Our plan for the summer break from Christmas to New Years this year had been ambitious. Too ambitious, the weather gods decided!
Original Plan
Day One - Holdsworth Road end to Jumbo Hut via Atiwhakatu Hut and Raingauge Spur
Day Two - Jumbo Hut to Mid Waiohine Hut via Mt Holdsworth Summit
Day Three - Mid Waiohine Hut to Maungahuka Hut via Aokaparangi Biv
Day Four - Maungahuka Hut to Totara Flats Hut via Neill Forks Hut, with possible detour to Tararua Ladder
Day Five - Totara Flats Hut to Waiohine Gorge Road End
So, it rained, or blew gale force winds the whole period between Christmas and the return to work...
New Plan
Head to Ohakune for a couple of nights and see about fitting in the Tongariro Crossing, plus a couple of day walks (hopefully beating the bad weather to that part of the country) and then head to the beach, hope the weather clears and go into the Tararuas later in the holiday break...Well. We didnt beat the weather.
We set up our tents in Ohakune in hot, sticky and claggy weather mid afternoon, wandering off to the supermarket in shorts and t-shirt, almost hoping it would rain on us without our umbrella or raincoat. It didnt. After picking up the bits and pieces we needed for the next couple of days, we started looking into options for doing the Tongariro Crossing - debating the merits of taking our own car around and getting a one way shuttle, then heading to Tokaanu for the hot pools, or just getting the shuttle both ways.
Given that going to Tokaanu would quite possibly have had us back in Ohakune so late that we would have had to go to Waiouru for dinner (everything closes at about 8pm in summer), we decided to do a return shuttle. The company we wanted to book with said they werent planning on going the next day because the weather was going to be too bad, but to call them after 6.30 the next morning to reconfirm.
I admit, I went to bed sort-of hoping that when we rang at that ungodly hour they would say the weather was still going to be too bad, and I could go back to sleep for a while longer, but they didnt. Instead, we were told we had 30 minutes to get organised and be outside the campground for pickup. Cue rushed bolting down of half-sized bowls of porridge and quick filling of waterbottles and being thankful that we had made lunch the night before!
The weather was looking pretty nasty, and was on the edge of being bad enough that the shuttles wouldnt go, but we went on anyway, being dropped at the road end unable to see anything up the valley. It did not look much like it was going to be fun.The weather stayed bad all the way up to Soda Springs, where most of the others in our shuttle were stopping to have the breakfast they had not had time to have before they left. Under my raincoat, I changed clothes at least once along here, swapping my warm thermaplus for a running top since it was quite muggy. I was really glad of this all the way up the devils staircase. I was also really glad to not be able to see the top as we were climbing up, as I really just wanted to stop and go back for most of the climb!
Once in south crater, the cloud clagged in even further. There had also been quite a bit of rain as there were some large puddles around. Interestingly, it was better to walk in the middle of them, where the ground was still solid with a layer of water on the top, than around the edges, where it had become mud. Once at the turn-off for the Tongariro Summit, we saw a brief couple of moments of sun, but Red Crater was still largely hidden, even when standing on the edge of it!The drop down to the emerald lakes was longer than I remembered, and I was glad of the bad weather putting so many people off, so I didnt have to weave among slower walkers. When we got down there, we stopped for a museli bar each, and I changed back into my warmer thermaplus, as the wind was getting quite strong and cold on my now-soaked-to-skin body.
Beyond blue lake is the cairn valley, very cool and very odd. The zigzags down to Ketetahi Hut weren't as bad as I remember, although this could be because we couldn't see the hut, so there was no agonising "Oh my god, another zig zag." or thinking of dropping down the ridge direct to the hut. We had lunch on the deck in occassional sunshine, which was lovely and then missioned our way out the last of the track in time for a 4pm shuttle, as did all but one other couple from our morning shuttle.
I was very sore in the backs of my knees after the tramp, with an awful burning sensation. We discovered that I was badly windburnt when we had a bath at the campground. It certainly made for an interesting night in a little tramping tent, especially when I had to get up and go the toilet at 3am and had to crawl, crying, out of the tent!It started raining heavily overnight, and we packed up the tent wet, quite early, keen to get to the beach house, real beds and the care of my Mum for my legs! Mark drove because the pain was so distracting. We stopped briefly at Te Apiti windfarm, and then again in Woodville for cheesecake and toilets, but other than that, it was pretty much straight through, arriving at the beach early enough for us to peg the tents flat to the ground in the gale force winds and sunshine and watch them take 30 minutes to dry!
So, we didnt even look at the Tararuas! By the time my legs had recouperated and I could walk properly again, it was time to go home and get ready to go back to work! (they are still peeling in places though!) In any case, the Tararuas had had nearly half a meter of rain over 6 days while we were away, along with low cloud and gale force winds. It really wouldnt have been a nice time to be in there. I'm still dissapointed at missing all those new huts - but now I'll just have to go later instead!
Photos to come (written at work, all the photos are still on the computer at home!)
