Tongariro Crossing Car Park — Attraction in North Island

Very mixed experience! We booked our 07.00am shuttle for the Tongariro Alpine Crossing the night before - the booking system was very straightforward and easy to use. We showed up on time for our shuttle, and it was very easy - the driver was very nice and bubbly, and the trip was off to a good start.

Unfortunately the weather was pretty grey and wet, and despite forecasts for improvement, the conditions only got worse as we continued along the trek. There are signs all along the crossing about checking weather and turning back if conditions are worsening - they encourage you to "turn back and call your transport organiser".

We pushed through some pretty miserable rain and wind but near the "summit" on the ridge line (the Red Crater) the weather was getting too dangerous - at the altitude it was just too windy to feel safe. Eventually we, and many other people out hiking that morning, decided it would be safest to turn back.

When we returned to the meeting point, some members of our group had already called the shuttle company to request a pick up - the driver was apparently on their way.

When the driver turned up, he was immediately very rude and abrasive - he told us that the Crater is always windy and that we should have just kept going, "it was just a bit of wind." Despite experienced hikers from various groups trying to explain that the conditions were just too dangerous to complete the crossing safely, the driver continued to be rude and make us feel bad for following the signs and turning back because of the severe weather.

When he eventually deigned to let us onto the shuttle, he explained it would cost an additional $50 per person for the return journey - this was an unexpected cost which felt extortionate. We'd already paid $45 per person to park the car and use the shuttle (expensive for a park-and-ride equivalent anyway), and as we'd had to change plans due to poor weather we weren't expecting an additional charge. To add insult to injury, the driver initially stopped the bus on the side of a random road and got out to try and take card payments, but was unable to as there was poor signal. When we eventually arrived back at the car park, he parked on the edge of the road (rather than driving into the car park). One of his colleagues came out to take the card payments - she was very nice and apologised that we were unable to complete our hike due to the miserable weather. Unfortunately due to the poor signal, she had to take the card payments in the middle of the road.

Overall, the return journey felt very dodgy and was not at all an encouraging experience. This is a shame, as a bit of kindness and understanding would have gone a long way to brighten up what was a semi-disappointing morning trek due to the poor weather (which is of course out of anyone's control and always something to be...

The car park is conveniently located at the end of the Tongariro crossing if heading east. The reason for the four stars are as follows: The bus is functional. It works, but it is tired and not deluxe. It will deliver you to the starting point of the hike on the west side of the park. While we expected that at the end of the crossing on the east side, we needed to walk back to the car park (the shuttle transportation is only once to transport you from the car park to the west side trail start), it would be very good for the driver to reconfirm and explain the distance and direction to be walked back to the car park at the end of the trail. I was offended with the limit of 75 years on the car park website. How about including BMI, weight, height, political affiliation, and perhaps other criteria of your choice to exclude people from using the car park. The New Zealand Park system has no limit regarding age, why should the car park impose a limit? I suspect most people just ignore this. However, it is offensive that such a criteria regarding age...

It’s great to know that there is a shuttle and a secure car park. We had an awesome shuttle to the start line and our driver was fantastic. It’s a real shame tho that on Saturday the weather was bad and after 3.5 hours we had to turn back and make our way back to the start line, sadly after waiting over an hour no shuttle came and after calling in we were told it was going to be another $55 per person to come pick us up. We ended up calling some friends to come and pick us up along with others who were also waiting there. Not sure if this was correct info given but if that is the case it’s a real shame as reception was already bad in that area so it was pretty difficult to make contact with people. Be good to have a back up plan if this happens as it was poor weather and there appeared to be no shuttles to collect people who had no choice but to return to the start. Other than that tho, it’s great to have a...