Photos

This is one of the huts located along the Tongaririo Crossing - considered one of the best day treks in NZ. The name of the trek has been officially changed to the Tongariro Alpine Crossing to indicate that their is a significant level of difficulty involved with the trek.

The night I stayed in this hut, a couple of foreign trekkers showed up late to the hut and were having extreme difficulty completing the hike. They were forced to make an unexpected stopover in the hut as they would be unable to complete the trek before nightfall. My wife and I provided them with food and dry clothing that night.

At about 1 am after sleeping for several hours, we were woken abruptly by a local search and rescue crew. The guest house in the nearest town were expecting the trekkers and phoned S+R when they did not arrive. The crew hiked about 3 hours up to the hut with torches to find there way in the dark. Not happy.

The next morning, I continued ascending from the cabin to take photos as the clouds had settled below us. The 360 view from where I took this photo was spectacular. I am sure it was a long, uncomfortable trek down for the other 2 with the S+R crew.