Tongariro Alpine Crossing, New Zealand: Walking 42km to Avoid a $70 Tourist Trap
The Tongariro Alpine Crossing is one of New Zealand's most popular hikes. Adam enjoyed it so much he did it twice! But that's not the whole story: he believes local tourism businesses are profiteering and taking advantage of ill-informed travellers. If you'd like to know how to save money, tune in to hear Adam's take on New Zealand tourism. He might be sick but he's not going down without a fight!
Support the show and access the Lost & Found section, as Alun's been breaking into his own house with a screwdriver. Adam also reveals where he'll be spending Alun's birthday. Surprise, surprise! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tripologypodcast
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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Intro
04:11 - Alun's school tie
08:25 - Alun the chopstick walrus
16:54 - Tongariro Alpine Crossing
23:38 - New Zealand's profiteering tourism businesses
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Alun:
[0:01] Hello, and welcome to this episode of Tripology. I'm Alun, and I'm here with the ever-indisposed Adam.
Welcome to Tripology
Adam:
[0:10] Hello, everyone. Thanks ever so much for joining us for another fantastic week on Tripology. It's my turn to be sick this week, Alun. I am indisposed. If you're looking at me thinking, God, he looks like he's got the chills and a really sore throat, then you'd be right. I feel like I'm on the brink of death.
Alun:
[0:26] With the headphones there, you look like you're sort of cosplaying as a Victorian boy in winter. You've got sort of earmuffs, a scarf and a little beanie hat. Normally, I think you look like a Victorian train driver. I've said that to you for many years, but on this occasion, sort of a winter vibe going on.
Adam:
[0:45] Yeah, they got the hair to match. I mean, this probably wasn't all the rage in Victorian times, was it? This haircut? It was more the slick.
Alun:
[0:52] Yeah, for people who couldn't afford a barber, yeah.
Adam:
[0:55] Well it's funny you should mention that because i can't afford a barber it's about 50 60 dollars to get your hair cut by someone who's had some degree of training in new zealand and i certainly can't afford that so i thought what's
Hairy Conversations
Adam:
[1:05] cheaper than getting a haircut letting it grow yeah.
Alun:
[1:08] You do i notice like to mention your hair at least once an episode just to make sure i guess a lot of our listeners just listen to the audio so they need to be kept abreast of what's going on up there it's getting quite long now falling about your eyebrows in a sort of playful manner and it's underneath a little bonnet or hat.
Adam:
[1:25] Yeah and as my grandmother used to say to me adam i've got lots of friends that would pay good money to have hair like yours and i would say nan they're 85.
Alun:
[1:35] Yeah it was interesting almost a diss from the.
Adam:
[1:38] Grandma from the man and i mean i am indoors i am actually indoors but the update is basically i'm living in a tiny cabin made of paper on a vineyard sort of on the edge of a lake and uh it's freezing i'm in the middle of new zealand in South Island. It's now quickly becoming winter down here. There's
snow on the mountains, rain in the skies. And no heater in my cabin. So it's twofold, actually. I'm wearing this scarf because it keeps me warmer. And I'm wearing this scarf because it stops the zip on my jumper tapping against... What's the rest of the zip called?
Alun:
[2:15] The zip also. That's the beautiful thing about zips.
Adam:
[2:18] Other parts of the zip. Because I don't want you to say in a couple of days' time, Adam, I've just done the edit and listened to your audio. And you can hear that bloody metal zip tapping away like you wouldn't believe. Please don't do that ever again.
Alun:
[2:30] Yeah, you've alluded to the fact that you're not feeling well. I have to say, I find myself looking forward to these phone calls quite a lot. And I was excited to talk to you. I've just come home, dressed in my office garb, come all the way. I was looking forward to speaking to you. And you've been quite the miserable little bastard on the end of the phone call. So you've kind of sucked a lot of the joy and energy out of me in the first 15 minutes when we were setting up.
Cabin Life Update
Alun:
[2:56] And now the show is going to be quite a slog.
Adam:
[2:59] It will be quite as long uh well i thought if i'm in a bad mood it's it's much better that everyone else is around me and i thought it would be a really good opportunity to sort of go on a rant about um something that happened to me a couple of weeks back is uh wouldn't be correct it must be at least a couple of months but it was it's kind of been the theme of my time in new zealand actually ever since I moved here we always say on this show and i always say to other people that when you do have the ability or and the curiosity to sort of live around the world other places and that sort of stuff naturally you kind of draw parallels and you are bound to think you know oh this is different in canada or what would this be like in the uk or how would this work in you know versus india or whatever so we are incredibly lucky incredibly fortunate and privileged to be able to live in different countries but naturally you are going to sort of you know put them up against one another definitely.
