Although we are flying the coop soon, we will never be finished experiencing all this wonderful country has to offer and the Tongariro Alpine Crossing has always been on our list.
We’ll never see enough of our own backyard but we’re gonna give a good try.
With only weeks to go before we depart NZ, we travelled to the centre of the North Island to traverse the mighty Mt Tongariro.
We were of average fitness. We’d done a few training walks in our hiking boots and we managed to complete the walk within 7 hours. This included stops for photos, lunch and snacks. The trek is 21 km in total.
I’d recommend getting the first shuttle at around 6.30am from your National Park accommodation.
We were incredibly lucky to have a clear day after the track had been closed the day before due to high winds.
Dress for all weather! We were in full layers, hats gloves by the time we got to the summit. On the way back down we could strip off to single layers so you really do need to be prepared.
The accommodation was at the Park Hotel, Mt Ruapehu where the shuttle picked us up early the next morning and met us again at the end of the trek.
It was a truly magical hike and one that I would fully recommend to anyone. I would also recommend that you put in some training as there is some serious hill climbs near the top.
Click on the link below to see some of our highlights of the trek.