Walk Down Memory Lane: its the climb

Assalamualaikum wbt

May peace be upon you dear blog readers :)

While im writing this post, I am still at the Tongariro National Park Vilage backpackers waiting for our bus back to Welly at 1.30pm with Maria. Which means two more hours of wait. Hasbi, kak eliza, zahra and nadrah dah balik dah pepagi tadi dgn kereta and they might be reaching welly before we even hop the bus. Haha.

okay, sementara tggu bus ni nak cerita sikit the whole journey of yesterday. Haha. The Great Walk, Tongariro Alpine Crossing! Awesome sgt! Worth every steps. Walaupun penat tercungap-cungap tapi view dia you'll never get anywhere else! The journey usually took 7-8 hours but we managed to complete the whole journey from the Mangatepopo Hut carpark to Ketetahi Shelter Parking took us around 7 hours 15 mins to complete! Achievement okay! And the total distance of walking, climbing, hiking, sliding and dying (haha) is 19.4km which is absolutely longer than the distance of Jambatan Pulau Pinang! And approximately a little bit shorter than the new Jambatan in Penang.

So yeah, the adventure ada 6 orang rangers all together in our group tapi ofcourse ramai lagila org lain from all over the world yg mendaki sekali. Masa mula-mula sampai pak cik bus dah warning..

"If you think you are not fit enough, you better stay in the bus"

Erkk rasa tercabar disitu. Haha. Perasaan yg pada mulanya tak yakin dan 50-50 akhirnya menjadi 60-40. Haha. Naik sikit keberanian sbb tercabar and the fact that I know I have my friends with me and whatever it is they will surely be there waiting for me. Haha. Lgpun Mike dekat backpackers tu dah pesan, whatever it is STICK TOGETHER. Haha. So, kepercayaan mmglah sgt diletakkan pada kawan-kawan and paling penting sentiasa ingat Allah in every steps. The fact yg Allah sentiasa ada and sentiasa menjaga kita, is one of the motivation that keeps me going walaupun perjalanan tu mashaAllah seems endless. Fuhhh.

Even sampai sekarang pun mcm tak percaya yg dah daki gunung tu. Ya Allah. Fobia dan ketakutan terhadap ketinggian semua letak tepi. To complete the whole journey mmg memerlukan keberanian dan fit. Kasut kena yg mmg sesuai utk hiking and im grateful sgt I bought the new pair of shoes from Kathmandu. Kalau dak mmg rosaklah mood sepanjang perjalanan. Oh yes, my cap pun tlg banyak utk elakkan muka dari terbakar hangus dek pancaran sinar matahari yg membara. Haha. Hiperbola. Tp mmg betul pun.

Sebelum merepek tak tentu hala, meh nak bg review sikit utk sesiapa yg nak panjat gunung ni or yg terfikir-fikir nk try Tongariro Alpine Crossing ni.

Heh.

barang yg wajib ada dlm beg:

1. Topi especially kalau perempuan yg nk jg kulit.

2. Shades - bawak ja tp x guna pun haha sbb dah pakai specs

3. Airrrr. Atleast 2 bottles. Or 1.5l min. Nak bawak bnyk takut beratsgt pulak beg

4. Chocolates or even better chewing gum sbb bila penat panjat mmg x lalu dah tgk nasik

5. Ipod/mp3 apa2 lah

Haa basically that is all what you need to climb. Oh ohhh kalau ada phone and camera pun bagus jugak. Phone with battery ofcourse utk call if there is any case of emergency. Remember this number 111. Only in NZ okay.

Okay now the tracks. Fiuhh.

1. Mangetepopo to Soda Springs - route paling senang. Tak tipu senang gila. Jalan gelak-gelak makan- makan pun boleh. Jln ni almost sejam lebih sikit jugaklah dan approx 3 km

2. Soda Spring to Red Crater - haa ni mencabar sikit banyak panjat memanjat includes banyak ~~gila~~ anak-anak tangga untuk sampai ke Red Crater. Ni barulah nak rasa hike sikit sbb tge route before mmg landai and tak rasa mendaki langsung. This route akan mengambil masa almost 45 mins to 1 hr depending on your stamina and fitness. For me yg ni do-able.

3. Red Crater to Mt Ngaruhoe Summit - rasa mcm tak banyak sgt jalan tp banyak memanjat bukit, yelah dah nak sampai summitkan. Haruslah. Excited betul sebab boleh tgk pemandangan yg sangat lawa dari summit tu. Red crater, Mt Doom and sipi-sipi nampak Mt ruapehu. Sini spend approx 1hr

4. Mt Ngaruhoe Summit to Emerald Lake- MashaAllah I can say that ni track paling susah for me kot sbb sgt tinggi and curam. Nak climb okay lagi dia letak chain and Kak Eliza mmg selalu ada depan and tggu bila rasa nervous. Tapi masa nak turun dari summit to the magnificent Emerald Lakes nak nanges rasa yaAllah. Fear of steep places. Conquered! Mmg slide sepanjang turun sbb kaki dah menggeletar. Okay that was the part I dislike most. But, I did it! I just did it! Congrats feefa congrats! And the view mmg sumpah lawa worth all the climbs. This took me another hour to complete.

5. Emerald Lake to Blue lake - mendaki lagi. This time I feel a lot better than before. Walaupun view dia, just a normal lake ~~yg dapat tgk kat mana-mana kat NZ~~ tp rasa lega sgt sbb dah berjaya turun dari the Gigantic slide. Ya Allah.

6.Blue lake to the hut - okay jalan ni mcm jalan turun from Broga hills. Boleh tahan jalan dia, panjang jugak tapi tak involve any climbings or sliding dah. Normal walking for about 2 hrs.

7. The hut to Ketetahi shelter car park - another 1.5 hours of walking and mungkin memenatkan after almost 5-6 hours journey. Jalan dia seems endless sbb dah tak banyak sgt view and mcm dlam hutan sikit. So yeah, in about 1.5 hours you"ll reach the shelter and ada satu perasaan dalam diri yg akan cakap. Wow, you actually made it till the end! MashaAllah. All praises to Allah. The Magnificent, the Merciful.

So everall, the journey was fun. i must said!

tak tipu. once in a lifetime. mungkin boleh panjat lagi 10 tahun akan datang? hiks.

till then. dah lama sangat biar post berabuk dalam draft and here you go! Enjoy! and some pictures to look at. please please pergi panjat after dah baca post ni okay!