Alun:
[3:49] That's a completely normal thing to do i often have a little excel spreadsheet for example where i compare all the places i've been in various different fields.
Adam:
[3:58] Did the Excel spreadsheet come with that shirt?
Alun:
[4:00] Yep, a full office suite came with this shirt. I do Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Excel. It's my whole life now. I was wearing a tie up until I came into this little call.
Adam:
[4:16] Oh my god, is that a company issue or how's that working? Were you asked to wear that? Because that's not smart casual, that's now smart.
Alun:
[4:22] Just smart company requested they requested i buy a tie and i obliged begrudgingly and i quite like wearing it to be honest it moves upwards throughout the day so when i go into work first i'm wearing it like a belt by lunchtime it's tying in the conventional fashion my top button and by the end of the day around my head like rambo oh.
Adam:
[4:46] Right i was worried you were gonna say a noose then and make a so.
Alun:
[4:50] No no i don't i wouldn't do that i wouldn't say that i wouldn't make that joke.
Adam:
[4:57] Have they asked you to wear a tie because you were doing undoing one too many buttons.
Alun:
[5:01] It doesn't look quite.
Adam:
[5:02] Good you could do that now be relaxed.
Alun:
[5:05] This isn't one too many buttons i think if you're viewing me now uh visually on perhaps youtube or vimeo or another video sharing platform you'll agree that this is the perfect amount of unbuttoning i think one more would be too much and one less would
Settling in Tokyo
Alun:
[5:22] be a little bit disarming you know like you think oh i don't want to get to know him he.
Adam:
[5:28] Should be wearing a tie um but you've had a good week mate i assume you've now settled into koto city you're loving life in tokyo everything's efficient everything's cool.
Alun:
[5:37] Uh, listen, I think my first impressions of living in Tokyo have been somewhat nuanced. I do like it here. I think there's a lot of, there's a lot of regulations to get sorted when you enter a new city. obviously always there's a lot of admin but in tokyo it's an absolute maelstrom i mean in order to get a bank account you need an address in order to get an address you have to go to the registry office register your address in order to do that you got to speak to no fewer than a couple of different people do some forms requisition that then you'll get a number sent to your home address in like two to three working weeks that you can then use to do it's like quite a difficult time so I like the food and the people seem nice.
Adam:
[6:32] You like the food and the people seem like... I'm sure over the coming weeks and months you're going to have a lot of fun there and you'll make your sort of group of friends go out all the time, go to your Izzakaya's.
Alun:
[6:41] Yeah, because everyone that knows me knows that I spend a lot of my free time persuading my friends to go out.
Adam:
[6:49] You wouldn't have to persuade them. They'd be on board immediately. What do you think we're going to be doing?
Alun:
[6:53] You just said, didn't you? You'll be persuading all your friends there to go out.
Adam:
[6:57] No, no, no, not at all. That doesn't sound like something I'd say. You'll have a social life. You'll have a social life. And when we're there, I hope that we're not going to be doing anything other than just hitting a load of bars and eating and drinking, getting nice and fat. 12 ramens in one week is my record.
Alun:
[7:12] A lot of admin lined up for when you're here, Adam. A lot of forms to fill out.
Visitor Situation
Adam:
[7:19] Oh, yeah. Have you squared the visitor situation? Am I allowed to come and stay as a business partner, boyfriend or anything else?
Alun:
[7:25] In the shared house that I'm currently living in today someone messaged a quite aggressive complaint that someone had used their rice that was in the cooker so, Whether you can come and stay remains to be seen, but I'll be monitoring the social. It's like a social tinderbox, this house at the moment. So I'm hoping that things will settle by the time you want to come visit and it's not going to be too much of a horrendous situation.
Adam:
[7:53] Oh, you've got like a group WhatsApp or something similar and someone said,
Complaints and Rice
Adam:
[7:57] oh, I know you're out there.
Alun:
[7:59] Yeah, and it's mainly used for complaining. I would like to say on record, it was not me who stole the rice. I would never do that to someone's rice.
Adam:
[8:09] Unless it was mine. That wouldn't be stealing, though. I'd let you eat all the rice.
Alun:
[8:12] Mate, I wouldn't steal your rice. When I was in your house in Canada, I used to feel on edge about your food and produce. I would scarcely make myself a coffee in case I did it the wrong way.
Adam:
[8:23] There's something different, though.
Alun:
[8:25] I once, I was at your house in Canada. I put a chopstick in my mouth like a walrus, trying to make you laugh.
Adam:
[8:33] I remember this so well.
Alun:
[8:34] And you turned to me and said, would you do that if that was your chopstick?
