THE FIRST HOUR

“WAIT FOR ME”  I bellowed as I caught up  to papa, it was a hot summer day  perfect  for a day to do the Tongariro crossing, to walk 20km, perfect to walk for 8hrs. I was currently last right now as others had a head start, but I was also slowing down because of the heat, I also hadn't eaten any breakfast.  Thanks to NRNA, 80-90 of us were doing the Tongariro crossing as a part of Walk For Health. Kamal uncle and I caught up to  Yuvan and we started walking together.  Soon we had traveled further than Yuvan and his parents and that's when we caught sight of one of the Tongariro volcanos. The Tongariro national park  is the home to the three mountains home to Ruapehu- the largest mountain in the north island, Ngauruhoe- the youngest volcano andTongariro !  The movie, Lord of the rings most unforgettable scenes were filmed in Tongariro. Me and Yuvan finally reached a sign saying the volcano is still active, and- if the weather looks bad, turn back. Yuvan's parents finally caught up to us, we continued along the path ignoring all the toilet signs, as the landscape changed. We finally caught up to papa and we all stopped for a rest, when we finally reached a sign saying we still had 6hrs ahead of us and we were starting to get to the hard path, i looked up and sighed we really had a longgggg walk ahead

of us I puffed as I climbed the exhausting stairs "don't stop or you'll feel more tired” my dad told me for the hundredth time.

- the first part

SECOND HOUR and THIRD HOUR

I was already starting to get really tired as we trudged up the stairs when we finally got to the end at the end was … Azalea and mamu!  When  I said hello to dumb dumb she told me that she had drunk 4 cartons of juice. I asked why and she said  that  because it was yummy. We turned around and trudged  along the orangish, dirty path that led to OH NO  more uphill to climb. I  thought how am I going to climb upwards when my legs are hurting from all the stairs we endured, but papa, in an annoying voice said we have to climb the tiring mountains. Sighing, I reluctantly  made my way to the base of the mountain and forced my legs to carry me up. When I finally managed  to get to the top, my mum told me that we had ANOTHER mountain to hike. Huffing and puffing i said i dont know if i can make it but my family encouraged me to keep going when we got to the top we saw a reddish mountain which you definitely didn't want to fall from. continuing the path unfortunately required me to walk, I mean FALL down a rocky, sharp, definitely DANGEROUS hill ... .ahhhhhhh I squealed as I nearly tripped over ANOTHER rock and nearly fell. I could see other people sprinting down the hill but they tripped so I decided to go very slowly, azalea,  papa  and   Mamu were already at the bottom waiting for me to come. Even though I nearly fell 100 times , the view of the lakes was very beautiful from up here. I finally reached the bottom after taking about 20mins, and we took a picture featuring the lakes. After the most dangerous hike ever ,we continued down the long dusty road. When we reached the end there were a few rocks to sit on so we took some pictures of the hot springs and ate some chips, and continued along the path.  

FORTH, FIFTH AND SIXTH  HOUR 

Again we had to climb up but thankfully it came with an AMAZING view of the emerald lake

Now the  air was turning cold making us shiver and pull on our jackets. All of our legs were aching and we were all hungry and tired. “OH NOOOOO”  I whined “ahhh its nothing”my mum told me “ we used to walk 2 hours everyday just to go to school in the morning”  i was whining as i had spotted a long (  very long like 3km )  path that led to somewhere i couldn't see where it ended. Me and mamu  were ahead of Azalea and papa we kept walking and walking and guess what more walking. We

finally stopped at the toilets but only to wait for Azalea to catch up. When me and my family were walking I saw a mini waterfall and when I waited for my family to catch up I listened to the water gurgling and  the birds singing a happy tune. I later decided to carry the backpack because I felt like I had so much energy to walk the whole Tongariro crossing in a run. Correction i have no energy to even finish the tongariro crossing, it wasn't helping that my shoes were killing my feet my boots were starting to hurt the soles of my feet then mamu suggested i swap shoes with her when we swapped, it was so much better because these shoes had a lot of cushion. As we I realised that the path looked like we were walking through a valley, a never ending one. At first the trees that lined the path were half the size of me then they kept growing until they were 2 times the size of me. This gave me a hint of what was happening next .  Along  the way  I saw some odd objects. For example, I saw a small tractor -like vehicle and I hid behind it trying to scare azalea. “ YESSSS”  I celebrated  as we approached a bench and a sign saying 1 more hour left!  

HOUR 7&8

Trudging down the stairs  I felt excitement flowing through my body, and I started asking myself  “ how tired will i be?” “ Will I be happy when it's over?”   “Is there any food?”  i looked around and admired the scenery it was the best so far, everything had an earthy glow around it and the dirt was covered with some leaves indicating the beginning of autumn

My legs were really aching now, and this path, like the other one, felt never ending too. I could hear the chitter chatter of both the people and the animals. Me and mamu were starting to fall behind  then papa decided to race azalea to the end, as azalea and papa sped along me and mamu took our time. Now we reached a sign saying something about floods, I can't remember. “Cool” gasped, i saw the river flowing  down the rocks and me and mamu took several photos. When we were continuing the track, the river/ waterfall came with us. Then the splash of the water seemed to  travel along a different path and the silence was deafening . At this point a few raindrops ploppled from the sky and plop on our faces. “ Are we there yet?" I asked because  1 km ago there was a small sign declaring that there was only 1km left then… “ FINALLY”  I bellowed as we exited the most tiring trek I've ever done, there was azalea and papa sitting down looking exhausted , and as i sat, huge array of emotions echoed through me ( mainly it was happy and tired, but also proud)  as kamal bashel uncle and nisha aunty exited we hopped into their car, i sat down a wide grin plastering on my face from ear to ear, happy that i got to try an awesome experience, and proud that i finished walking 20km in about 8hrs and 30min.

MY legs were dead but my spirit was souring, I just hope there is some sausages for me, as a celebratory trophy.