We were told upon checking into our hotel, that there would be no way we would get to do the Tongariro Crossing. Weather was moving in, and soon there would be "gale force" winds which would potentially blow us off the side of the mountain. Hmm, well ok, I am glad that it was someone else who made the call for us. If it was left up to us, we would have a hard time judging, as we aren't familiar with the area. We did run up to the Whakapapa ski hill to watch the sun set over the mountains, very pretty!
The next day we decided to give the first part of the crossing a try, just to see the area. It was beautiful, giant rocks and boulders, low scrub, streams and some snow the higher up we got. We made it to Soda Springs - just before the Devil's staircase, where you gained altitude dramatically, and turned around and came back, still about a 9km hike when all was done. As we were coming back, we watched scary cloud cover sweep over and obscure the entire mountain in the matter of about 30 seconds. Eeep, glad we weren't up there.
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