Chopstick Etiquette
Adam:
[8:40] Hang on the answer to that is surely yes.
Alun:
[8:42] Yeah obviously if i would do it to your chopstick of course i would do it even easily to my own chopstick if anything the greatest barrier between thinking it and doing it was the fact that it was your chopstick but i chose to do it anyway because we're friends and like family and uh and yeah you berated me for that.
Adam:
[9:03] Oh no i don't Well, people have this idea of me that I'm some sort of overbearing control freak. I'm not.
Alun:
[9:09] Well, no, I'll just say if you're around at Adam's, mind your P's and Q's, and the chopstick should only enter your mouth for the appropriate length of time that it needs to deposit some food within.
Adam:
[9:19] And the appropriate length of chopstick. Don't be deep-throated that thing.
Alun:
[9:23] Yeah, why did that upset you?
Adam:
[9:26] I'm trying to remember exactly how it happened now, but didn't you... Was it, when you say walrus, you mean you put two chopsticks in your mouth, kind of in your upper lip, and then they were, but that is funny, though.
Alun:
[9:40] I thought so, mate. I think walrus is funny, and, you know, I thought that it was going to make you laugh, but instead it enraged you.
Adam:
[9:48] I must have been even more sick than I am now, because I don't know if I'm really in a mood where I could be triggered by something like that. I think that's quite funny.
Alun:
[9:56] Yeah, you are. there's very few occasions that you have got upset with me in our friendship and that's why it stands out it's such an innocuous event but like we both remember it and that's because it's one of the few times where you were genuinely upset with me and it's because i put a chopstick in my mouth.
Adam:
[10:10] My memory's slightly different i sort of remember you putting it in your mouth and then and then sucking it almost the way that you would pull a violin bow across the strings in that sort of what.
Alun:
[10:23] Like a narwhal not so much a walrus.
Adam:
[10:28] Yeah I don't know what's the etiquette in Japan maybe don't do that I've got no idea talking about rice and chopsticks isn't it uncouth or even disrespectful to put chopsticks standing up in a bowl of rice,
Cultural Differences
Adam:
[10:41] sort of dig.
Alun:
[10:42] Them i'm not sure but that's i like to do that as well i think everyone should just chill out look i am respectful of other countries and cultures but i also i also think everyone needs to like just relax a little bit because even in the uk for example our culture is that you should always wear your sunday best and go around bow into a picture of the queen but i don't mind if people don't do that in fact i encourage not doing that.
Adam:
[11:05] Yeah yeah yeah um i do think i I think it's got something to do with death or, you know, bad luck that could result in death or someone's just died or something. So maybe look that up because it's maybe worth knowing now that you actually live in Japan.
Alun:
[11:22] It's like being in a nation full of yous, isn't it? You can't so much as suck a chopstick without someone getting angry.
Adam:
[11:29] You can't even suck a chopstick. that's put me in a good mood um anyway thank god something.
Alun:
[11:39] Needed to christ.
Adam:
[11:40] Well i only woke up about half an hour ago i've been having a nap i felt like um i felt so awful today i've been in the vineyards every day guys if you're wondering what i'm doing with my time i'm in the vineyards every day getting up about seven it's dark it's freezing cold there's frost all over the place and um then i get out in the vineyards with the team really lovely team international load of French, English, obviously Kiwis. And yeah, we're having a great time together, a really good atmosphere, getting well fed. And we're sort of in the vines cutting grapes and all that sort of stuff. But early in the morning, it's really cold. The sun hasn't come up yet and the grapes are like little bundles of ice. So it's, yeah, it's just a breeding ground for viruses and people feeling ill, I suppose. A few people have already gone down and now it's my turn, apparently.
Alun:
[12:25] It's not a good advert for the vineyard, is that? it's like it's essentially a breeding ground for viruses.
Adam:
[12:31] No no i mean the weather itself it's uh changed quite a lot and it is also very changeable so we don't know each day whether we're working the next day we sort of get a text in the evening or mid afternoon or the you know the big boss will come around the estate manager and say all right guys we're in this vineyard tomorrow at 8am nice to see you there and then sometimes we get rained off that day and he says don't worry there's no work tomorrow so you just gotta be a little bit flexible mate like me and you yeah.
Alun:
[12:55] Both very flexible both yoga aficionados both with healthy immune systems and just rearing to go so you're on a zero hours contract essentially right.
Adam:
[13:05] Uh i guess you could say that i guess you could say that it's um not guaranteed work because it's farm work and we're harvesting grapes uh we don't know if they're all going to ripen in a matter of days and we'll have to you know do double time and bring them all in everything's hand harvested uh
they don't use machines here so um, Or it could be that the weather turns bad for a few days. That slows down the grape ripening. They don't really want us working in the rain. You don't want to be bringing grapes in in the rain anyway. So that could mean like three days of no work and then we're all back together. And it's just tough to get right. And, you know, they focus on quality, of course.
