Well, after being told once or twice that “the storm” might affect my plan to hike Tongariro alpine crossing, I finally had someone explain that “the storm” is a cyclone, category 1 named Lusi, which is coming towards North Island from Fiji. And not only would it make the crossing (12 mile trail across the Tongariro volcano), but that the ferry schedule would also be affected. That meant if I didn’t get across to south island before the storm hit, I’d be stranded up on North Island until the storm hit and until they could get me rescheduled on a later ferry.
So the plan changed. The plan actually changed about 3 times. But the final change came when I motored my way down to Wellington knowing there was a small chance I could make an earlier ferry (mine is scheduled for tomorrow morning- the storm is supposed to hit tomorow as well. ). I actually made it to the dock 20 minutes before what I thought was the last ferry of the day. No spaces left for me and my car. But as luck would have it- there’s one more tonight. The kindly check-in clerk rescheduled my reservation and I’m on at 8pm.
Its a little bit of a bummer as I won’t be able to see as much on the ‘cruise’, but a relief to be able to move forward after being on the North Island for 10 days already.
Looking forward to South Island and hope the weather clears quickly so I can do most of the activities I had planned.
