Otukou

It was a cold night. Well not in our sleeping bags but outside the van was iced up in frost. It fell well below zero yesterday. After defrosting the van we headed to trail head and set out on a 5 hour hike to Waihohony hut. We had learned it was a New Zealand long weekend and brought a tent in case the hut was full. It was a large 28 bunk hut so we didn’t think we would have an issue. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful cloudless day. The hike was at 1,100 meters altitude and we walked through high alpine tundra. A different environment than we have had so far. The walk is famous because it goes around Mt Ngauruhoe (Mt Doom from Lord of the Rings). An ominous volcano which was currently snow covered so it looked more like a ski hill. Along the way we passed some crisp blue crater lakes. It really was a nice walk.

We arrived early and to our surprise the bunk house was already full. There were several families that took a shorter route in and snagged all the beds. We opted to camp out and get away from the horde of people. There was actual over 40 people at the site. Too many for my liking. We ate in the warmth of the hut and after dark headed to our tent. The temperature turned bitterly cold at night and dropped between minus 6 and minus 10 Celsius. Thankfully our sleeping bags are rated for colder weather but it was still a cold night. I actually had to sleep with the beer cans in my sleeping bag so they wouldn’t explode in the cold.Read more