Alun:
[13:41] You say it's all hand-picked and that they don't use any machines. Would it be forgiven or forbidden? It's a little game I've been working on. I knew I'm on the show. It's called Forgiven or Forbidden. for you to bring your own personal machine just for you um.
Adam:
[13:59] What like electric snips.
Alun:
[14:01] Electric snips perhaps or like one of those pickers that you like squeeze a trigger and it grabs one of the grapes and like a little mouth for example like.
Adam:
[14:09] A litter picker.
Alun:
[14:11] Yeah don't.
Adam:
[14:12] Worry about the snips today guys i've got my own i've got two.
Alun:
[14:14] And then they have to put like Like, look, this 99% hand-picked grapes, but they know that one of their workers was out there with, like, a little litter picker, just getting them off a little bit easier, put them in the bag. Would that be allowed? Forbidden or forgiven?
Adam:
[14:28] Yeah, he had an inflamed throat gland, so we had to create a bit of distance between him and the fruit, so we gave him some elongated litter picker thing. Their company issue, mate, we've all got the same snips. So some people have even got them sort of strapped like cowboys or cowgirls onto their side.
Alun:
[14:44] I bet that turns you on.
Adam:
[14:45] It does, especially when people wear them on the front. Wow. Wow. no they're yeah it's just part of what I'm doing at the moment and I'm really enjoying it it's nice to be with wine people again you know it's all well and good living around living around New Zealand in a van, and living in hostels and meeting really cool interested people interesting people but it's opening up a bottle of wine in a hostel it's not necessarily the same as opening up a bottle of wine with people that work in the industry so I'm really really enjoying that aspect.
Alun:
[15:18] It's terrible isn't it when you open a bottle the wine with people who don't know what the hell.
Adam:
[15:21] They're talking.
Alun:
[15:22] About oh the legs on this chardonnay are incredibly short the tannins pack a hell of a punch and there's corkness all the way through to the seams that.
Adam:
[15:32] Kind of thing no no no no but it would be the same let's use ufc and mixed martial arts as an analogy for you because i think it's maybe the first thing that just pops into my head but if you were to watch a match or a fight with someone who was equally as passionate and knew as much about the technical abilities and the industry as you do, I think that would probably be more enjoyable than if you were to watch it with me, for example. Even though I do find it interesting.
Alun:
[15:55] The analogy couldn't be more wrong, Adam, because I have the exact special brand of narcissism and egotism that I prefer to watch with people who know nothing about the UFC so that I seem like I know a lot. And I actually, I have on several occasions watched a UFC with like jujitsu, black belts, Muay Thai people. And if anything, I feel intimidated and put off and enjoy it less.
The Tongariro Crossing
Adam:
[16:22] Then yeah well whatever i mean i can understand but someone someone of equal standing to you i do think you know a lot and i think your passion's infectious when i when i watch a ufc match with you i enjoy it i think your vineyard's infectious don't say that for that very reason we will not be naming the vineyard i'm working for and fingers crossed none of them will listen to this episode even though uh we have got a slight increase in followers um because i've been talking about it non-stop for two weeks um anyway let's move on with the show because i think we're already about 17 minutes in my goodness uh so tongariro crossing Alun it is uh one of the great walks or at least the tongariro crossing forms part of one of the longer um there's this longer, route i guess that goes through tongariro national park is it one of the ones you did because it is on the north island and it's quite close to auckland.
Alun:
[17:13] I didn't do anything in New Zealand apart from work.
Adam:
[17:16] Yeah, even though you've told me that multiple times, I still want to ask you that question in case I get a different answer.
Alun:
[17:23] No, I can't tell you enough. Like, honestly, if the question is, did you do this in New Zealand? The answer is almost certainly no.
Adam:
[17:32] Unless it's working and living in Auckland.
Alun:
[17:35] Then, yeah, then I would change my tune.
Adam:
[17:37] Yeah, so the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, situated within the Tongariro National Park. It's about four hours south, southeast, I guess, of Auckland. And about an hour, an hour and 15 away from, I'm going to get this wrong, Topo. Everyone here says Taupo. And there's like a big thing about it.
Alun:
[17:56] Yeah, I've heard of Taupo.
