Right, so I flew from Christchruch to Auckland, which was quite uneventful. Upon getting to Auckland I checked in for the last time to the City YHA. It was Oscar night, so I watched the whole thing on TV. I was the only guy clapping when Michael Moore spoke out, which felt a tad weird. The next day I took the InterCity bus down to Taupo. I checked in to the hostel and went to do some food shopping. I wanted to try to finish all the staples and stuff I had been dragging all over the country. Since I had left some jasmine rice, some dijon mustard and some local mauka honey, clearly I needed to make chicken in a honeymustard sauce over rice. Nothing could be easier. I could even make enough to have leftovers so that if I was too tired to cook after doing the Tongariro Crossing, I’d still have good food to eat. So I hit the supermarket and picked up some chicken, some yoghurt for breakfast, a chocolate bar (always a good idea for hiking), a box of apricot granola bars and a 750ml bottle of spring water (to augment my own 1 liter water bottle that I always take with me). I made dinner, ate, and pretty much went straight to bed. I had to get up at 5:45am to make a 6:20am bus to get to the Tongariro National Park. There was an even earlier bus, but that one cost and extra $10.

The morning of the Crossing and I was getting nervous. Every now and then the NZ TV news does a story on unprepared hikers getting in trouble over the Crossing. They talk about bad weather and people without food and people with the wrong shoes, etc. I resisted overpreparing, which I am prone to do. I started out towards the tail end of the group, partly because I was almost the last guy off the bus, but also because I stopped at the first hut 20 minutes into the walk to apply a thick layer of sunblock. Another half hour took me through the initial flat section to Soda Springs. hen came the Devil’s Staircase. The bus driver had talked fearfully about this before letting everyone off the bus. I had looked at the topo map, and I know it was only 400 meters, which was less than I had done in Katoomba, and only equivalent to two Rangitotos (I’ve taken to comparing all my ascents and descents to the 45 minutes it took me to do Rangitoto in my first week in Auckland). Still, I tend to find steep ascents challenging. Sure, I rested a couple of times on the way up, but I never really felt stressed in the least. I didn’t pass anyone on the climb, but everyone stopped for a long break at the top and I just walked on through.

Then I turned a corner and saw the first crater, called creatively enough South Crater. It was stunning. There’s this sense that you are walking in a place you were not meant to walk. And all the rocks, from large to small to teeny, within inches of the track look completely untouched, as if they have sat there in the exact same position for centuries. Very spooky. But tremendously beautiful. It was so beautiful that I felt myself grinning. That motocycle-rider-bugs-in-teeth kind of smile. Then as I started walking up the other side of the crater I could help myself and I started giggling and chortling to myself. It was a great feeling. Along the way up I met this couple of the eastern shore of Maryland, which made for some nice company. At the top of the crater’s edge, you can now look down into the next crater: Red Crater.

From the top of this edge of the crater you start going down, at first through some very loose volcanic rock, which just rolls right out from under your feet. This is a little disconcerting at first, but I quickly foudn that the best way to go down is just to let yourself slide along and not try to control it too much. It’s really just like ice skating, except you don’t need to push with your off-foot to accelerate, you just let gravity pull you along. Then I was at the emerald lakes, which reminded me of some of the parts of Rotorua, only much bigger. A small descent over now-stable rock and then along the floor of the third crater, whose name I don’t recall. Another rise to get out of this last crater, and then the world goes back to normal. It was an easy walk to another of the huts. I got there by noon. I had started at 8:30am, so it took me three and a half hours. I was running at least an hour ahead of schedule. In hindsight, I wish I had not been so concerned with how hard the Crossing might be and slowed down and enjoyed the views more. I did take a lot of pictures, though. I sat at the hut for an hour and played a riddle game with a Dane sitting next to me (this guy drives up to a hotel owned by his son, the guy realizes he is broke, the whole family is happy - explain!). The weatehr had been gorgeous and sunny before I got to the hut, but the sky clouded over and it got cold. I decided to walk down the rest of the way to the car park and catch the early bus which cost another $5 but otherwise I would have had to wait an extra hour and I hadn’t brought anythnig to read. It was one of the best days I had on the whole trip and I hope one day I get to do it again.

Things get a lot less interesting now. I took the bus back to Auckland the next day, and immediately went up to Orewa. Partly this was to say goodbye to Stephen and Esther and all the people I had becmoe friendly with there, and partly it was to collect the box of my stuff they were keeping for me at the hostel. I decided to take a private room instead of a dorm as a treat at the end of the trip. The next day I said my farewells and took the bus down to Auckland. Now I really went upscale and checked into the Rydges Hotel, a 4-star hotel in downtown Auckland. This was using the money my aunt and uncle had given me for this purpose before I left.

Today was a busy day. I got up early and went on a souvenir buying spree. I must have hit every tourist shop on Queen St, trying to find appropriate things for family and friends. Then back to the hotel to drop everything off, and down to the Viaduct for a ride on NZL40, an International America’s Cup Class yacht, for a two hour sail on the Hauraki Gulf. I got to do a lot of grinding, I steered through a genaker gybe, and also briefly upwind under the #3 jib. Fairly cool. It was actually easier to sail this boat than some 30-footers I’ve raced on. After that I went up to the Sky Tower for a view of the city at sunset, which wasn’t bad at all. Then dinner and this wrap-up posting to the blog.

Tomorrow I’ll head down to the airport, pay my departure tax and fly to Los Angeles. I’ll spend two night there with Mike, a good friend from my college days. He’s got to work on Monday, but I plan on going to Disneyland. Then on the 2nd I fly to Oakland. But I won’t be in the Bay Area for long. My friend Ken wants to sail his boat from Mexico to Hawaii and it looks like I’ll be going with him. We should get to Hilo by the end of April. Plans become cloudy at that point, but my friend Craig is getting married in Colorado at the end of May, so you know I’ll be there.

This has been a great adventure, and a big part of me really doesn’t want to return to the real world. It’s hard to explain, but I think I’ve learned a lot about myself, rediscovered parts of my personality I had forgotten or buried, and generally feel proud and happy about how things went. If anyone reading this gets the hankering to go and do some traveling, I say “good on ya” and go have a blast. It’s one of the best things I’ve ever done.