Nguarahoe

The weather had by Sunday convinced itself that it was fine. So the party tackled the middle mountain. Nguarahoe is a Geologists paradise - all the rock you can carry and enough for the next billion geoligists [sic] that come that way. What is moreit is all loose. It took 2 hours to get to the north saddle from the hut. We then laboriously zig-zagged up the mountain. 50 minutes later we arrived at the top. This resembled a large hole with numberous people staring into it. There was practically no snow at the top, just lots of people. It took 10 minutes to get to the bottom although Philip did the descent in 7 as he had no ice-axe to break his fall. We then followed the track that leads to the Mangatepopo hut and Chateau Tongariro as far as the soda springs. Here we camped the night. The springs are 30 minutes walk from the Mangatepopo hut where numerous Auckland Varsity types were ensconced.