Adam:
[17:58] Yeah, so I think the correct pronunciation is Topo. Let us know in the comments if I've completely butchered that. But everyone here says Taupo. It's big, sort of, there's a big lake in the middle. Cool little town. and um that's usually the jumping off point right for this for people doing this great walk or the section which is called the tongariro crossing it's only about 20 kilometers and it is possible in a matter of hours okay so naturally it was one of the last things that i wanted to not one of the last i wanted to do in new zealand but it was um one of the things i wanted to do in new zealand and i did it on that sort of road trip that i did from auckland um sort of last month or the month before. Again, it's an, what do they call it like it's not an out and back or a loop you have to actually get sort of organize your own transport because it's a point a to a point b which they love the one you did.
Alun:
[18:52] Where you missed the minivan yeah i remember.
Adam:
[18:54] Exactly yeah so it's pretty difficult to uh organize there is some admin involved and luckily there are some i think very overpriced shuttle services that will either take you from topor to the beginning of the track and then meet you at the end and bring you all the way back or you get this you can drive all the way to the end of the track in your vehicle and then there is a shuttle service that will drop you off at the beginning, so i mean it may be quite difficult to sort of imagine what's going on here but everyone is encouraged to walk the track in one direction everyone starts off, you know whatever it is they call the beginning and then walks in the same direction like an enormous pilgrimage of thousands of people every single conga line exactly every single day and, they walk through tongariro national park over the tongariro crossing and then they end at the same point and then either people collect their vehicles or they get in a shuttle bus, and make all the make it all the way back to wherever it is they're staying, you might know if you don't know what tongariro crossing is yet you know the volcano mount doom in Lord of the Rings?
Alun:
[20:04] Oh, yeah.
Adam:
[20:05] It's that one. That's it. Is that where the ring was sort of created and destroyed?
Alun:
[20:10] Yeah, Adam, it's the only place that the ring can be destroyed because it has to return to the fires from whence it came. Just a little trick that Sauron played on himself, basically, and it's the only place that it can destroy. And we all know that when the ring was ultimately cast back into the fire, spoiler alert it had severe repercussions for sauron and the rest of his army.
Adam:
[20:34] Yeah so if you haven't seen lord of the rings yet then quite frankly what are you doing um but that is the famous mount doom it's this kind of very volcanic almost like red rock there's the emerald lakes there as well i'll post loads of pictures up i've got some pictures and some videos from the walk which i'll post on instagram so get a load of that uh absolutely beautiful but i want to talk about my experience of dealing with businesses in New Zealand certainly within the context of the Tongariro Crossing because I almost couldn't believe that there wasn't a cheaper service and I'll give you a couple of examples as well that also the Department of Conservation which I guess is one arm of the government right that is that is there to protect all of these you know nature parks and what have you, is kind of working in tandem with the tourism businesses to force people to spend money.
Business Rants
Adam:
[21:28] And, and I just really got my B in my bonnet when I was talking to the Department of Conservation and also this local information centre. Because when I spoke to the information centre in Topor, they said, look, you've got to register, make sure you go online to the Department of Conservation, you register, you put in all your details, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then you've got to organise your shuttle.
Adam:
[21:52] And I said, okay, yeah, okay, that sounds fine. I'll make sure I do that and whatever. And then I spoke to the Department of Conservation later on that day, and the woman I got, she was pretty blunt. I spoke to her on the phone, and she said, you don't actually need to register. That's like, honestly, just a data collection thing. I mean, obviously, it's good that we know that you're in the park in case something goes wrong, and we can go looking for you. But it's a lot of information. They're basically just trying to collect a load of data on the type of people that go on this walk. So I thought, okay, I'm not fucking doing that.
Alun:
[22:22] What kind of information do you have to put in there?
Adam:
[22:24] Uh i imagine hi i'm adam i'm.
Alun:
[22:27] 36 years old i like walks on the beach.
Adam:
[22:31] That kind of thing is it like a voice message that i can send in like a dating profile that's.
Alun:
[22:38] My impression of you.
Adam:
[22:40] Oh dear um and so when i spoke to her i was asking just to get a bit more information they are fantastic by the way if you do need any any information about uh the different parks and uh The walks you're going to go on and all this sort of stuff. They do have a lot of information. They're incredibly helpful So it's important to preface this by saying that, Because I do do a fantastic job for the most part But this woman I spoke to I was trying to get an idea of how I could very cheaply, Get to the end or get to the beginning of the track or the end I didn't really mind which direction I did it in but they try to encourage you to do it in this one direction, right? I, I said, is there any any way like a local bus service that I can get or, you know, how am I going to basically do this as cheaply as I possibly can? And she said, look, with all due respect, that's not my job. It's not my job to find you a solution to this. But I can tell you what is on offer. We would encourage you to get a shuttle. So you go online. There's I don't know how many companies, but there's a handful of companies that offer this shuttle service that I mentioned earlier. and sometimes it is 60 to 70 dollars just to drive from the end of the track where you park your vehicle for example 20 minutes down the road to the beginning can you believe that, it's insane is that is it just me or is that so much money no.
