Before I embarked on my voyage to New Zealand I took upon an ambitious plan to walk, or as kiwi’s would say, tramp all 9 of the great walks of NZ during the one year I was to live there. The great walks are diverse trekking routes that pass through some of the most amazing scenery in this country. They usually take between 2-5 days to finish and are all very well maintained by NZ’s Department of Conservation, but enough of boring facts for now.
I am here to tell you about my first walk that I completed: The Tongariro Northern Circuit.
Unlike the very popular one day 20 km long Tongariro Crossing, the Northern Circuit is 43 km long and usually takes 3 days to finish (that is how long it took me as well). The start of the trek is in the Whakapapa village at the foot of volcano Ruapehu. You have a choice of doing it clockwise or counterclockwise. I went for the first option.
The hardest and most challenging day on the whole route was the first day. You ask why? Because I simply overdid it. Apart from photography equipment that already weights at least 6 kg I also carried my sleeping bag, matt, clothes and food for the next 3 days as well as water. Because I knew that the weather conditions are going to be the best on the first day I made a conscious decision to skip the first hut and walk straight on to the second one. I ended up walking half of the route on the first day and by the time I got to the Oturere camping site I had tears in my eyes.
I woke up at 5 in the morning on that day to drive from Taupo to Whakapapa, where I started the trek at 7. I arrived at the campsite almost 12 hours later. I don’t recommend anyone doing the same thing, unless you are really fit, which I am not. The only hiking I have done prior to this one, was a short trek in Erawan National Park in Thailand and walking up Mount Eden in Auckland, but they were nowhere near as difficult as the Tongariro Northern Circuit.
Looking back at it now though, I don’t regret the decision, because I got to see the highlight of the trek: emerald lakes and the blue lake, as well as the perfectly shaped Ngauruhoe volcano, which served as the stand-in for Mount Doom in the famous Lord Of The Rings Trilogy.
If I waited until the next day, I would have seen nothing due to bad weather, and for a LOTR geek like me, that would have been a real bummer.
Looking back at it now though, I don’t regret the decision, because I got to see the highlight of the trek: emerald lakes and the blue lake, as well as the perfectly shaped Ngauruhoe volcano, which served as the stand-in for Mount Doom in the famous Lord Of The Rings Trilogy.
If I waited until the next day, I would have seen nothing due to bad weather, and for a LOTR geek like me, that would have been a real bummer.
The second day was rather easy. I only trekked 7 km from Oturere hut to Waihohonu hut. Considering I’d done half of the circuit on the first day I got a well-deserved rest on the second day before tackling the last part of the journey. The weather conditions were still pretty good except gusts of wind, which I sometimes thought are going to blow me off, but luckily there were no steep ridges to climb on, so I felt pretty secure.
The last day the weather changed completely. It rained from the moment I set off until the moment I got back to the village – 14 km – non stop. I arrived at the visitor center as wet as a drowned rat and I just sat down in one of the chairs inside and stared blankly at the wall for few minutes, tired but proud of myself for completing the first great walk. I truly hope the next ones will be easier.
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