New Zealand - Taupo

Sorry about being MIA for a while, and sorry that this is another long one. Those of you with short attention spans may prefer to just look at the pictures...

Day 19 - Friday, February 10

I decided to stay in a different hostel in Rotorua than the main group because I had heard from a couple in Fiji that the hostel arranged by KEX was not the nicest and there was a much nicer YHA next door. So I did that. The biggest drawback to staying in a different hostel is that not everyone is on the same schedule, so you can't rely on others to wake you up, and usually others are sleeping in the room, so I had to pack really quietly and kind of in the dark. Because it's a hop-on hop-off bus, and people stay behind all the time, the drivers leave right on time and don't concern themselves if someone isn't on the bus -- they can just get the next one - Friday morning the bus was leaving at 830. That morning my alarm didn't go off (probably user error), so I woke up at 812 and started to panic a bit because rounding up all my stuff and packing usually takes 15-20 mins. I ran out of the hostel at 832, and the bus was scheduled to leave at 830. As I ran up the street, the bus door was already closed and the driver had his signal on to turn out into the street, but I managed to make it on, a little too close for comfort, though.

On the way out of Rotorua, we had the option to stop at a geothermal park type thing, with geysers and hot springs and whatnot, but it was like $30 for admission, and I had heard from others it wasn't really worth it. I was also pretty certain that it would pale in comparison with what I had seen just a few months earlier at Yellowstone, so I skipped it. Those of us who skipped it headed over to a redwood forest area with a lot of hiking/walking trails and such. The bus driver let us off there and said to be back in an hour. There were trails with walking times of 30 mins, 60 mins, 90 mins, 120 mins, etc. I decided that it'd be a good chance to get some exercise, so rather than walking, I'd run a bit of it. The bus driver said the times are granny walking times, so moving quickly, I should be able to do it in about half the time. I checked the 2-hour trail and it was 7.5km, so i figured I'd have sufficient time to do it an hour. I started out on the trail, which quickly turned to a significantly steep climb, and I was a little concerned that I might've bitten off more than I could chew given my time restrictions, but forged onward. As I continued on, I started to get worried that I was getting close to an hour (I didn't have a watch, so I was just having to guess as to elapsed time). After what felt like about an hour, I came across a sign/map that indicated the end of the trail / parking lot was pretty close by. Relieved, I continued on, and came to a fork in the road, where I opted to continue following the signs for the yellow (2-hour) trail that I had been following all along. After about 10 more minutes, I started to get concerned again because I hadn't yet reached the parking lot and I thought it had been over an hour. And based on the map I saw, I should've been there by then, and then a few minutes later I realized I had already been where I was, at the very beginning of my run. So now I was really concerned because now I knew it had to have been more than an hour, and I was exhausted and I had to backtrack for a while, and then head the rest of the way to the parking lot. So I broke out into a full on run, and felt like I was going to die, and as I got to the parking lot, I see the bus pulling in. Apparently the bus had already left without me only to realize a bit later they had left me and turn around. I later realized that unlike the tracks he suggested that started and ended at the parking lot, the yellow trail I did was a loop that I had climbed up a bit to get to. Oops. I don't think the driver liked me very much that day. At this rate, it's only a matter of time before I miss the bus.

On the way into Taupo we stopped at Huka falls, a pretty serious waterfall that has claimed a few lives over the years. 

From New Zealand - Rotorua & Taupo

When we got into Taupo, I decided to just relax for the afternoon and socialize a bit and then head to bed early because we were being picked up at 530am the next morning to do the Tongariro Crossing.

Day 20 - Saturday, February 11

Today's plan: the Tongariro crossing - a 19km hike up a mountain ridge and back down, with optional additional climbs to a couple of summits. It was a little over an hour ride there, and just the main track takes on average 7-8 hours, so it required an early start to the day. Despite ear plugs, between the bar underneath us, the others in my room coming in in the middle of the night, the guy snoring beneath me, and not quite fitting in the top bunk, I didn't manage much sleep before my alarm went off at 5am.  There's no place to get food or water along the track, so I quickly packed a bag full of food and 3L of water and jumped on the bus.

Most of the hike is through volcanic rocky areas without much vegetation. We started up through a valley between Mt. Tongariro and Mt. Ngauruhoe (aka Mt. Doom of Lord of the Rings fame). When we got the foot of Mt. Doom, we started up what's known as "devil's staircase". 
A view of Mt. Doom from the bottom of the staircase:

From New Zealand - Rotorua & Taupo

And one of the valley (where we started) from the top of the staircase:

From New Zealand - Rotorua & Taupo

At the top of the staircase is the beginning of the optional track to the summit of Mt. Doom. The guide had said that if it was cloudy at the top, not to go up, and had generally said that it was really dangerous track that shouldn't be attempted without pants and hiking boots and proper hiking gear. A few of us sat at the bottom and debated whether it was too cloudy. Finally, I decided to head up and climbed about 1/3 of the way up at which point I was surrounded by clouds and slipping all over the place in my running shoes (and also lacked the requisite pants). So I decided to head back down. Also, we didn't have time to do that summit and the other summit (Mt. Tongariro). So I figured this way, I could do the second summit. I was little ticked though, because only a few minutes after I got back to the start of the Mt. Doom summit track, it totally cleared up around the top:

From New Zealand - Rotorua & Taupo

We then headed up another somewhat steep ascent, but stopped for a bit to take a some photos while it was pretty clear. Here's one of me and 3 English girls that I met in Fiji and got to know pretty well, and it seems we have similar itineraries because we've run into each other a couple of times since originally meeting in Fiji:

From New Zealand - Rotorua & Taupo

After getting to the top of that ascent, we had the option to do the additional 3km roundtrip climb to the summit of Mt. Tongariro, which I decided to do. Unfortunately, at the summit, it was quite cloudy. I waited for a bit to see if it would clear up, but it didn't, so no pictures from the summit. After that, it was descending most of the rest of the way. including a rather steep scree down to some lakes. The view from above the lakes:

From New Zealand - Rotorua & Taupo

After that, it was a long descent from up in the clouds down to the bottom, with the same view essentially the whole way. If you look at the album, you'll see I snapped quite a few similar photos on the way down. Here's one from just below the cloud line:

From New Zealand - Rotorua & Taupo

I think I ended up going about 24km with the additional hikes towards the summits, by far the longest hike I've ever done, but it was worth the early morning and the several days of soreness that followed. One more photo that I kind of like of a stream toward the end of the hike:

From New Zealand - Rotorua & Taupo

Day 21 - Sunday, February 12

On the way out of Taupo, we stopped in the Whakapapa National Park, which is pretty close to where we started the Tongariro crossing the previous day and did a 2-hr hike to a Tanakari falls. After doing the crossing the previous day, about the last thing people wanted to do was do more hiking, so many decided just relax at the trailhead, but I sucked it up and went along. Not quite as picaresque as the crossing but here's a photo of some of our bus down in front of the falls:

From New Zealand - Rotorua & Taupo

From Taupo, we headed over to River Valley, a rustic lodge kind of out in the middle of nowhere. We got there fairly late in the afternoon, and I just relaxed that afternoon and evening.