Alun:
[23:59] But well it's not just you but i do think that your time in new zealand has been marred by administrative transport issues what with Blue Ridge Ferry.
Adam:
[24:09] And this.
Alun:
[24:11] Yeah, Blue Bridge, yeah, probably. And then the time you missed the miniboss and now the time you're getting this one for far too much money. I basically think you've been sort of trampling around New Zealand, just struggling to get from point A to point B.
Adam:
[24:25] No, what I've noticed is that there are lots of people who come to New Zealand, and backpackers do make up a large portion of those people, who just accept...
Alun:
[24:33] Yeah, well, it's the most promiscuous country in the world.
Adam:
[24:35] Who just who just accept these exorbitant prices now 60 to 70 dollars bearing in mind there are sometimes six eight people in these little shuttles maybe even more i don't know how big the buses are because i didn't fucking take one but they will drive from the end of the track to the beginning i think they leave like 5 30 6 30 7 30 whatever you can book your own time because you do it whenever you want right throughout the day but they're making an absolute mint, And it's about $140, $150 per person to go from topor to the beginning, and then it will pick you up at the end. I mean, some people just justify this because they don't have another option. And that's where the profiteering comes in, because they're almost like monopolizing the area, or certainly the services and products that are offered in that area, because there's just a lack of competition. And I really feel like... Do you know, when I spoke to this woman, I said, I'm sorry, but I can't pay $60 to be driven 20 minutes down the road. I'll just hitchhike or something. Or what about if I can just go and park my car in the car park? And she said, ah, there is a four-hour parking restriction in the car parks in the Reserv.
Alun:
[25:41] Oh, they've created rules to prevent any circumnavigation of the issue.
Adam:
[25:45] Yeah, I said, four hours. I was livid. And I said, that even means that if you found another person who was willing to park at the other end of the track, because it's only 20 kilometres, right? it's not that long and I don't think it's that hard. It's 20 kilometers. There's a lot of key swapping that goes on. I know what that sounds like. There's a lot of key swapping that goes on in New Zealand. So when these are like point A to point Bs, you can basically go on some Facebook groups and find people that are willing to do the track in the opposite direction. You meet in the middle, swap car keys, and then you drive each other's car back to a meeting point. There you go. You've avoided it.
Alun:
[26:19] And then have sex with each other's wives.
Adam:
[26:23] And if you want to do that, if you're game, then that's awesome too.
Alun:
[26:27] Oh, what a terrible misunderstanding. Methuselah. That kind of thing, you know.
Adam:
[26:34] But in order to do it in four hours, you would need to find someone who's willing to trail run it. Because it's 20 kilometres, right? So you've got to be going at a very decent pace. It's not that you can't do it in less than four hours, but when you're potentially going to be hit. Because I did say, oh, do people just leave their vans in there and then, you know, chance it? And she said, they do, but then they get a $400 fine.
Rental Realities in Tokyo
Adam:
[26:56] And I'm like, oh, that's more expensive than the shuttle. And she was like, it is, isn't it?
Alun:
[27:00] Only slightly, yeah. Well, Adam, I want to say, though, I empathize with this especially because I think a similar sort of a racket goes on a little bit in Tokyo. Let me tell you how. Because it's very, very difficult for foreigners to rent apartments in Tokyo. because they're oftentimes you have to sign up for like two-year leases or one-year leases so you'd have to like do it on the day of your working holiday visa starting in order for it to make sense right.
Adam:
[27:32] Sure yeah yeah and they must.
Alun:
[27:34] Know so so it's really prohibitive and then the initial fees are absolutely exorbitant like you'll have to pay a month's rent yeah which is typically like 500 pounds something like that and then another month's rent deposit and then another month's rent agency fee if you want someone who speaks english and then 20 a month or between five and 20 a month guarantor fee because you need to like guarantee your rent with a company yeah yeah and then key money on top of that which is basically just like a gift to like change the lot because it's just usually about a month's rent again so sometimes you'll have these apartments which are your only option to rent a place and and it's like, five or six times one month's rent just to move in and so a lot of companies have realized this is an issue and so they provided a solution for foreigners but the solutions for foreigners are like short-term lease it's already furnished leave whenever you want don't worry about it no key money no deposit yeah but the rent's like five times what it should be every month.
Adam:
[28:47] Yeah through the roof for convenience.
