Tuesday 28^th January 2003
As we are leaving today we see a kingfisher on the post ahead of us. These seem to be more common here than at home and don't always seem very close to water.

Today we move on from Te Kuiti to Bellbird Lodge, Turangi which is nearly on the southern shore of Lake Taupo, and proclaims itself as "The Trout Fishing Capital of the World" (how do they know that?). Our main reason for coming here is to walk the Tongariro Crossing - probably NZ's best day walk or so the brochure says. When we make our intentions known our host offers an Early Bird bus service ($30) that will drop Pete at one end and pick him up at the other, leaving the hostel at 0630. We book this for the next day on the understanding that if the weather is not good we can transfer to another day.

Bellbird Lodge lives up to our expectations. It was recommended by at least two people we have met and even though the BPP rating is relatively low (76%) we decided to go for it. It is actually now three separate houses but we are in the original house. The house is fairly small with 6 double/twin rooms (no dorms) and proves to have the right balance for mixing with people. This is now the 22nd hostel in which we have stayed and we feel quite at home with the system. We are effectively staying in one long sequential "home", and freely talk of going home at the end of a day - regardless of where it is tonight. Hostels are not perfect - indeed the more perfect ones are often less comfortable - and they certainly wouldn't suit everyone. There is definitely a need to make do with what is available, without fuss, and require an ability to mix with the type of people who travel. We are here for 10 weeks, but this is not a long time amongst the people we have met. Some have shorter periods but most are at least as long with some talking about 9 months to a year. The reason we are all here is that the only way for us to afford such long stays and keep the flexibility to move around is by keeping our costs to a minimum for both accommodation and food.

After settling in we went to the Information Centre where we collected some brochures (including local walks) and checked the weather forecast. The indications were that it was bad today but would improve over the next 3 days. Tomorrow is fine spells but cloud and some rain with strong winds, the next day lower winds, higher freezing level and fine. Pete decides to postpone his trip for a day and this afternoon we will go off to the Tokaanu Thermal area for a short walk and then onto the National Trout Centre. The thermal area is a walk adjacent to some public thermal bathing pools, that leads through some bush and around a variety of steaming ponds and spluttering, gloobing mud pools. It is quite fascinating and the first time Glyn has seen anything like this.

On our way to the Trout Centre, Glyn checks the brochure and finds it is closed so we divert to the Adventure Mini Golf for round 3 of the NZ Challenge. Another excellent course with the holes modelled on local features and attractions. Many of the holes have a short cut to the pin that if missed diverts the ball around a longer route, and water flows throughout. We are presented with very professional (handed) putters but there seems to be something wrong with Glyn's (surprise, surprise). Like Julia Robert's opera glasses in Pretty Woman: "mine are broken"! Pete ignores her for the first two holes but then offers to swap and finds that her putter is indeed bent and we get a new one. But its no good, she says she has been put off. 3-0 to Pete!

After dinner we get free cake. Supposedly the deal is that if we clear up then we get rewarded - but in fact the cake arrives long before the clearing up is done. As the night falls and the lights go on we are invaded with mosquitoes - of the biting kind! Apparently they are bad here because we are near the river/lake. Maybe this is why Turangi avoids being actually on either.

A walker returning from the Crossing says that the weather was terrible. A number of people turned back after starting and several didn't even get out of the bus. It was freezing cold.

Wednesday 29^th January 2003
While Pete is talking to Clint (the owner, wife Janeve) about connecting the laptop he spots a fishing rod and enquires about fishing locally. He is presented with a rod, told where to get a licence and shown where to fish. So with Glyn in tow he sets off to the Info Centre and buys said licence for NZ$12.50, then on to fish at the end of the power station tailrace. There are only limited places to get to the water as the banks are lined with rushes, but Pete does fish for an hour or two but with no luck. However, another fisherman with waders does catch a large trout not so very far away so we are not discouraged. The licence allows us to keep up to 3 trout and each must be over 45cm in length - that has got to be twice the size of any fish that Pete has ever caught! The trout here are a mixture of Rainbow, Brown, and some Brook. We go "home" for lunch.

After lunch we decide to make a closer examination of our objective and make our postponed trip to the Trout Centre. This is a good visit to an important hatchery. Wild trout are captured from a local river and their eggs extracted, fertilised, and raised before the young fish are sent off to fisheries around the country. The Centre was set up to protect the local fishery in case it was affected by the construction of the power station, or of volcanic activity. As soon as we arrive we cross a stream that has several very large specimens swimming free, and at the end of the tour we descend to an underwater observatory where the glass magnifies the already large fish into monsters. We are puzzled by the red colouring on their flanks and gill covers.

From the Trout Centre we go on to a walk along the Tongariro River. This is one of the best trout rivers in the world and was popular with Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother when she was Duchess of York. One of the pools is named after her - Duchess Pool. There are many fly-fishermen fishing in idyllic conditions with every possibility of landing trout of up to 10lbs. Even Pete is tempted to learn how to fish with the fly.

