Final Blog

The most challenging activity we did in the last month for me was the Tongariru Crossing. When we first arrived at the head of the trail, there was a diagram illustrating the elevation changes on the trail. This almost made me have a heart attack because I saw that there was a steep climb at the very beginning. I hadn’t exercised in over 3 years, so I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to finish the hike. It was also freezing cold since we were so high to start out and it was early in the morning. I hoped that once the sun got up it would warm up. I also knew once I got my feet moving I would warm right up. Sure enough that’s what happened. After 2 hours into the hike and after completing that hard initial climb, it was all fun and mostly downhill. The views were great and spectacular. The best was right before you climbed down to the lakes. I looked back and saw the three volcanoes all lined up in a row. I never saw anything like that. After we finished the hike, I was tired but glad I did it. It was rewarding.
My fondest memory of the trip was having fun and getting to know everyone on the trip. We had a lot of fun together, my favorite was when we played kickball and Frisbee every night at 7 PM after dinner. I felt like that was a great bonding experience, working together to play a simple game. It’s hard to leave but I’m excited to tell friends and family about the trip in the following months.