Day Four – Thursday 15 April – Tongariro Alpine Crossing
The Crossing is one of the most famous hikes in New Zealand – about 20km through the volcanic Tongariro National Park.  I set my alarm for 5:00am but actually woke up at 4:30 when Ian walked into my room – surprise, good morning!  We checked that the weather conditions were okay, had breakfast, and then caught our shuttle (Tongariro National Park is about half an hour from Turangi).  Our shuttle driver, Kevin, was really cool – he had a giant beard and was like a cool old mountain man, and he told us to call him Karehana.  We began the Crossing at the Mangatepopo starting point sometime between 6:30 and 7:00.  It was freezing (Anne and I were wearing every piece of clothing/gear we’d brought) and almost completely misty at that point, but Karehana told us that would probably lift within an hour or so.  The first part of the trek was rocky but mostly flat, with a little bit of climbing here and there.  Then we got to this big open flat basin and the mist totally cleared so we could see that we were right at the base of Ngahuroe, also known as MOUNT DOOM!  I’m telling you, that is one crazy big mountain (it’s actually a live volcano)… I don’t know how Sam and Frodo did it.  There was a sign that told us we were about to begin the part of the Crossing known as The Devil’s Staircase, and it said “Consider Turning Back”… so that was encouraging.  That part was some pretty strenuous climbing up crumbly volcanic rock, and we’d taken off a bunch of layers by the top.  After that, we got to this huge flat mud plain that was this weird beige color, and the mist came back in so we couldn’t see more than a few feet in any direction.  It felt like we were on Venus or something (I’m just guessing… I don’t actually know what being on Venus is like).  The next part was the toughest stretch of the Crossing – a steep, rocky, windy climb up to the peak.  As always, the view was worth it once we made it up; we could see Ngahuroe, the Red Crater, and the Emerald Lakes.

Tongariro is very volcanic and there’s a lot of sulfur in the environment, so there are these crazy colors that don’t seem like they would occur in nature.  We had to slide down this really steep scree slope to get to the Emerald Lakes, did a little more climbing, and then started the general descent, which was all switchbacks through the grassy mountains, by ravines and cliffs and over streams.  It was amazing how different the Crossing was from section to section – we went through so many different landscapes.  Anyway, our return shuttle was going to leave from the endpoint at 2:30pm and we were doing really well on time, so Anne and I took a long break at Ketetahi hut to escape from the freezing rain which was gracing us with its presence by that point (also made quite a dent in the giant bag of trail mix I’d brought).  The last kilometer or so of the trail was typical NZ rainforest, and we got to the end with about half an hour to spare.  By the time we got back to the hostel, we were pretty tired, so we had a very relaxing rest of the day.  Anne and I both took naps and then watched Seven with some other people in the lounge, which was sort of difficult because Ian’s eight-year-old son Jackson and his little kitten Lucy were both there and the complete opposite of tired – they were also not shy about jumping on people they didn’t know (like me).  We had dinner that evening, and then Ian told us that there was a hot tub Anne and I could go in, which sounded sooo perfect after a full day of hiking!  Unfortunately, he’d only turned it on right when he told us, so it hadn’t quite heated up all the way and in fact would have been more accurately advertised as a wetsuit jacuzzi, but we didn’t have any of those.  We decided it was time for bed after we’d both fallen asleep in the hot tub – I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to get into bed!

We were going to head back down, but then we saw the Sky Swing (same thing as the Sky Coaster at Great Escape) and Parker really wanted to do it, so we did!  It was definitely better than the one at Great Escape because when you dropped, you swung way out over the mountainside instead of over a bunch of sweaty people and funnelcake stands.  We took the gondola back down and went to Te Puia, a Māori cultural center and natural hot springs park.  We got there right in time to see the big Pohuto geyser erupt, which was really cool.  There were also boiling mud pools, which were really bizarre but pretty neat.  After that, we had a great dinner at a place in downtown Rotorua, drove home, and didn’t stay awake long after such a busy day.  It was definitely one of the best days of my trip; I got to see so many uniquely New Zealand places and things.

Sunday morning, we had a delicious breakfast of bacon, eggs, tomatoes, toast, passionfruit, and of course, tea!  Parker took me out to the barn and showed me how to shear a sheep – he even let me try it, but I will probably not be pursuing it as a career and I think all the sheep in the world will thank me for that.  Then he took me up to the highest point of their farm on the four-wheeler – I feel like the phrase “incredible view” is way overused in my descriptions of New Zealand, but I just don’t know what else there is to say.  Magical worlds collide.  My bus left Te Awamutu late that morning, and it was surprisingly sad to say goodbye to Parker and Barbara – it had really felt like staying with family!  However, hobbits awaited, so I had to journey on.  It was less than two hours to Matamata, where I was staying in a sleepout (little guest house) on a lady named Connie’s property.  It was such a cool little beachy bungalow, and Connie had the most beautiful gardens around her entire back yard.  It was a gorgeous sunny day in the 80s, so I walked back into town, got some hokey pokey ice cream from the Manly Milk Bar, and explored for a couple of hours.  Matamata is such a neat little town, and OH P.S. IT’S HOBBITON.  I went on a Hobbiton tour that afternoon – it was such a touristy thing to do, but I didn’t even care because it was sooo awesome!  There were only three of us on the tour because it was the latest time available: me, an older Australian woman who gave new meaning to the phrase “fanatic,” and a guy from San Francisco who looked hilariously like Peter Jackson.  Our tour guide was named Benji and reminded me so much of Leo.  He put zinc oxide on his nose before we started walking.  That didn’t necessarily remind me of Leo, it’s just a fact.  First, we drove out to the Alexander family’s sheep farm (the location of Hobbiton) and got to see… a sheep shearing!  Totally old hat for me.  Luckily for the sheep, nobody offered to let me shear this time.  Then I got to feed a wee little lamb!  After that we actually got to walk around Hobbiton.  It was so crazy to actually be walking around where the movies had been filmed.  I could have been standing in Billy Boyd’s footprints and not even known it – aah!  It didn’t look exactly like in the movies because a lot of it has been returned to its natural state, and there is some construction going on since filming for The Hobbit is going to begin pretty soon!  We saw Bilbo’s party tree, the lake, Bag End, and a bunch of other hobbit holes.  It was so cool; I was pretty much on Lord of the Rings dork overload.  By the way, don’t tell anyone I told you any of this, because I actually signed a contract swearing me to secrecy.  Oops.