From Whanganui we headed north to the town; National Park, where we booked accommodations at the Tongariro Crossing Lodge (a family run business; Mother, Father and son; Yvette, Colin and Jimmy respectively). The town National Park is on the edge of the Tongariro National Park where there is Mount Tongariro, Mount Nguruhoe (Mount Doom to those Lord of the Ring fans) and Mount Ruapehu. In the Tongariro National Park and through these mountains, is another famous Great Walk called the Tongariro Circuit. Although people do hike the complete circuit, more popular is the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. This is a trek over steep volcanic terrain that is 19.4 km; one way. And this; surprise, surprise, is what brought Delia and I to this park. As in any alpine adventures, mother nature plays a huge part in what you see, how tough it is and ultimately, if you are able to do it or not. It is a one day trip. The bus will pick trekkers up in National Park, drop them off at the trailhead and then pick them up at the end, 8 hours later. It is estimated as a 5 1/2 to 7 1/2 hour trek, so it doesn't leave alot of time to fool around.
To date, mother nature has been kind to us, but when we arrived in National Park the weather was questionable and it was to stay questionable for the next few days. To make a long story short; the owners of the lodge that we were staying in had access to satellite views of the top of the mountain on their computer. Even though it is known that the weather in National Park is different then what is at top of the mountain and even having the satellite views to see the present weather; predicting what the weather will be in 10 minutes, 30 minutes or a day from now is impossible - we had to go with our gut feeling. When we woke up the next morning, the weather did not look good. We decided to change our plans for the day and hike the crossing the following day. Again though, there is no guarantee that the weather won't be the exact same or worse, but it was the chance we were going to take.
So on March 20, 2010 instead of doing the crossing, we took our car and drove to Napier (west coast of the north island) to see some wineries and vineyards. The weather difference is crazy. By the time we got to Napier, it was crazy hot and sunny; gorgeous. The west coast is known for the least amount of rainfall in New Zealand; a 2 hour drive away from the mountains where it can rain, snow and have sun all in one day! The weather was outstanding and the sea was beautiful. We went to Brookfields (Merlot), Vidal (Syrah) and CJ Pask (Merlot). We went to Halton Estates that was to be incredible, but when we got there, it had closed down; all the vines were dead. From there we went to Mission Estate Winery which is the oldest winery in New Zealand and Hawkes Bay which is the largest (Syrah & Rose). It was a nice relaxing day and made up for the disappointment of not being able to do the Tongariro Crossing. We drove back and had dinner at the Station in National Park that was fun and had they great food. We had a great day and went to bed with all our fingers and toes crossed that the weather will be better for tomorrow. Because unless it is deemed dangerous, we are getting our little butts along that track!
March 21, 2010. We had a fabulous sleep. Had a shower, breakfast and got ready for our trek, all the while making a plea to the "Weather and Mountain Gods" for good weather. As we headed out, we saw an amazing sun rise and the skies were clear with a few puffy clouds around just to make it interesting. We still were not sure what was happening in the mountains, but so far so good!
We got dropped off at the trailhead and the day was perfect from then on. The weather was spectacular. 
This gave for a great walk and unbelievable views. As much as I am a fan of doing side trips, this was a 19.4 km alpine crossing, so I was thinking that just hiking the main trail would be challenging enough. Little did I know what was going on in Delia's mind. Just before this trek we found out that our dear friends; Gitte and Mina, had to put their dog; Marley down. Gitte is Delia's best friend and we loved Marley like she was our own! Knowing that we would never see Marley again and knowing that Gitte and Mina had to go through this on their own was emotionally difficult for Delia; for both of us. The reason I am telling you this, is because Gitte's favourite movie/book ever is the Lord of the Rings. So in Delia's unstable emotional state, she decides that she wants us to climb 
Mt 
Ngauruhoe; for her best friend Gitte. Now, it is only a mere 2287m high, but it is an active volcano and you are climbing up primarily volcanic scree; 2 steps up, slide down 1. It is a very steep and hard climb, but Delia had her mind set so we were going up. The weather was perfect so there was no reason not to, except that it was going to be bloody hard. It is also an unmarked trail; Delia and I do not do well on unmarked trails. I mean, we are going to the top, it's a volcano and there are no trees or anything else that is obstructing our view so I am not thinking we are going to get lost, but I am sure there are easier ways then others to get up there. As well, the base of the mountain is pretty wide - where do you start? After asking around and looking at something that might be a trail, we started up.There was a bit of cursing going on at the beginning because it took awhile to get use to climbing on the scree. It is loose volcanic rock so there is minimal traction and you literally slide down and sink a bit on each step; VERY frustrating! We were about 30 minutes into our 2 hour climb, when Delia just took off. I mean, I swear she had wings. Where did she get all that energy? Just because of the nature of the climb, I insisted that she not wait for me; I would make it up. Unfortunately, she took my word and shot up. As much as I wanted her to keep her pace, I was angry with myself that I couldn't keep up. She kept getting further and further away from me and I kept getting more tired. My mantra to my athletes was coming back to bite me in the bum......"Never feel sorry for yourself, Never give up and Enjoy the day"......damn it! We did finally make it to the top and it was worth it (mind you I was about a half an hour behind Delia)! We were at the rim of the crater of an active volcano; cool! It was really windy so I wasn't confident with walking around the top of the rim, but we sat and enjoyed the view and did look over the rim - awesome!
