Tongariro rest day: Hiking not cycling

January 21, 2017

We are staying at the Chateau Tongariro in the national park for our rest day. It is a location where tens of thousands of visitors come each year to do the Tongariro Crossing and many other hikes. The Tongariro Crossing is a linear track across the valley between 2 volcanoes. It is a fairly tough walk of 19.4km or 26km as a loop from the village. Good weather is a key ingedient to enjoying the walk because bad weather can be very dangerous. For example they are predicting bad weather for tomorrow with winds at the top of 105kph. Sadly we may also have very bad riding weather. I enjoyed my morning tea with a view of Ngauruhoe, a view that changed minute by minute. After a lazy morning we went for a lovely 6.5km hike to the Taranaki Falls. We started on the lower level and came back on the upper so for us the falls gradually emerged. We walked through both forest and open volcanic alpine meadows. It was a nice change not to be on a bike saddle. After dinner we drove up to the ski lodge to take a look at the moon like landscape.

A view of the valley below the hotel from and another long white cloud. We rode through that valley yesterday up to this hotel.

In 1886 in order to prevent the selling of the mountains to European settlers, the local Ngati Tuwharetoa iwi had the mountains surveyed in the Native Land Court and then set aside (whakatapua) as a reserve in the names of certain chiefs one of whom was Te Heuheu Tukino IV (Horonuku), the most significant chief of the Māori Ngati Tuwharetoa iwi. Later the peaks of Mount Tongariro, Mount Ngauruhoe, and parts of Mount Ruapehu, were conveyed to The Crown on 23 September 1887, on condition that a protected area was established there. This was the 4th national part to established in the world.

A view of the volcanic landscape from the ski area.

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