Mark and Nicola: Thursday Sept 20/07

Yesterday Nicola and I went ahead and did the Tongariro Crossing. Regarded as one of the best one day hikes in the world we decided to throw our concerns out the window and go for it. The hike takes you to the top of Tongariro Mountain, 1900 Meters, over 6000 feet above sea level. At that point the weather can change very quickly and conditions can become quite dangerous. A Canadian couple we met on the bus had just done it 3 weeks prior and became stuck in a blizzard, complete white-out conditions. Their guides had to take them back the way they came for safety reasons. The hike itself is 18.5 km long and takes a full 8 hours to do, it was easily the most physically challenging day of our lives. While quite a bit of the hike is relatively level ground there are two main climbs, about 45 minutes each, the first being the devil's staircase which takes you up to the saddle between Tongariro Mountain and Mount Dune, seen on the right in the pictures. It is an extremely exhausting section. You climb straight up a lava flow and cannot stop, because if you do it becomes too painful to move on. The guides push you to just keep moving. At the top you are completely drained and panting extremely hard. After that you walk across an ice field on your way to the next major climb of the day. It's also about 30 to 45 minutes and straight up the side of the mountain, except the ground is loose and slides beneath your boots. A short climb after this and you are at the summit of the Red Crater. It's an incredible site, a massive crater, bright red from the iron in the earth. It is freezing cold at the summit and the wind blows quite hard but if you take off your gloves you can touch the ground and feel it is quite warm, the area is still an active volcanic site. From the summit you climb down to the Emerald Lakes for a short lunch and then continue on. You see a huge variety of landscapes and terrain as you work your way across and down the mountain side to the parking lot at the end of the journey. At the end of the day everyone was quite tired and sore. The hot tub at our hostel was a welcome site. We are very glad we decided to go ahead and do it, as challenging as it was, especially for us rookies, it was equally rewarding.

Today is our last day in Lake Taupo so I crossed my fingers that we could find a break in the clouds to do some skydiving, and sure enough we got it. I went up at 2 o'clock this afternoon for the third skydive of my life. The two I did in Canada were both from 10,000 feet, and they were both great and a huge rush. However, in New Zealand you can jump higher than anywhere else in the world, a tandem skydive from 15,000 feet. Lake Taupo is actually where tandem skydiving was invented. The beauty of a 15,000 foot jump is a much longer freefall, you fall at over 200km/h for over a full minute, twice what you get in a 10,000 foot jump. It's absolutely incredible and since the time goes by so fast it gives you time to actually appreciate the view and comprehend what you are doing. I'm so glad I decided to go for the jump today as I likely won't be able to go from that high ever again. It's also a lot more affordable to go in New Zealand, a 12,000 foot jump in New Zealand costs half of what it does in Canada, and you can't even compare the price on a 15,000 foot jump. I promised Nicola this will be my last one......for a while anyways. Meanwhile Nicola went for a 2 hour horse back ride at a local farm, she was able to trot and canter and get the horse going a little faster than most tours allow. She really enjoyed herself and as she was going around a farm she got to see baby lambs that were literally just born, within the hour. Tomorrow we are off to Wellington for a few days and then we will make our way to the south island which we are really looking forward too.