Venturing Through A Volcano

by Carys Reid-Davies (United Kingdom (Great Britain))

A leap into the unknown New Zealand

Surround yourself with people who make you hungry for life and keep your soul happy. That’s my motto in life and what better way to do that than to travel? It’s a community full of like minded people who love life and experiencing different cultures. I’ve been lucky enough to go to India, Sri Lanka, China, Africa and countless other special countries but I’d never made it to New Zealand. Now whilst it wasn’t exactly a culture shock (I mean it is a westernised country after all), I did have the experience of a lifetime driving a camper van (who we named Carol) round the south and north island for three weeks. Bunjy jumps in Queenstown, Sky Dives over Franz Josef Glacier and jumping into waterfalls; there were some seriously high octane activities (sorry for giving you countless heart attacks mum and dad)! The one day that really stood out, however, was our hike along the Tongariro Crossing ... a 20KM eight hour scramble through a volcano (were we mad? I think so)! We stayed at a great campsite opposite ‘Snowzone The Alpine Centre’ where you could hire hiking boots and a return shuttle to the crossing and back (this cost £20 but you don’t really have a choice as the hike takes between 6 and 8 hours and you can only park at the crossing for a maximum of 4)! With our bags full of litres of water and energy bars, we set off. It was a gorgeous day with bright sunshine so the first hour was fab (mostly flat and on a path so we were feeling optimistic)! The second hour was a game changer though. The lovely flat path transformed into a very steep vertical hill and round every corner we were met with signs saying the worst was yet to come (very reassuring right)! Being the troopers we are we pushed through and could now see the volcano crater in all its glory. It was seriously impressive, if not also slightly unnerving as we’d been told it could erupt at any point! Thankfully we were spared a lava explosion. The third hour continued much the same except we now had no path, just loose rocks which gave us no choice but to quite literally straddle over the gigantic boulders. We did, however, finally make it to the top (victory)! Or at least we thought it was a victory; we were faced with a whole new challenge now. As we assessed the decent below what we saw could only be described as pure carnage. It was effectively a downhill ski slope covered in sand, rock and ash with people losing their footing left right and centre. Brilliant. We cautiously made it down (without a single slip may I add) and were now at the gorgeous emerald pools which the Tongariro Crossing is most well known for. Shame no one ever warns you about the smell of rotten eggs that all the sulphur produces but we sucked it up and appreciated the view. After lunch it was time to carry on and the downhill decent was actually my favourite part. It only took us a couple hours and the sun came back out so it was really enjoyable. The first part was through lush mountain terrain with bushes and crickets making it sound as if there was an electric current shooting through the grass. However, towards the end we entered proper jungle terrain with water gushing past us (some serious Jungle Book vibes). We finally made it (and comfortably within 7 hours)! Having started at 9:40AM we finished at 4:15PM (an impressive 6 hours and 35 mins). As high fived in excitement the shuttle arrived to pick us up (now is that precision timing or what)! It’s safe to say it was a hell of achievement and we all slept like logs that night. So if there’s one thing I learnt from New Zealand it was that the Tongariro Crossing is an absolute must and definite activity for the bucket list!