The Tongariro Alpine Crossing

The Stray Team
It is nothing like the 7 days Kokoda Trek I did in 2009 .With a steep climb up to South Crater where the vegetation is as low as your knees and apparent deposits of aged lava flow that have solidated into rocks you take easy step climbs between Mt Tongariro and Mt Ngauruhoe. You take a moment and think how amazingly the mother earth has its way of exploiting the surrounding vegetation. Climbing at 1900 altitude you reach the red crater where volcanic activity is apparent; sulpur smell and steam rising reminds you of the melting rocks beneath the earths surface and how violent it can turn out to be.

It was the The Tongariro Alpine Crossing trek that I did not have any excuse to miss out today.

With a group of 12 stray travellers we took the challenge to trek the famous Tongariro Alpine Crossing. At 19.4 km trek extending over steep volcanic terrain that can take up to 7-8 hours hike depending on your walking pace and side trek walks.
Interestly I learnt that it is New Zealand's National heritage and is on the world heritage list. No wonder you get so many tourists who speak highly of this trek.