From Rotorua to Taranaki (Days 4 - 6)

We reached Lake Taupo about 40 minutes after leaving Rotorua. We hadn't showered properly in a couple of days so we were pretty excited to see the lake, simply for the reason that we might smell a bit better after a swim. The lake was freezing but we had been lucky with the weather which had stayed sunny for the past few days - a rarity in New Zealand. 

The obsessive surfer moved his attention to fishing due to the absence of waves, and we went from shop to shop asking about where/what we were able to fish with the fishing rod that had been sitting in the back unused since we left. After finally choosing a black and gold fish hook thing (which I'm sure has a fishing name) we decided to finish the day watching the sunset on the waterfront with burgers and beer for the obsessive surfer/fisher's birthday.

That night we stayed at a free campground (Urchin campground) which was another hour from the top of the lake, which just demonstrates how massive this lake is (160km in diameter.) Arriving in the dark with Ned's very limited lights guiding us we found a very busy campsite and set our alarms for 5am so as to start the Tongrario Alpine Crossing walk nice and early.

The next day after aiming to start the walk by 6am we finally managed to start at 8am. One of the most well known and well walked tracks in New Zealand the 19.4km track crossed over the top of Mount Tongrario, passing next door to Mount Ngauruhoe (or Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings.) We arrived at the car park feeling vaguely bemused as to the huge amount of professional looking equipment everyone else seemed to have - walking boots, walking sticks, drinking water attached to their backpacks, walking trousers, walking coats etc. In contrast, Thomas was wearing shorts, we were in trainers and had ponchos in case it rained. To say we were not expecting the difficulty of this walk would be an understatement. 

The walk started very flat and the first 4km passed very quickly, we were positively laughing at the amount of preparation everyone else seemed to have done. We then saw a lot of steps appear in the mountain and the ascent began. This first uphill climb took us up next to Mount Ngauruhoe (to get to the summit of which was another 3 hours and which we didn't even consider trying.) 

This was a piece of cake compared to the next section of the walk. We were given a breather crossing a flat section which was most likely a volcano crater. As we climbed up the next part the temperature dropped massively, the wind picked up (until I wouldn't have been surprised if someone had been blown off the top of the volcano) and we were practically climbing up rocks that fell under your feet. We now understood why everyone was dressed as if they were about to climb Mount Everest. The view from the top was worth all the cold and the emerald and blue lakes looked spectacular.

This was the halfway point and therefore time for us to turn around (we had refused to pay $30pp - I repeat $30!!!! - for a shuttle bus to drop us the 15 minute drive from the end back to the start) and so we climbed back down the same way. The descent was arguably even more difficult and ended with me falling over several times (perhaps new balance trainers aren't a great substitute for walking shoes when climbing a mountain?) However, after just over 5 hours we returned to our van in one piece. The walk definitely lived up to all the hype. 

That afternoon we spent having a well deserved rest and Thomas attempted to fish for all of 5 minutes before he lost the black/gold fishing hook thing he had bought the previous day by catching it on a rock bringing his fishing afternoon to a swift end.

That night we stayed in the same campsite, had our usual new flavoured soup (cream of chicken - which was surprisingly nice) and woke up at 5am to begin the trip to New Plymouth in the Taranaki area. The sat nav had told us it would take about 3 hours to get there, so as we were making sure Ned took it very easy due to his senior status, we calculated it would most likely take us 5 (which it did.) We set off and quickly realised that although we had been told not to expect many petrol stations this had now became a reality at a time when our orange petrol light was on and we had forgotten to fill up our emergency petrol can we had bought just for this reason. Fortunately, our panic was short lived and we reached a petrol station within the next 30km, although this was a very tense drive as we both stressed about breaking down at 6am on a road where we had passed absolutely no other vehicles. We very quickly filled up our emergency petrol can and vowed this would not happen again (although it probably will.) 

Reaching the Taranaki area (one of the most famous surf spots in New Zealand) in the afternoon the obsessive surfer took straight to the water (where he planned to spend the next few days.)