Crater the wind began to pick up speed and I could feel the wind chill on my cheeks. The climb steeper than before was made more intimidating by the steep drops either side of the path. Getting close to the top one couple turned back. This was in my view a mistake as we had been advised to turn back at the bottom of the wall if the weather looked bad but if over the top to keep going as the far side is sheltered from the wind and they were so close.

At the top of the ridge the winds died off and the visibility came into only about 30 m. Both summits were out of sight for most of the time in the greyness of the cloud apart from brief breaks were they appeared. [thumb:1231:l][newline] Climbing back down again the far side was much easier than climbing up as the ground had far less large rocks but more sand. Descending the Emerald Lakes and the Red Crater came into view with the Blue Lake coming in and out of view in the distance amongst the passing clouds along with the chance to get some photographs with views.

Again at the bottom was another flat area with snow patches beforea shot climb up to the Blue Lake. After the climb and descent to the Red Crater this was far more relaxing. Walking down from the Blue Lake vegetation began to appear, the sun was out and people were having lunch out of the wind. Compared to the crossing of the saddle it was another world.

The walk down the hill was long and windy keeping one guessing at when the path would actually reach the hut I could see below. Coming down further the path entered a forest and air began to warm up. Again it was another world with trees, streams and the sound of birds. Spotting the bollards that marked the end of the route was relief knowing that I could put my feet up and wait for the coach to pick me up and take me to Taupo.[thumb:1224:l]

Arriving back at the YHA in Taupo I bumped into a girl you’d just arrived on the Magic Bus that afternoon. She’d been disappointed to find that the crossing was now closed till Friday due to poor weather.

On Wednesday driving down to Wellington we could see that overnight that there had been fresh snow fall over Mount Tongariro and Mount Ngauruhoe making feel very clad that I had been able to get up there before it arrived. The bus driver also pointed out the third volcano in the area Moutn Ruapehu which had had a small eruption three weeks early with only 60 seconds warning on the monitoring equipment. Scary to think that it is a major site for New Zealand’s ski industry.