End of the New Zealand Travels

Well friends and family, my travels are done for my New Zealand portion of my holiday! It has been a great year and I have done things and seen things that I never thought I would. And now, I am off to see Australia and what it has to offer, if only for a few weeks. But, instead of waste my last few days getting ready to leave this wonderful country, I took one of the greatest hikes in the world that I have lived only 1 hour from for the past 3 months. It is called the Tongariro Crossing and is about an 8 hour hike, 17 km, through a few mountains. It is more popular to do it in the summer-time so there is no snow, but we did it with the snow and it was awesome. It starts out with a walk through a lava-formed valley next to an active volcano, called Mt. Ngauruhoe, better known to people as Mt. Doom, from Lord of the Rings! We then climbed up a pretty rough, steep grade to get to almost the top of the climb where there is what looks like a plain, but is actually a huge crater. Walking through it was really neat, being surrounded by more mountains and also pretty easy on the mostly hard snow. It was also pretty warm, as the clouds were clearing and the sun came out, with most of the clouds behind us. We then go to another rough hike where we had to use our ice-axes to climb the ridge. Luckily there was a group ahead of us aways, so they made footings so we didn't need to use our cramp-ons. When we got to the top of this, we walked a little further to see the part know as the red crater. It's another crater that has rich, red dirt and also rich green in spots. Continuing up, we got to the peak of the hike, the summit of one of the mountains. From here we could see what looks like hundreds of miles all around us in all directions. It was basically one of those views that you can't really capture with a camera and have to see for yourself to fully appreciate it! Then came a fun part of the hike, starting on our downward ascent. Since it was winter-time and there was plenty of snow, we were able to sit on "magic carpets", which were just plastic tarps, and slide down the hill to a large plain. When at the bottom, we all had lunch and got our energy back up next to the Emerald Lake, which is a crater lake that has water that is a beautiful emerald color. Good name for it! We then kept on our journey across the plain and around a mountain to the top of a hill where we were able to slide down again. This time weeving around large holes in the snow and rocks and such. It was also about 3 times longer to get to the bottom where there was a hut that we took a rest at. Then came the not so exciting part of the crossing when we went downhill the rest of the way through a well-used trail and uneven steps that almost hurt my feet at times. I think this was mostly due to the fact that my rental hiking boots had filled with snow from sliding down.

And so, I now leave New Zealand to go to Australia in the morning to hopefully travel for about a month before heading back to the states! Thanks to everyone who helped me in the way of sending cards, gifts, money, and even just talking to me occasionally via phone, emails, text messages, and instant messages! If anyone is ever considering coming here make sure to talk to me for recommendations and such. If not coming to New Zealand, I would say that everyone should get away from their homes for awhile to see another part of the world and experience different cultures. I will keep everyone posted on my travels in OZ.