New Zealand: Tongariro - 19.4km Tongariro Alpine Crossing Part 1.

"Could not contact Blogger.com. Saving and publishing may fail. Retrying.."

Because of the above sentence appears in my blog, i stayed up to 11pm.

Just 2 choice, either give up in the beginning or force myself to finish this blog before i went to bed.

Alright, Tongariro Crossing, this is the biggest challenge for me in NZ so far, hike up to 1928m in winter, total 19.4km and it takes 8 to 9 hours to complete this crossing.

I was once to think to not go for this crossing, but this is such a great chance that i was so near with the mountain, and winter is the most beautiful moment of Tongariro, the most important is, i want to challenge myself, to do what i not suppose to, this is not about travel, this is an achievement for myself.

And i'm freaking sleepy, i will just skip all the basic info about Tongariro, just search in google, that are plenty of info.

But yeah i should add some info, Tongoriro National Park are open to anyone in all the season except winter, if you wanna hike in winter, you MUST hire a guide, unless you're experienced and you have full equipment. If you're beginner and think that you can save the money to hire a guide, better pay for it, trust me, in winter you will see nothing including the direction to go but only snow, whitely snow, everywhere, every direction, you will not even know where were you.

And i have too many photos, i will make this post to 2 parts, this part is about the beginning of hiking.

Opps did i tell you the fees yet? Well if you wanna catch up the most beautiful scene of Tongariro, pay the fees of $135, including professional hiking equipment and 2 guides with transport transfer from certain points. And you have to book it early, absolutely no walk in, and remember to check your weather when you plan to go, if the weather is not good enough, there will be no tour on that day.

Before go for the photos, allow me to make a shout out for my readers, forgive me for late reply of the comment, because i check my blog comment on and off, but for sure i will check and reply, just the matter of time :P.

The bus

The only toilet, if you want to go toilet half way hiking, remember bring your umbrella along, there've no tree nothing!

The beginning

The must-go walkway in NZ

Map of the mt.

Info of Tongariro

19.4km in a day, the first time in my life.

Here to go

My mates, Willy, Maggie and the photographer Alicia

See Tongariro?

All the way to the peak

Close up

River

Snow

Climb a bit

And then a good walkway

And we reach Tongariro entry

Good weather

Snowy

Maggie and I

"Consider turning back" point

Cocky me

Way up to top

Getting snowy

The tour mates from world wide

Hike to the peak

very slippery

But nice view

Hike hike hike

This is not easy at all

just 1/4 of the walkway

all along the way

and this appear in the half way

i see the peak, and this is still long way to go

the worse is, weather getting bad

and later it turn good, all happen in 3 minute!

getting upper

Amazing

You will not know the direction if you came alone

Steep

Half way, only 7km pass, another 13 km

Stop for rest

And we gonna put on this for steeper walkway

Blogger, guide Simon and Will.

I was suppose to not appear in this point, because i cant breath well in the way up and eventually asthma happened, Simon remain calm and found my inhaler, later he wants me return but i insist to complete the way.

I was very slow and Simon cheered me all the way, he kept me accompany and take care of me. Thanks Simon and because of you, i completed the walkway :)

I really would like to describe more but i so sleepy, allow me to continued in the 2nd post, i promised in this 2 days.

Good night and to be continued..

Tauranga, NZ

20100822, 1129pm

Rach in very sleepy mood.