Other then the obvious feelings of accomplishment and shear beauty of climbing the mountain, we had another "aha" moment. I come from a racing background and although I much prefer this type of adventure as opposed to competition, there are elements of training and racing that are thrilling and character building.
The feeling of crossing the finish line; knowing all the hard work that you put into it, is a feeling like no other. That euphoria feeling that you can only get by going beyond your comfort level and conquering what you did not think was possible. This feeling is not reserved for racing by any means. Anything that puts you in a space that is above and beyond your area of comfort, to almost complete fear. You then take the challenge head on and obliterate it! Man, it is an amazing feeling! Once you complete it, the best is yet to come. All you want to do is talk about it because is just makes you feel so damn good!So if I have felt this before, what exactly was the "aha" moment you are asking? Delia and I share the same values and morals, but when it comes to racing, training and sports, we are quite different. I have tried on several occasions; including on this trip, to get Delia to go beyond the comfort zone. Now, don't get me wrong, Delia is not afraid of challenges nor is she feeble in any way; quite the opposite really. But when it comes to physical sport-type things, she is afraid of looking weak by not being able to keep up. Delia works hard and loves a good challenge like the rest of us, but pretty much in a controlled manner and certainly not in a competitive atmosphere. Throughout our trip I have been excited that Delia has physically challenged herself in this area and has loved it, but this time it was a bit different. This climb that we did was hard, bloody hard, but Delia was on a mission and even though she started to feel defeat early on in the climb, she kept going and going and going. I didn't really realize this until after we were at the bottom again, when she started telling me more about her climb (as I was really far behind). Delia described her feeling of frustrations at the beginning, but refused to let it get to her. She continued to climb and instead of getting discouraged, she was taking this feeling and taking herself to the next level of achievement. She caught up to a group of young guys. They were exhausted and were definitely breaking the #1 rule of "Never feel sorry for yourself". They chatted and Delia proceeded to bound past them all the way to the top. Delia enjoyed the views and patiently waited for me. Once she could see me, she started to encourage me and gave me some helpful hints on which way to get to the top. The last little bit was brutal as you were already tired, the scree just got deeper and as close as the top looked, it seemed to take forever to get there.
It was at that moment, when I looked up at Delia encouraging me, that I saw that look, the euphoric look in her eye. It is a look that I could recognize anywhere on anyone! As worn out as I was, I was so excited that Delia felt this way. And I knew it was the same feeling that I get when I finish a race because all the way down and for about 20 minutes after we got down, Delia couldn't stop talking about how she felt, what she did, about the boys that she passed; all the while with a big fat grin on her face. Delia felt overwhelmed at the beginning, but took all the positive energy that she was feeling, directed it towards the goal and obliterated the challenge to complete satisfaction! Well done mate!!!But our trek was far from over. At this point, we were still less then 1/2 way to the end. Remember, this crazy hike up Ngauruhoe was a side trip. From the base of Ngauruhoe, which is at the South Crater, we hiked to the
Red Crater (1886m) then to the Emerald Lakes. On the way we could also see Mount Tongariro (1978m) 
and the Central Crater to the west. We continued on to 
Te wai-whakaiata-o-te Rangihiroa (Blue Lake) and hiked to Ketetahi where we reached the first hut. At this point we were still pretty high up so we saw the 
Ketetahi Springs and views of Lake Taupo (north of where we were). Just a piece of information that you might find interesting. The steam that we saw coming from Ketetahi Springs is acid sulphate water. High in boric acid and some ammonia. The springs also contain magnesium, calcium and iron. The hot acid water "cooked" the rocks and this, added to by mineral deposits and the red and blue green algae in the water creates the most amazing colours in the rocks. The temperatures range from 74 degrees C to 91 degrees C with the hottest steam vent at 138 degrees C. The Ketetahi Spring flows into the Manga-a-te-tipua Stream that we followed the rest of the way down to the car park.The Tongariro Alpine Crossing has everything to offer. It definitely earns it's amazing reputation. It has mountains - check, volcanoes and craters - check, check, desert like terrain - check, emerald lakes - check, challenges - check and of course our "aha" moment - and check! I am sure that the weather would have changed our perspective of the trek if it weren't so beautiful, but once again, mother nature was on our side. With 19.4 km of trail, there were tons more stories and more people that we met along the way that had their stories to tell, but for now, I will have to leave them in my memory bank for another time.
Next on our agenda was Taupo, NZ to visit a friend and for more adventure.
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