I really need to publish this blog post. It’s been sitting here neglected in draft form for almost two weeks.

The weekend of 5-7 Dec, we tramped around Tongariro Northern Circuit. The Circuit includes the Tongariro Crossing “the best, and the busiest one day walk in New Zealand”. The other parts of the tramp are also spectacular, but by contrast empty.

We left Auckland at the respectable time of 10ish and got down to Whakapapa and then walked in to Mangatepopo Hut. Took about 3hrs. It’s quite amazing looking up at the stars in a clear night sky when outside of the city’s light pollution. Played around with the long exposure “night sky” mode on my camera taking photos from the porch of the hut. We were looking East (maybe a little bit North). Recognised Orion and the Pleiades (aka the Seven Sisters or Matariki).

Next day was a long slog. If you’ve done the Crossing, you’ll be interested to know it bypasses the Devil’s Staircase now (My sister thinks this is a shocking sop to the unfit busloads of tourists) The track still climbs from the level of Mangatepopo up to South Crater, but instead of tacking it straight on, it switchbacks back and forth at a gentle gradient which we managed with me calling for only one rest stop. Don’t let me kid you that I found it easy (I’m don’t think I’m any more fit than a tourist of the bus at the mo), but it wasn’t the mission I remember my first walk here being. (no photos of the climb sorry, too busy breathing.)

The climb past Red Crater is still the same. Still tough up and then a fun slide down the scoria, pitying the fools who do it the other way. Red Crater, the Emerald Lakes and Blue Lake are spectacular. (Anu you’re not allowed to look at the photos of these because you have to go tramp it yourself!)

Then we left the hordes of daywalkers behind and pretty much had the track to ourselves. Down into Mordor. Stopped for lunch at Oturere Hut where we had some excitement when the rescue helicopter arrived. They had Martin who had slipped and slid down Ngauruhoe, injuring, possibly breaking his hip. The search and rescue guys needed to lighten the helicopter to go pick up another boy, so we gave a hand getting Marthin out of the helicopter and kept him company while they flew off to do that. (photo by Michelle). Oturere also had an interesting solar water header which had the water up to boiling temperature.

The walk from Oturere to Waihohonu isn’t that far, but after the Crossing I definitely did feel the hills. (I’ve already admitted I’m not too fit.) When we got to the last climb up through the forest, I remembered what a killer that was and had to take it at slower pace than Brian-just-1km-more and Michelle. Waihohonu Hut was pretty packed with 4 guys choosing to sleep out on the deck, but everyone was considerate and friendly, and Rosemary the Hut Warden made us feel very welcome. Visited Onetangi Springs which was also a exploratory mission onto the Ruapehu Round-the-Mountain track.

Having completed our mega day, Sunday was pretty easy. We stopped for a Lower Tama Lake view, having been helpfully alerted how cool it was by one of the Duke of Edinburgh Award party we’d shared Waihohonu hut with. Made it out to showers, beer and food at Ohakune by early early afternoon, after needing only minor roadside assistance with my car (stone in the brakes). My one disappointment in this trip is the beautiful tender delicious lamb dish which we’d had last time in Ohakune is no longer available.

All my photos are available here. And if you haven’t already read it, Michelle posted her version of the tramp on her blog.

Did the Massey and Wairoa-Cosseys Tracks in the Hunua ranges. Took us about 40 mins to drive out to Hunua from Auckland, which is probably a bit longer than the Waitaks. Starting at Hunua Falls, the Massey track is a steep climb up. It includes a nice grove of kauris, then there’s a gentle descent to the dam. Coming back we followed the Cosseys Creek down, although the track perches very high above it. It seems like there must have been some widely read promotion of the Hunua Falls being the place to be for the one fine day of Labour weekend. There were quite a few people on the track and the carpark was full to overflowing. It was good we got out before our exit was blocked off. Enjoyed refreshing ginger beer and code spider drinks (aka float/soda) back at Michelle & Brian’s.

Excellent tramp. Walked up Waiorongomai valley, mostly following old gold tramways. The inclines I thought were just steep sections when I saw them marked on the map turn out to be where the cars were winched up the mountainside. The track then went up over the saddle and up Mt Te Aroha. Visibility was pretty bad from the top, but it cleared a bit while I was up there. Came down the mountain track back into town. Had a beer at the Te Aroha pub ($5/pint), then fell asleep.

Added Moore photos

Arrived in Te Aroha about 4pm.  I’m pretty sure I took a zig-zag route, but got here anyway.  Talked to the manager about tramps and she’s kindly offered to drive me down to Waioronomai Valley so I can walk up Te Aroha and then back down into the other side of town (9am tomorrow).

They have wireless (which I’m using right now) in the motel, but their DNS server is screwed up. I’m guessing they may be favouring WINS over DNS.  I need to contact the Te Aroha LUG. My solution is just to use the Xtra DNS servers (202.27.158.40 and 202.27.156.72).

Went for a walk arount the wetland, then up past the YHA (which I wanted to check out) along another track behind the town and then back down to the domain.  Bought some food for dinner and tomorrow’s lunch at the supermarket and have been just chilling out here.  Another great feature of the motel is the room comes with a cat to keep me company.

Pretty tired.  It’s great how quiet it is, even though the motel is right on the main street.  No screams or sirens or yelling like in Auckland City on a Friday night.  Will probably go to sleep soon.  Still haven’t fixed the blog theme.  Will pack tomorrow, only a day trip so no big deal.  Wish I could find my compass.

Moore photos available over here.

I’m going to take Friday and Monday off work. Going down to Te Aroha on Friday, to do some walks there.

I seriously looked at renting a camper van. The best deal I could find was with Britz, but it was still too much. $95/night for 5 days minimum, for a camper van with a shower and toilet. So like a motor home, but hopefully not as slow. $95/day seemed ok .. for something I’ve never done and have always been interested in doing.

But then insurance is a killer. There’s a $7500 bond and they want to take it off your credit card before you leave and my credit card only goes to $2000. To remove the excess off I’d have to pay an extra $38/night + $50, taking the whole thing up to $715.

So, I decided instead to book a motel unit for $80/night. I would have taken the tent but it is going to pour down. (Heavy rain warnings for Friday). A unit will be snug and dry, and it has broadband.

I’ve heard though, that they need the motor homes brought back north, so you can just about get them for free if you go one way in that direction. I’ll have to look into that later.

This blog post was extracted from a GTalk conversation. I should write a Talk2Blog plugin for WordPress to do this automagically.