Alun:
[28:49] So it's like very very difficult and they've got travel community and foreigners by the proverbial balls yeah and uh it's just there's just like no affordable solutions other than share houses and just like really affordable tokyo like places which you'd prefer to stay somewhere nicer where people don't throw people's rice away when they're there but um there's nothing you can do about it so there you go mate we're both just getting scalped to to high heaven basically aren't we yeah.
Adam:
[29:17] I mean people are always going to make money in the margins and I guess profiteer or, to capitalise and take advantage of people that just don't have any other choice.
Boycotting Businesses
Adam:
[29:27] But I'll tell you what I did do, because I would quite like, if we can start a movement, if I can say that, if I can be as bold to say that, to boycott businesses that do this, especially within the travel space, because we've already had hostels who are using dynamic pricing to raise, jack up the price of a dorm. I spoke to one hostel the other day in Queenstown on behalf of a friend, because she was not going to have anywhere to stay, and they were charging 99 New Zealand dollars per night for a mixed dorm. You're talking like eight to ten minutes.
Alun:
[29:55] She didn't want to stay with you in your cabin?
Adam:
[29:56] No. It's too cold, mate. It's too cold.
Alun:
[30:00] Oh, I don't know what I would, but you seem to be incredibly infectious and ill, so I'll have to book a hostel. Oh, God, the price.
Adam:
[30:08] No, no, no. This is just a friend. It's just, you know, days got away from her and she was like, oh, fuck, I haven't got anywhere to stay. And I said, look, let's just double team it. We'll both ring around a load of hostels. And then I spoke to a couple and they were like, yeah, it's actually about $100 a night at the moment. I said, for a dorm? And they were like, yeah, I know. I was like, what can we do? How can we galvanize people and try and boycott this stuff? Because I think little things can go a long way, especially if everyone does it. And I'll tell you what I did, right? I had this bee in my bonnet. I had the bit between my teeth. And I thought, I just, I can afford $60 to get a shuttle. I can. So that would mean driving all the way to the end of the track and then paying $60 to be driven 20 minutes. then walking the 20 kilometers back to my car and then driving another one hour and 15 minutes back to Tobol, right? And I was just trying to come up with ways to do it. And I thought, look, I've mentioned to people at the hostel I'm doing it tomorrow. There were no takers. everyone had already done it or you know they were leaving the next morning or whatever it was, so um maybe i should have put the message out there slightly earlier but whatever i knew i was going to be doing it on my own i got up at 5 30 left the hostel drove all the way to the end of the track and then i decided to walk from the end in the
opposite direction to everyone else 20 kilometers went all the way it was absolutely stunning i didn't see anyone for two and a half hours because obviously if you're starting at the other end they're taking a long time to get to the middle and then you.
Alun:
[31:31] Walk back the same way.
Adam:
[31:32] You know it mate that was that's the punch line walked all the way to the end took it took me four hours and 25 minutes in one direction to do 20ks did you turn around.
Alun:
[31:43] Or did you walk backwards.
Adam:
[31:44] On the way back was when all the content was made um but i i went to the end four hours 25 minutes i was carrying quite a lot of water and some food so i just sat down at the end of the track absolutely beautiful by the way is is stunning but going over the main mound like anyone who's done the tongariro crossing will know there's one section that's quite high and quite steep and it's like volcanic sand so it's quite difficult and you sort of slip away and all that sort of stuff there were thousands of people struggling and i was like just climbing up going in the opposite direction it was really good they were like where the fuck have you come from um but i sat down and had my lunch and chatted to this lovely danish lady that was living in a camper van she was you know traveling around, the North Island for a few weeks and she said I love that you've done that I actually love that you've just decided to do the whole thing twice do you want me to just give you Can I come and.
Alun:
[32:30] Stay at yours tonight?
Adam:
[32:31] My hostel's.
Alun:
[32:32] $99 for a.
Adam:
[32:33] Bunk bed No We just had a really nice chat about life in Denmark Sounds like a really nice chat mate She said She said Shall I just give you a lift back to your van? So you don't have to walk it. And I was like, do you know, I really appreciate that you've offered that. But I feel like I would have cheated. I feel like that's not really fair to do that. To just hitchhike back.
Alun:
[32:56] No, no, it's not cheating if it's only a kiss.
Adam:
[33:00] What? It's not to make a sex joke. Your vaguely Scandinavian German accent.
Alun:
[33:10] No, she's not cheating. Throws a wedding ring out of the window.
