07/02/2023 Tongariro Alpine Crossing
Today will be a very big activity for us: we’d be hiking the Tongariro Alpine Crossing.
Tongariro Alpine Crossing
The Tongariro Alpine Crossing is heralded as the best one-day trek in New Zealand and is regarded as among the top ten single-day treks in the world. Many who complete the 19.4 km (12 mile) journey will tell you the climbs can be steep and the weather unpredictable, though worth it in every aspect.”
tongarirocrossing.org.nz
Will the weather be better?
The 19,4 km are quite a big deal for wannabe hikers like us. We waited for the last day possible to do it since the weather had been bad here in the past few days and it’s always about 10 degrees colder on the path. Moreover, we did not want fog all around us when we get to the peak.
Jokes on us: for the first two hours of the hike, we couldn’t see much because of all the fog.
Incredible emerald lakes
Even when we hiked to the highest part of the trail, it was still very windy and hazy.
But then out of a sudden, the clouds cleared up and right underneath us these three gorgeous emerald lakes showed up. The colours were incredible!
We quickly hiked down the dried gravel lava path to have a closer look at the beautiful lakes. They were stunning!
After a short break there, we hiked the long path towards “Blue Lake”, which was also beautiful and with fewer people.
Such diverse landscape
The landscape changed so much on this 19 km hike, it was breath-taking! After the “Blue Lake” it went downhill non-stop for the next four hours. We were surrounded by big lakes, huge trees, lush bushes and steaming geysers all around us.
Are we there yet?
The last part of the hike led through thick bush with silver ferns, which was just as stunning as the path before. At the 19 km sign post we got so excited that we had almost made it.
Since we are not used to long hikes like this one, our whole body was aching by now. When we reached the “finish line”, we were “rewarded” by an extra 1 km to the car park. But what’s an extra 15 min when you’ve already hiked over 8 hours?
You can’t have the cake and eat it too
I think I’ve never been so happy to see our campervan again! The only thing that would have made this scene even better would have been a shower.
Resumé Tongariro Alpine Crossing
Overall, we would say that this hike is not a difficult one as there is only one path that goes uphill and a very long stretch that goes downhill gradually and not too steep. However, you should not underestimate the length of 19.4 km. Make sure, you dress appropriately for all weather situations and have enough water and snacks with you. As always, we were the underdressed ones in our sneakers and wanna-be hiking gear 😉.
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Wow! Great pics as usual! The emerald lakes were actually green and the blue lake an impressive shade of blue! I will never go on any major hikes like this so thanks. I like being the arm chair traveller! But I would try the wine tasting!
Thanks, Maggie! It’s awesome to have you as our armchair traveller along the way ;-). See you soon!!