Tongariro Crossing and Dr. Lim turns 64!

Something I've wanted to do since before we even came was the Tongariro Crossing. The biggest problem was just what to do with Dexter since he wasn't allowed on the trail as far as I could tell (we later confirmed w/ signs leading up to the trailhead). Then Jacqui's parents came to town and our problems were solved! Jacqui's mom was happy to take Dexter for the day so we were able to do the hike without worrying at all about him. :)

It also happened to be Dr. Lim's 64th birthday, so taking him on a 20km hike 3 days after our half marathon seemed like a great present to him from us. :) Overall it was a super awesome day hike with the one exception of being crowded by school children of all ages! Totally didn't expect that... Lots of weird conversations overhead all day. On the downward slope on the far side of the mountain crossing I just had enough and had to pass a few of them and do a little down hill trail run, something that felt great until I got stuck behind people again and had to slow to a walk which quickly degraded into a slow limp down the rest of the trail. Perhaps it was just too close to the half marathon afterall. :)

Muy thanks to Jacqui's mom for taking care of Dexter for the day! He was sad about no dogs allowed on the trail. :(

Overall one of the best things we've done in New Zealand so far! I'm so glad I got Jacqui and her dad interested in it and they were too! What follows is the most pictures in one blog post that we've done yet, but we feel they're all worth being displayed here. Everything was just so amazing and pretty and unlike home/Earth!

Hope you enjoy!

The night before we did the hike we went out for dinner and they had this neat display up showing the crossing.

Hey! That's Mount Doom.

Everything was so picturesque! Mt Ruapehu, the active volcano with all the ski fields

Doomy! We should totally photoshop some fireballs into this.

Here goes nothing!

Quite the elevation profile there. The longest hike I've been on, for sure.

The trail was pretty nice and well maintained. Definitely helped the experience since so many people were on the trail, it would be easy for this to fall into a bad state.

Dr. Su-Chong Lim looking pretty good on his 64th birthday!

The trail started out pretty empty, but we caught up to the kids fairly soon. Sunshine galore too, jeez, what a nice day!

Jacqui's best gollum impression... MY PRECIOUS.

We love these self-shots. We'll have a nice collection after this trip!

Ok, here's where we need to add the fireballs!

200 pictures, still looks doomy.

One of the few water features on the mountain... mostly quite dry today!

Sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows.. dah dah dah. That song was in my head all day, so sunny!

The lava features were pretty outstanding.

One of the earlier info signs. Note it basically calls you out to run faster than a ridiculously fast lava flow to survive.

Can you guess what this mountain was used as in Lord of the Rings? You guessed it! Saruman's house. Er, no, wait, Mount Doom!

What was once a large crater lake is now a large flat dust bowl.

Two dudes in a dust bowl.

Time to stop for a rocky lunch! Hmm, why's it smell like urine here?

Not a place for your hat to fall off at! Or as one schoolgirl discovered, a place to lose your camera bag... Whoosh! Too cool.

Nothing like sucking back on some pickled mussel juice. Om nom...

Dr. Lim loved this stuff. Moss and lichen dominated the trail.

This was some of the only life we saw up there. Maybe a few flies around the common breaking points too.

When the Doom hits your eye like a big pizza pie, it's amore...

The now classic "Mount Doom Pose" done in the shadow of Mount Doom. Forever Egyptian.

Jacqui tries to improve on the Mount Doom Pose.

What a view! We could see all the way to Mount Taranaki from Tongariro! A rare rare sight! That's over  3 hours drive away! We totally wanted to see it too but it was too far. YAY!

The colours got pretty amazing in places. This is the top of Mount Doom/Ngauruhoe and some fumaroles spewing out steam at the top.

Looking east down some great lava flows.

It's amazing that all these rocks were deposited like this after an epic explosion.

Can you imagine that boulder raining down post-eruption?

Poles mark the path when it's not super obvious. It'd be an interesting winter hike for sure.

Jacqui and Su-Chong cresting another hill out of the crater w/ Ngauruhoe dooming around in the background.

One last shot of Taranaki off a couple hundred kms away. One of the highlights for sure. What a day!

When the clouds did appear it was only to make for epic photography.

I think this is possibly my favouritest panorama shot ever. The emerald lakes on the left, red crater in the middle, and Mount Doom closing things off on the right. Couldn't get any better!

Oh nice! Our first sign of lake Taupo on the other side. We're at the highest point on the hike now.

Jacqui fell into the red crater, never to be seen again.....

Just awesome how torn up the landscape can look.

More steam just emanating from hard to see fumaroles in the volcano. Su-Chong warms his hands.

Descending down to the lunching masses at emerald lakes.

Pretty steep! It was much easier just running down the scree.

Or you could get towed too if you had a really nice parent along as a chaperone.

Ridiculous how awesome these colours were.

They almost look fake in the middle of this crazy landscape. Perhaps we're on Venus?

Who's looking good?! We are! Almost time for the hat though!

Green lake! Less excitingly coloured, but the sign of the end of the volcano fun and time for the big descent!

Not before looking around at what we've done though. Look at that lava field!

That's where we were! Riiiiight there!

Hmm, there was a great name for this pose. White Crane returns to Volcano? Oh noes... I might need to update this one later.

Lake Rotoaira in the front and Taupo in the back.

Oh my god, we have so much more path to do! We're only half way! :(

At least there's steps. Here's where peoples' knees get the most abuse though.

Finally out of the sun. Almost there, must be! No, wait, 3km more in the forest before the car park. Zomg.

Another great example of the well maintained path system though. What a great walk!!