Home for dinner, then Pete is off to fish until dark. Great perseverance is finally rewarded! Pete lands a trout. Unfortunately as it is only about 15cm it has to be released - some would say "just desserts" for fishing with a spinner! On his way home he calls into a garage. We have a new mechanical problem - the windscreen wiper blade seems to have disintegrated. Unlike the UK you can actually buy just the piece of rubber and in trying to find the right size Pete discovers that in fact all that has happened is that the rubber has pulled out - so he puts it back and hey presto all is OK again.

Another walker returning from the Crossing had better weather but again said how very cold it had been, Pete obviously has to take plenty of warm gear.

Thursday 30^th January 2003
This is the day for the fabled Crossing. The bus is arriving at 0630 so the alarm is set for 0545. After a big breakfast Pete sets off. It takes about 45 minutes to finish picking up passengers and drive to the Mangatepopo road end where the west to east traverse begins. We are issued with "maps" (printed brochures) and our driver gives us a quick run through of what to expect along the way. He says, "enjoy", the weather is as good as it gets. Then we are off. The sky is totally clear and it is obviously going to be a scorcher. Pete has all his cold weather gear! Most people seem to head for the loo (there are not going to be many opportunities) so Pete finds himself leading the way. However, when he stops for some relief himself and to remove two layers of clothing, two walkers pass him and he follows them first to Soda Springs and then up the "Devil's Staircase" (an ascent of about 300m). Having caught the Early Bird bus there is no-one ahead of us, except two couples that we pass who must have either stayed overnight or used there own transport - this is tricky as it is a one-way route with a big road distance between the ends. The crossing itself is 17km.

At the top of the staircase and before South Crater we turn south and begin the ascent of Mt Ngauruhoe. The brochure says: "The Ngauruhoe Summit (2287m). Side Track. Grade Very Challenging. The 2500-year-old, near perfect cone of Mount Ngauruhoe entices many visitors to its summit. Relatively quiet since 1975, this parasitic cone of Mount Tongariro is traditionally one of New Zealand's most active volcanoes. Allow an extra 2 hrs." A good 2 hours too! We have to ascend about 700m. Apart from one rocky outcrop running vertically for about ? of the ascent this is all scree - very much a 2 steps up 1 step slipped back procedure. It is definitely best to get onto the outcrop as soon as possible and follow it as far as it goes. The gradient is an almost constant STEEP all the way and it took us about an hour and a quarter. But it was well worth the effort. Arrive on an outer crater rim with steam rising from a number of vents. Walk around this then cross to an inner crater rim and surprised to find an almost perfect, fairly deep crater, with over-hanging edges (icicles hanging off). Clouds have built up around about but they are lower than we are and nearby the sky is clear. There are excellent views of Mt Ruapehu, the largest volcano in the area, to the south. In the west (150km away) Mt Taranaki stands out clearly above the cloud. Guess that mountains to the east are on the East Cape. North Island mountains are quite isolated in complete contrast to South Island. After maybe 45 minutes, begin the descent. This is tricky to begin with as there are many people coming up and don't want to start rocks tumbling down on them, but eventually get onto excellent soft scree to the right of the outcrop (looking down) and are able to "run" most of the way. A very rapid descent and quite painless!

Then it is back onto the main track and across South Crater. This is a totally flat area of what looks like yellow sand, which steams gently around us. It occurs that one wouldn't have wanted to be here not so very long ago (geologically speaking anyway). Then the path ascends again for about another 300m. Before reaching Red Crater there is a turn off to: "The Tongariro Summit (1967m) Side Track. Grade Relatively Easy. Taking 1½ hr return from the main track." Actually the sign on the track says 2 hours and if it really does then there may not be enough time to catch the bus home. Pete decides to start and see how it goes. It takes only ½ hr and so the summit is reached. Actually isn't a lot of point doing this diversion although there are good views across South Crater to Mt Ngauruhoe which is looking quite massive from here. Unfortunately some cloud blows in between before Pete can get a good photo, doh!

Back to the main track again and the Red Crater. This is the highest point of the track at 1886m. The Red Crater is amazing and … red! This is a fairly small crater and is open on one side where it leads down to the Emerald Lakes that can be seen from here but become more open as the track descends. Again steam rises from various places. The Emerald Lakes are three beautiful green lakes lying below the crater. The descent from the top of the crater is fairly steep over fine scree but is not difficult to descend. Lots of people are resting/relaxing around the lake edges.

The track then leads across the Central Crater which is very similar to the South Crater - again steam rises gently over wide areas - before making a final short ascent to the largest crater lake which we had seen from various vantage points through the day. This lake is a more normal colour and therefore less striking. From here it is steadily downhill to the Ketetahi Hut where there are loos and drinking water, and then again to the Ketetahi road end - the last part through bush and some welcome shade. Pete manages to arrive with 5 minutes to spare for the 3.30pm bus - very footsore and tired, but pleased with his achievement.