The SIX hour hike to the Emerald Lakes

Can I just say that this past weekend was a blast and the best time for me yet! This past weekend myself and 3 others made our way to do the Tongariro Crossing, which is stated to be one of the most beautiful day hikes in the world. This hike is roughly to take about 8 hours leading you to the beautiful Emerald Lakes.

So, we met up Friday morning at 10 a.m., hooked up our mini mobile and ended up leaving around 10:30 or 11...one may be assuming the late departure was due to a female. However, to my humor, we were waiting on the male to finish packing! Oh, boy that made me laugh and changed all statements ever made for the female gender! Anyway, as we departed there, we were planning on stopping in 1 1/2 hours to have lunch at a one of the girls homes. However, being that I had only an apple for breakfast, I went ahead and ate an awesome burger and fries to tie me down until then. No one else was hungry and no one else ate two lunches that day except me...but that's okay...i am secure enough to handle that. So, we then stop for lunch and finally begin our intense push towards our destination. As one knows, no trip is ever complete without having a blowout! Aww...but this blowout didn't happen to our car, it happened to the poor sweet ole 1970's mini mobile! We luckily pulled over right in front of a pasture of cows...who seemed to laugh at us the whole time because for a period of time, they just stared and mooed at us. I only wish I knew what they were saying because we could've cooked us up a hamburger faster than those cows could've run! So, I helped change the tire as best every female normally does by watching so intensely. I watched so well that it feels as though I was actively a part! Anyway, now we get back on the road and begin our journey again. We made our first real destination to Huka Falls, which is white water rapids leading up to small waterfalls. It was beautiful. After a few more stops along the way, we finally arrive at our campground and set up our beautiful mini mobile and get some rest for the evening. (Man, there were so many moments I would love to share but I don't want to make you read for hours so I am leaving much out.)

Saturday morning, we woke up around 6 a.m. to begin preparing, cleaning up, and loading up or mini mobile in order to begin our hike on the Tongariro Crossing. This hike was absolutely incredible. It takes roughly 8 hours from start to finish...you have to set up transportation at the end of the hike because you have parked your car at the beginning. I tell you I wanted to weep multiple times along the way because of how absolutely beautiful this hike was...every corner held some new piece of God's beauty...there were either snow topped mountains, black covered volcanoes, awesome streams, beautiful waterfalls or the amazing emerald lakes! I couldn't help but think throughout this journey that God must find such joy and excitment in tucking away such pieces of beauty knowing that one day one of His children may find it bringing them such joy and leading them unto worship. I just know there must be hundreds of thousands of places like these that are hidden away in the middle of no where with some of the most remarkable displays of beauty ever known to mankind! This hike was not a bad hike at all! It had its moments but the intensity of the hike was so spread out that I literally loved every bit of it and never for a moment was so tired that I was ready for it to end...and maybe that is because around every corner there was always some new piece of creation for me to enjoy that I never even thought about it. There was almost every type of terrain (not sure that's right word but anyway) going through this. We had some straight paths, intense straight up walks, cliff walks with loose rocks (this part did really scare me), long downward slopes that were so steep that I sat on my rearend and slid down for a portion of this, walks over rocks in streams, and through paths in the woods (on a mountain of course). This walk was so diverse which made it absolutely incredible! I would truly encourage every person possible to take this hike. It just shows small pieces of the beauty the Lord has tucked away for us. It led me to such worship that Iwould truly love every person to experience what I was able to experience! I was literally so awestruck that hours later I sat outside and just wept.

Well, I am home now and am preparing for my next awesome adventure. I leave this Tuesday (no longer in a car that I am driving) on what is known as the "Kiwi Experience". This is an on and off the bus tour. It picks up backpackers taking them throughout their country stopping at cool sites and cities and giving us awesome adventure opportunties and beautiful scenic stops. We will be stopping each night and staying in backpackers lodges, and because this is an on/off bus tour...we can choose to stay in any city longer than that bus does because they have several buses that pass through all these towns...so you can jump on and off as you choose and stay as long or short in each city as you desire. Cool huh! So, anyway, this trip will be as short as 2 weeks or as long as I desire! Only time and my budget will tell!

Hope you all are doing so well and I would always ask for your prayers. Take care and I look forward to sharing more stories real soon!