Tongariro Crossing and Mt Maunganui

I originally had a funny and cynical post planned for this about how hard it was for me to finally get to Tongariro and how ridiculous the people I went with were, but instead I'll spare you my bad humour and show you pictures(did I just instinctively type humoUr? oh snap!).

Anyway, the Tongariro Crossing is quickly becoming the most popular day hike in the world. Apparently thousands of people do it per day in the summer. It is pretty freakin' cool, and it's where a lot of the Lord of the Rings was filmed(especially Mordor). Here's a view from the hut we stayed at. I'm obsessed with the tussock in this country.



The next day I escaped the group I was with and did the crossing by myself. Thank god. Here's a picture of the stuff the track is made out of..


Which turns into this. This is what you're walking on most of the way. This or something that resembles a sidewalk. Sometimes tourism makes me angry.






Mt Ngauruhoe behind Mt Tongariro




Emerald Lakes. They're actually emeraldy green. Very cool.



View on the way to the summit of Ngauruhoe(Mt DOOOM!)




The way down from the summit involved lots of amazing scree sliding. And lots of scree in my shoes.




1. Camp Linden, much? 2. Really?



This sunset reminded me of the good old Smokies.



The next weekend I went climbing at Mt Maunganui. Really cool views. Lots of rain. Here's a quick photo of the crag.




That's all for now. My time here is quickly coming to a close. Ben will be here in a few days, we'll be climbing and such for a few days around here, and then I finally venture down to the South Island. Pray to the weather gods.. we're gonna need it. Then I come back and take some easy schmeasy finals. Then Traci will be stopping by for a few days on her way to Australia. And then I need to find something epic to do for a two weeks after that(I changed my flight today for a little later... eek!). I'm thinking being a hippie on an organic farm and hopefully tramping in something that won't be pure rainy shite. And then it's back to the mitt!!!!