Weather issues - Blogabond

The plan today was to do the Tongariro Crossing, supposedly the best one-day hike in NZ, and judging from the photos, a pretty spectacular one around volcano craters and Bright blue pools. So we got dropped at one end of the trail and set off in sunshine. But as we climbed the edge of the volcano the mist started to descend and the winds got up. Then about 2-3 hours in we hit a Ridge between two craters where the wind was whistling across at about 40mph. Everyone on the trail ground to a halt for about 20 mins hoping it would clear, but to no avail. And as nobody was prepared to be the Guinea pig and see if they could make it across in one piece, we had to decide that discretion was the better part of valour and go back the way we'd come. Which was a bit of a sod as all the best scenery was on the second half of the trail! I've got to say that considering this is supposed to be summer, the weather out here has been bloody awful. If you were leaving the UK to escape the weather there, I wouldn't be heading to NZ - it's exactly the same here.

So onwards to Lake Taupo, where hopefully we'll get better weather, and might even see more than 5 people in a pub at one time.

written by

phileasdogg on December 16, 2008 from Waiouru, New Zealand

from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs

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