To answer a common question with a tourist story that does not involve fishing.  In fact, this is only one of many Tongariro Crossing experiences we could repeat, but chosen because we had a photo of the tourists.

About five years ago TRM had these keen inmates dying to tramp the crossing.  As they were from the warmer sunny region of West Island they did not appreciate how fickle alpine weather is.  They were dressed in normal casual walking gear.

So, before they were allowed to depart, SWMBO insisted on layering with the latest Turangi fashion gear range from the 1950’s.  Swannis, gloves, woolly hats, etc., as with father and son on the right.  It did not matter if the clothes were too large.  They thought she was overdoing it and almost resisted as it was such a nice day, but she insisted.  She is such a bully, as they all appeared fit and healthy – see below.

As they left late, they had the track to themselves.  But their climb to the Red Crater and Blue Lake steadily became colder and colder.  Then, to add more spice to their holiday fun, a snowstorm broke out.  This was so cool as it does not snow very often in Queensland.  This was much better than they had hoped for.  How exciting.  A snowstorm was really more interesting to tell the family back home.  Aussi tourists love the snow.

But slowly the excitement evaporated.  They were more astonished when the track was completely obliterated – they were in a “white-out”.  This was developing into an even more thrilling adventure.  Eventually, they came to a sign, so they blindly followed the track in that direction. They had wandered on to where part of the Tongariro Northern Circuit branches off just past the lowest lake.  They did not realise that instead of heading down to the Ketetahi car park they were heading south towards the Waihohonu Hut.

DOC advises: The turnoff to Oturere Hut splits from the Tongariro Alpine Crossing just past the Emerald Lakes. It leads hikers on a 1.5-hour descent through unique, jagged lava fields into the Oturere Valley.

The tramp went on and on and grew colder and colder and then spooky damp darkness arrived.  This was serious, quite frightening, so they decided to call for help, but discovered their cell phone batteries were almost dead from taking photos.  They could not explain their location, so the police advised them to stay where they were and to blip their phones about every half hour so the search-and-rescue team could zero in on them.  They were eventually found about 3 am, freezing cold and shivering, about 100m from a hut which they had not seen in the dark.  It was doubtful if they would have survived the night.

During the erratic, changeable mountain weather this alpine region is experiencing now, we waste more time persuading wannabe tourist trampers out of their plans to walk the Tongariro Crossing.

Some bus shuttle firms must love us, but if you contact the good looking driver/operator above he is more reliable and will tell you if it is too dicey.

What are the alternatives?  As such tourists are usually obsessed they absolutely have to go and tramp somewhere, we suggest:

Option 1: the 2-hour Taranaki Falls loop walk on Mt. Ruapehu;

Option 2: the 2 hour lap of Lake Rotopounamu; or

Option 3: the Tongariro River trail loop from TRM.

Option 4: the safest option.  Learn how to fly fish the river instead.

If you manage all three options it is still not as far to walk and less tiring than the Tongariro Crossing, offering far more scenic variety with a waterfall, a hidden lake, and experiencing the magic Tongariro River environment.

Note these are all much safer “loop” trails leading back to their car parks.

So that is the message.  Be like me.  Just do everything SWMBO says, and you might survive.  OK?