Walking on the moon: Tongariro Crossing

Waitangi weekend does not only mean to hear some interesting political disputes about the Maoris and the illegal implementation of the New Zealand law, but also having a longer weekend again. This time, we set off on Friday morning to Waitomo, where we visited the famous glowworm caves. Although I have been in such a cave on the Southern Island, I have never before seen such an impressive cave formed by such oxidants and water. On top of that, the boat trip through the actual glow worm caves was just stunning. But also the rest of our day was an adventure as our drive to Tongariro village wasn't just on normal roads. No, 40 kms on unsealed roads,occasionally decorated from branches, Possums (or what was remaining), and sheep starring dumbly at you: it took us ages to get where we had to get :) However, we settled in our hostel and cooked delicious Pasta before we started a energetic UNO-competition. Having in mind that we were going to walk far the next day we popped into bed early; unfortunately, I didn't sleep very well,as I always had the feeling of missing the alarm clock which was due to go off at 5.30 am. The next morning we started the track at 7.00 am which was really nice as we not only could do the first quarter of the track without too many hikers, but also see the sun rise behind the volcanoes. After two ours we reached the first South Crater, far under the estimated time. So we decided, to try climbing MT Ngauruhoe. I never before saw such a steep mountain where there is not even a pathway. The volcanic rocks, -sometimes fine sand, sometimes big chunks of black lava,- made it quite arduous to climb it. Besides that, falling rocks, rising fog and freezing temperature made us decide to return more than half-way on our way to the summit. It was a pitty, but better safe than sorry and we still had an amazing view all over Tongariro National Park. Going down over the black sand was like skiing, just with other conditions. Once back at the South Crater we continued the normal Crossing with loads of other fellow tourists. Often slowed down by the rest, we had a lot of time to look at the beauty of the Red Crater, the Emerald Lakes and finally Blue Lake before we made our way down. I reckon, that I will never forget this long journey back to the valley, not only because it was long, but also because of the constant smoke that was coming out of the volcanoes. This is so fascinating! Back in Tongariro village,we all could have entered a competition in 'who walks the stiffest?', as everybody had either blisters, sore muscles or of course, painful knees. Having had a shower, we went out for a nice dinner, well deserved. Walking back from the restaurant to the hostel was probably the most entertaining part; we must have looked like being escaped from a old people's home. On Sunday morning we drove to Taupo where we made a short stop to have a coffee and enjoy the view over the white mountains and the crystal-clear water. The drive to Auckland is quite long and so we stopped again at the Hamilton Gardens. Once in Auckland, or to be precise, on my way from the busstop to my homestay, I realised how tired I actually was. The other thing I realized in the morning was, that my muscles somehow didn't enjoy the weekend as much as I did...