Road trip to the South of the North: Tongariro National Park
December 14, 2015
The highlight of this road trip was to visit Tongariro Alpine Crossing, Tongariro National Park. It is the oldest national park in New Zealand. It was my first time ever climbing up the real mountain in New Zealand. The plan is to go up to Emerald Lakes from Mangatepopo Hut. According to the website, it takes around 6 hours from Mangatepopo Hut to Emerald Lakes and return. It was my first time ever climbing up the real mountain in New Zealand. We were going to meet with another team in the lodge and going together in the early morning.
We left the lodge in the early morning and started our journey to Mordor (Tongariro National Park was featured in the Lord of the Rings trilogies) at 8 AM in the morning. Before we go, we took a group picture.
Here's our team members: 9 Indonesians, 1 Indian, and 2 Vietnamese.
For some of them, this is not their first time crossing a real mountain.
Can you notice the differences between the pro and the amateur?
Let the journey to Mordor begins!
Long way to go.
The South Crater
Another photo group while taking a break.
A terrible incident happened right after the picture was taken, My baby a6000 felt down and the lens hit the rock, and it broke. I was really sad. It was the second day of the trip, I still have couple days to go. It was still far from the Emerald Lake. I felt like I want to go back to the car and crying. But, I couldn't, I had to finish what I start. I changed my lens to the zoom lens and continue the journey.
Finally, I reached the Red Crater, but I was already super really exhausted. I didn't want to go down to Emerald Lakes. I stopped at the Red Crater and took the picture of the lakes from above. Some of my friends went down to the lakes, some of them stopped at the Red Crater, together with me.
I still wanted to pictures, keeping the memories. Yet, since I only had the zoom lens with me, I only could take it from the long distance. This was taken on the way back. I don't know the name. We were also stopped at the Soda Spring because we just wanted to know what is Soda Spring.
It turns out, to go to Soda Spring, we have to walk around 30 minutes more. Since all of us already tired, we didn't want to go further. We just took rest in the closest waterfall.
After all, it took more than 6 hours for me to cross Tongariro. It was really tired, the weather was keep changing from time to time, the wind was strong, my lens was broken, but it was really worth to do. One of my best experience in New Zealand. I hope someday I can cross the real mountain in my own country, Indonesia.
Well done for New Zealand, for managing and maintaining the track to keep it clean, and comfortable for me to do the journey. As an amateur, I am satisfied with the track in Tongariro, Once again, well done New Zealand.
Big thanks for the boys, who kept helping me during the trip. Without your help, I possibly felt down more than hundred times. Thank you guys!
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