What just happened??
The last three days have been a complete blur. Things progressed quickly.
So quickly that this is the only picture I have of Taupo; which is a lovely town nestled on a lake with some stunning views.
Upon arrival, I checked into my hostel, settled in a little bit and made arrangements to do the Tongariro Alpine Crossing the next day. It’s a 6-8 hour trek and on several top 10 lists of best walking tracks in the world. I’d been highly anticipating it, following the forecast for over a week. It snowed within the last few days, and temperatures were as low as -14 C at night. Wild. There were some deaths recently as well, so it was kind of vital to pick a good spot. It was looking good, so I reserved a place on the morning shuttle (5:20am pick up — yowzers) and even convinced an Irish girl checking in to pull the trigger as well.
After that was all settled, I went to meet up with Rob, a German traveler I met back in Paihia. He was on his way out of town later in the day but we strolled around the lake. We had a solid chat about our respective careers and how difficult it is to manage multiple social media platforms while on the road. We made plans to reconvene in Wellington and ferry over to the South Island together on the weekend.
After we parted ways, I went grocery shopping for the first time while here. It made me feel like a true traveler but I went overboard and it still didn’t really save me from spending money on beer so it’s a work in progress.
I prepared lunch and snacks to take on the walk and fixed myself dinner. I’m appreciating the communal tables at hostels because it encourages socializing. Had a decent chat with a small group of people and then went back to my room to pack my bag for the hike. It was only 9:30pm but there were already two people in bed for the night so now I was the dick making a bunch of disruptive noise with clothing and zipping. Dammit. Did my best to sort it all out so all I had to do was wake up and go.
My god. I slept like dog shit
It was a mixture of anticipation, a rock hard mattress and a fingernail-thin pillow. That alarm was a son of a bitch. Made a bunch more accidental noise before grabbing a quick breakfast and hopping on the shuttle with a handful of other people from the hostel.
It was a long, dark, hour-long ride out to Tongariro National Park. There was kind of a combined air of anxiety and excitement over how challenging the crossing would be. One sure thing was that it was moody as hell with the sun still rising and a layer of clouds being stubborn about burning off.
A small group of 4 assembled as walking partners: myself, Emma, the Irish girl, and Coen and Luuc, two individual travelers both from The Netherlands. We started at a breakneck pace but it was the beginning and the easiest part of the whole track. Gave me a chance to get to know Coen who’s a cool dude.
The fog began to clear as everybody’s pace set the order. The first difficult section was an ascent called The Devil’s Staircase. And oof. I started thinking, “Damn, we’re this close to the beginning and my legs are already wobbly. Probably dehydrated. Not smart on my part. Oops. Oh great, only 14 more kilometers to go.” Tight.
We died a few times. Then we climbed some more. Then we made excuses to take a break — gotta put on sunscreen real quick. Then we climbed some more. Hey, need to pull over to shed some layers. Climb. Water? Good idea. Climb. Contemplate life choices. Climb.
Fiiiiiinally.
Oh shit, this isn’t even the summit. But at least it was a simpler stretch of track. And actually a stellar valley of snow nestled between two giant mountains. It was interesting to see the silhouettes of a few people up in the distance against a white backdrop. Breathtaking.
Next was another challenging, but thankfully shorter, ascent up a slippery embankment. I’d get to a point where I didn’t think my legs could lift high enough to reach the foot hold, then slip a little, catch myself, and keep going.
Out of breath. All kinds of back sweat. Straight knackered and heavily in need of a snack.
It was the summit at last. To the right – Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings; in front – a red crater; to the left – a hairy downhill of snow and loose gravel reaching a silky blue sulfur lake…called Blue Lake. It was one of those euphoric sights where you have to mind your emotions as to not be too giddy.
I mean, that’s how I live. You’ve met me.
Also, one misstep and you’d be sliding a few thousand feet into a crater, so yeah. Plus I already climbed my ass off and I didn’t have a spare one in my backpack.
It was really dicey on the way down to the lake. I felt like I was skiing with the amount of skidding and carving I was doing to remain upright. Intense.
Again, the view down there was amazing. The smell on the other hand was brutal. Take about a thousand rotten eggs (or just one of my farts) and that was it. Surprisingly, the setting was enough to make you forget about the stench.
Everything was beautiful. And then it was time to climb another snowy hill toward the long descent. It was about a three-hour journey down a windy path. There were a few parts where we had to go up some stairs and my hamstrings were just like fuck you, man.
A quad cramp. A sandwich. And about 15,000 steps later, we were at the bottom.
I cracked a beer that I carried all 19.4km and still had enough energy to survive every jealous look.
On the shuttle ride home pretty much everybody passed out which was funny to witness. So many bobbing heads.
Back at the hostel, the guy at the front desk asked us how it was and all that. Then he’s like, by the way this rafting company called, they’re doing a promotional trip tomorrow and there are still 4 spots available. I was thinking, $15 off isn’t really going to pique my interest, but then he said FREE. Ballin.
It was an all day trip where they’d be shooting a promo video and some pictures. For a moment, I almost declined since it was going to eat up the whole day. That would’ve been monumentally stupid. I signed up and changed my departing bus so I could still do some stuff around town.
Very happy that I did. A fun group of 10 from the hostel went.
It was just us and our guides, broken into two rafts. There was a third boat floating behind with the photographer and videographer.
We got so lucky. The package we experienced was a $145 value. We did have to slow down or stop a few extra times so they could set up equipment and decide on shots but it was all good. I gave a video testimonial, so we’ll see if I’m in some online promo or brochure some time in the future.
What a day though. The weather was perfect. The water and scenery were spectacular. You could see a ton of trout swimming upstream to spawn. It was beautiful. I think I was the only person that had been rafting before and it was also on level 3 rapids. Such an enjoyable time. I sat in the action seat in the front of the boat for half of the trip and almost got bounced out when we slammed into a rock but that was all part of the fun.
After we finished, we even got taken to a thermal pool to have a soak and then got soup and bread to end the day. Oh, and a free T-shirt and all pictures. What a deal. Made some awesome connections and had a blast.
With my final few hours in town the next day, I decided to rent a mountain bike and ride a Grade 2 trail up to the popular waterfall nearby. It was a three-hour return walk, so I figured by bike I could scoot out there, take some photos and have enough time to enjoy the hot springs before grabbing my stuff and making it to catch my bus.
Welp. I was wrong about that.
Let me reiterate, the mountain bike track was classified as Grade 2. On any scale, that shouldn’t really be a problem. A combination of heavy legs from the crossing, a bike that was shifting whenever it wanted (primarily on uphills), and a seat made of stone and torture, it was quite an embarrassing performance.
Getting out to the falls was ok. I only had one or two points where I had to hop off and get up to the next peak.
The way back was a disaster. There were a few moments where I was worried about missing my bus. At a minimum, having to sit in all my sweat and subject a bus load of people to that for six hours. And possibly have to stand the whole ride because of how punished my cheeks felt.
Thankfully, I had just enough time to bathe in a frenzy and scramble to the stop to find out the bus was delayed by 30 minutes. Lolz.
It was a whirlwind few days in Taupo. A lot of highs and a single low – fuckin bike number 4.
Boarding the bus was a relief because I was ready for a nap. But it was also bittersweet because things had been so solid in this unassuming town.
Regardless, I was off to Wellington to experience some capital city life.