Adam:
[33:14] No no if i had a husband he would never know um no so i said look i really appreciate it but i am i am just going to walk it all the way back because it's what i set out to do and then on the way back uh it was completely fucking empty there was no one because everyone had already passed through you know you start at like six seven eight in the morning by the time i'm then on the return journey in the afternoon the clouds had cleared and there was no one on the i got so many photos and videos where there was just no one around it was absolutely stunning if i've been there a few hours before you would have just seen like groups of school kids thousands of people it just wouldn't have been as good a photo as good experience so i did 41 42 kilometers something like that all up um like i said wonderful scenery wonderful day took a load of videos and stuff uh second part took me about four hours 45 minutes so just a little bit longer not everyone wants to walk 42 kilometers in a day I totally appreciate that but I did save $70, and then I got back to my car at 5pm, Drove about 20 minutes on the way back to Topor. And who should be there? A guy from Poland on the side of the road.
Alun:
[34:23] The Danish woman.
Adam:
[34:24] No, not the Danish woman. She was long gone.
Alun:
[34:28] She's my favourite character in this story so far. Because I think she knows what she wants.
Adam:
[34:36] Well, do you know, she had only done a short walk and then back to her car because of the four-hour parking restrictions, which she also wasn't happy with. you know yeah but.
Alun:
[34:46] Also because she found something greater than a walk and a view didn't she.
Adam:
[34:52] What i'm saying is you're throwing me off what i'm saying is is that these companies and the department of conservation are working together they seem like they're offering to.
Alun:
[35:01] Be better than tinder.
Adam:
[35:02] They seem like they're offering something but they're actually throttling us and making sure they're you know go funneling us into um a position where we have to spend a lot of money on on these services and that's right i picked up this hitchhiker on the way back i thought, crikey what what could be better lovely polish guy stuck his thumb out by the side of the road i thought this is awesome get in 45 minutes he was telling me all about his life he'd been loads of really interesting places he'd done a three-year trip around the world bikes across iran all the rest of it really really interesting geezer lovely to spend time with him And then when I dropped him off, went back to the hostel in Topor, put my feet up, and I thought, that was the perfect travel day. I feel like every decision I made throughout that day was the right one. It was just beautiful, and I can't wait to share the photos.
Alun:
[35:51] Well...
A Perfect Travel Day
Alun:
[35:52] congratulations and we're all looking forward to seeing the photos i think you know a beautiful walk a danish woman a girl who couldn't afford a hostel a polish guy a lot of people are spending money spending time swiping on dating apps struggling to find love in this world but in actual fact if you just keep an open heart and a light wallet refuse to spend money often the universe will throw true love at you in ever such a direct way so i'd like to encourage, our audience to boycott businesses that try and force you to spend a lot of money and instead why not try and find love in this crazy hectic digital world.
Adam:
[36:31] Exactly that um yeah if you're listening to this guys um which you probably are if you can hear this i just want us all to band together in the travel industry backpackers travelers holiday makers alike and just realize when you are spending a lot of money and know that there is always a cheaper option you just have to do a bit more research maybe think outside the box sure you might end up walking 40 kilometers in the same day but i do think it's worth it i do think that that's the only way that these companies are going to realize that we simply will not stand for it.
Alun:
[36:59] That's all we have time for on this week's episode. But I do want to quickly say that just recently I went out with a couple of Patriones. We went out for dinner and had a lovely chat. They were fans of the show. They were big fans of you, Adam. They were very upset that you weren't there. But what a beautiful conversation and time we had. So you two, you know who you are listening to this right now. It was ever such a pleasure and a joy to meet you. And I think that's what's so amazing about the travel community is you can meet complete strangers brought together by a common idea. traveling they were really inspirational because they were traveling together like a couple on the road together they listened to topology and i think that's a really beautiful thing and i hope i get to meet more patreonis out there in the world because i had ever such a good time and we all know i don't normally like hanging out with other human beings because of the old introversion and basically i just like people that i know so it was nice to meet other people that i also liked and uh yeah looking forward to meeting other patreonis out there on the road in the future speaking of patreon it's very affordable and cheap essentially you there is a small barrier to entry when you go there by the link in the description you have got to put in some credit card details but once you've done that you're in.
Adam:
[38:13] Yeah it's worth it we'd love to see you in the lost and found guys uh it's just the price of a bowl of rice you don't have to go stealing rice like the you know Alun's housemate it's it's.
Alun:
[38:24] Just a dollar they are actually subscribed to the Patreon as well, so I'm feeling a little bit bad.
Adam:
[38:29] But yeah, hopefully next week I will have recovered. I'm sorry I was a little bit sick. I'm sorry I was down in a bit of a bad mood. I'm sorry to you, Alun, but thank you ever so much for listening. It's been amazing and I look forward to seeing you in the Patreon.
Alun:
[38:41] See you all in the Patreon section. Links in the description.
Patreon Section Begins
Alun:
[38:43] Much love. We'll see you there.
