I took the bus from Auckland to the center of the North Island to Tongariro National Park on Saturday. The trip down was quite scenic and the bus was fairly comfortable. It seems not having a car here won’t be much of an issue.
I stayed one night at the hostel and I had a great time meeting the people there. I met this one group that was taking a weekend trip from Auckland. Three of them were from Spain and the other girl from Argentina. I have been teaching everyone I meet wild card gin (thanks Luke!) and everyone seems to really enjoy it. This group was no exception.
The next day these two girls at the hostel gave me a ride to the start of the trail. The check-in process was not as intense as I was expecting it to be. I assumed the ranger was going to ensure I had all the necessary equipment for the trek but all he did was give me a map and point me in the right direction.
The trail I walked on the first day was not difficult. About 10 KM long and little to no elevation gain. It was quite rugged and the trail had a tendency to go up and down. So even though there was no net elevation gain I was going uphill some of the time.
It took me three hours to get to the first cabin – the Mangatepopo Hut. A small little lodge with about twenty bunk beds. The cots were solid but not at all comfortable and a sleeping bag was required. I met a few people that were traveling alone as well and we decided to hike the trail together the next day. We played wild card gin that evening of course.
The hut was facing west and there were no hills to obstruct our view of the sunset. It was a nice way to wind down before taking on a challenging day.