TAURANGA TEAM CROSS TONGARIRO
It all began at last year’s Christmas party. After a few “refreshments”, a group of us decided to “knock off” the Tongariro Crossing.
A plan was made! 3 times a week up Mauao for the next 2 – 3 months. Two weeks short of our assault on the crossing, Lee, our receptionist from the 2nd Ave Branch fell during a training walk on the Mount and was so badly hurt, we had to do the Crossing without her.
Shuttle pick up, 7am March 30. We were all so anxious about what lay ahead as none of us had done the crossing before. As the shuttle pulled up to the drop off point, the sun rose over the Tongariro, it was awe-inspiring, and terrifying!
Feeling very uplifted we headed off into the sunrise. The spectacular white moss looked like snow, pink flowers that none of us had ever seen before, there was beauty everywhere.
The weather was perfect, we were all feeling very “bonded”. After the hike up the slope, we headed down to the plains feeling fresh and SO proud of ourselves, we couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about, Gordon said “let’s do it again!!!”.
We soon discovered, we were only half way there and the worst was yet to come.
We had to climb a cliff face covered with loose rock, very challenging, but we helped one another, and as a group, we made it to the summit and stopped for lunch. THE most beautiful picnic spot EVER!
The trip down was hard on the knees and seemed to take forever, around every corner there was even MORE. Eventually and unscathed we made it to the end at 2pm.
We did it!!! We amply rewarded ourselves at our Kuratau accommodation. Our next goal – the Pinnacles in Coromandel. We’ll keep you posted.