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Date Posted: 19:29:37 04/05/03 Sat
Author: Sarah
Subject: Hike into the dark depths of Mordor

Hello everyone
It's great reading all of your posts, we're really enjoying hearing about what's going on back home(and in Australia too)!
Me and Nomi went on an awsome super-cool hike yesterday! It's called the Tongariro Crossing, and it was voted best day-hike in NZ three years running(or something like that). Because the hike takes so long to complete(6-8 hours usually) we had to be up by 5am in order to get an early start. The hike started out easily enough, the first hour we walked along fairly flat land, which actually looked quite a bit like the scenery in Lord of the Rings TTT. This was rather fun because me and Nomi could pretend to be out questing with the fellowship. After a bit a came upon a really really steep bit, which took about 45 minutes of steady climbing to reach the top of. The guy who drove us to the start of the hike warned us that we would be sweating like "stuffed pigs" by the time we got to the top of that particular section. Luckily for us it turned out to be a rather chilly day, so we really only sweated like semi-stuffed pigs. It was a relief when we got to the top though. The view we saw from the top was absolutely amazing! We were right next to a huge, perfectly cone-shaped volcano(which may or may not have been used as Mt Doom in LOTR, we recieved conflicting information on that). It certainly looked like Mt Doom. Climbing the volcano(which would have taken about 1 1/2 hours to ascend at what looked like a 70 degree angle) was an option, but we didn't have enough time to do that in a single day. I'm really not sure we would have been able to do it anyway.
We continued onwards, and soon came to a huge crater which we walked through the middle of. We were told that a number of scenes from LOTR had been filmed in the area, and I think I probably wasted quite a bit of film by taking pictures of every mountain, volcano, crater, and ridge which looked like it might have been used in the movie.
We climbed out the other side of the crater and started making our way along a narrow ridge, at which point it got very very windy and cold! We we're actually a little afraid that the wind would blow us right off of the mountain. But once again it was worth it, because when we crossed the ridge and got to the highest point in the entire hike, the view was absolutely incredible! The scene before us looked as though it was right out of the movie(and it may actually have been a location from right out of the movie). It was as though we were standing on one of the high ridges on the outskirts of Mordor, with Saurons entire domain spread out before us! It was probably one of the coolest things I have ever seen!
We were actually quite lucky that we had ascended to this point so quickly, because as soon as we began descending the other side of the mountain, clouds began to roll in below us. The people who were just half an hour behind us didn't get to see the view when they reached the top.
We walked for a long time until we reached a cabin, where we had a lovely lunch consisting of squished bread, tomato, and processed cheese. But we were so hungry at that point that anything tasted good to us, and we enjoyed our lunch immensely. By the time we left the cabin we were very tired, and the most scenic part of the hike was behind us. We were just in a hurry to get to the parking lot so we could sleep while we waited for the rest of the group. We still had about two hours to go however, and these two hours seemed to drag on forever. We were quite relieved when the parking lot came into view. Then we became even happier when we realized that a refreshment stand was set up in the parking lot!
The Tongariro Crossing was the coolest hike I have ever been on(and the most challenging). Nomi and I are stopping in Taupo on our way back to Aukland, and i'm seriously considering doing the hike again if I get the chance.
Here are two sites with lots of pictures and info on the hike if anyone is interested
http://www.madhack.com/~pulse/lotr/orodruin.html
http://www.icdc.com/~neubauer/tong.htm
The first one talks more about how the area compares to Mordor, both sites have great pics. Talk to you all again soon!
Love Sarah

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