TONGARIRO
TAMA LAKES'
CROSSING
The number of unpredictable changes that made my day!
It all started back in Auckland. I scheduled one bus transportation to Tongariro National Park on Monday to do the famous crossing on Tuesday and then get back on Wednesday. Well, sometimes, things do not follow your plans. My ticket, for starters, said that the departure time was 10:10am when actually the bus came on 9:10am! A system error occurred just with me, in that exact date!
No worries... I called the company (NakedBus) and they rescheduled my trip to Wednesday, so now the crossing was moved to Thursday I would get back on Friday. The last thing was to also reschedule the hostel (YHA) that I was staying and pray for not pay any fees, which, fortunately, I didn't!
So, on Wednesday, I took the bus. Almost 5 hours to get to National Park, passing by Taupo city, which is always nice to visit with the beautiful Huka Falls and outstanding Lake Taupo.
Finally, at 4:45pm I got to the National Park. I was starving! Luckily there was a coffee shop close to the hostel and I ate one of the best sandwiches of my life! Also, met one guy from Uruguay who was doing Medicine school here in NZ, quite nice fellow. After that, I came to my room to organize my stuff and then I had nothing else to do but wait the next day.
The second surprise of the trip was also one of the most important. In the hostel, on Wednesday night, I met 3 Brazilians that were in the same program as me (Science Without Borders) and they came from Australia on their break making a 2 weeks trip along NZ. André, Eduardo and Zé (father of Eduardo). They invited me to have dinner with them and get to know better each other.
Now, remember when I said before that things don't work the way you planned? Yeah...
In the very next day, Thursday, after I rented boots and pants for the Tongariro Crossing, it came the sad news... it was closed due to the wind of over 80km/h in some parts of the track. I gotta say, what a disappointment! I came all the way there to nothing! Wait... not exactly!
See, the Brazilians that I met in the night before had a car and invited me to go with them to a close village (Whakapapa Village). There we decided to do another crossing and see the Lakes Tamas, and I've got to say, risking being criticized, it is probably more beautiful than the Tongariros! Who has done the other can confirm for me after seeing the following video (at the top) and Photos:
- Thermal Waterproof Pants
- Sportive Pants
- Two Underwear
- Two socks (preference is for long ones!)
- Pair of boots
- Bonnet + two layers of clothes, light and for cold
- Waterproof Jacket
- Sneaks (peanuts, cereal bars and sandwiches)
- Camera
Being prepared is the key. The Knock-Head here forgot to bring long socks and afforded to hurt the heels, that luckily, I hadn't. Make use of meteorological services like MetService also assists a lot! Then, is just walking and enjoying the view and company. If it is sunny and it is not winter, all the clothing might not be as much of a necessity. In a lot of moments, I spent feeling hot.
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Our trip continues!
See ya!
