On Friday 26/02/2010 I got frustrated with 'routine' and decided to head for the Tongariro crossing since the weather was looking so good and there was a high pressure system moving over .
I decided to leave the big cameras behind and test out the gopro helmet cam .
Next time I will do slower videos for longer periods but I wasn't sure how long the battery would last .
It did well and I could have probably got 5X as much video footage ... next time .
The beginning :
I think they should organize the crossing to start from the other side , the lighting would be better .
They modified the "devils staircase" a few years ago , it used to be a pretty tough climb straight up the side of the hill but now it is a pretty well laid out pathway .
Once at the top of the staircase I headed for the climb up Nguaruhoe ....
And then took a Walk around the top ....
Going back down involved a bit of slipping and sliding and eventually running .
Then I headed for the Red crater and ran down to the Emerald lakes - and met a camera crew for TV1 on the way up , I was talking to one of them and then took off running up the hill and suddenly saw the other guy filming me .
Down at the emerald lakes a group of hut-wardens apparently take a boat up once a year to cruise around the lake .... I tested my camera's under-water ability as well and decided to go for a swim in the freezing water.
Then I headed back to the car park - the rest of the walk is mediocre compared to what I had seen and I've done it 3 times before , besides the fact that my van was back at the car-park ...
And the drive back to the camp ground near the Chatuea Tongariro
I decided to leave the big cameras behind and test out the gopro helmet cam .
Next time I will do slower videos for longer periods but I wasn't sure how long the battery would last .
It did well and I could have probably got 5X as much video footage ... next time .
The beginning :
I think they should organize the crossing to start from the other side , the lighting would be better .
They modified the "devils staircase" a few years ago , it used to be a pretty tough climb straight up the side of the hill but now it is a pretty well laid out pathway .
Once at the top of the staircase I headed for the climb up Nguaruhoe ....
And then took a Walk around the top ....
Going back down involved a bit of slipping and sliding and eventually running .
Then I headed for the Red crater and ran down to the Emerald lakes - and met a camera crew for TV1 on the way up , I was talking to one of them and then took off running up the hill and suddenly saw the other guy filming me .
Down at the emerald lakes a group of hut-wardens apparently take a boat up once a year to cruise around the lake .... I tested my camera's under-water ability as well and decided to go for a swim in the freezing water.
Then I headed back to the car park - the rest of the walk is mediocre compared to what I had seen and I've done it 3 times before , besides the fact that my van was back at the car-park ...
And the drive back to the camp ground near the Chatuea Tongariro