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Tongariro National Park Travel Blogs

Background: The Polynesian Maori reached New Zealand in about A.D. 800. In 1840, their chieftains entered into a compact with Britain, the Treaty of Waitangi, in which they ceded sovereignty to Queen Victoria while retaining territorial rights. In that same year, the British began the first organized colonial settlement. A series of land wars between 1843 and 1872 ended with the defeat of the native peoples. The British colony of New Zealand became an independent dominion in 1907 and supported the UK militarily in both World Wars. New Zealand's full participation in a number of defense alliances lapsed by the 1980s. In recent years, the government has sought to address longstanding Maori grievances.

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By Laurene
October 6th 2009

SNOW SNOW SNOW Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Tongariro National Park

snow at our hostel

Woke up to more snow and it was REALLY COLD. Ok, not as cold as Canada but when all you have are tshirts, a hoodie and a rainjacket...it's cold!! Due to the weather our bus couldn't leave at 9 am as planned. We were able to leave by 10 am though. One thing i've noticed about New Zealand is that each town loves to have a big statue of something that represents the town. So, i've seen the giant kiwi, and the giant Lemon and Peoria bottle and a giant apple. But today I got to see a giant carrot and [View Full Entry]

By Laurene
October 5th 2009

It's like a blizzard!!! Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Tongariro National Park

Made some breakfast, watched the snow going crazy and really felt like I was back at home haha. Today I did a lot of reading, read most of my book, watched another movie, the next stray bus came in and a guy from Edmonton was put in my room. Always fun haha. Made our dinner early which was lucky since the power went out again but this time it wasn't coming back on. We sat by one of the fires to stay warm. Matt, an Aussie guy who was working on the ski hill for the winter decided to try to [View Full Entry]

By Laurene
October 4th 2009

Rain rain go away.... Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Tongariro National Park

Woke up to pouring rain. It was miserable out. Not only was it raining but it was SOOO COLD!! Well, not cold like Canada but cold when you're not expecting it and have no proper clothes for it! We just hung out at the hostel trying to stay warm, by the way NZ doesn't have very good heating systems!!! Had some lunch, looked out the window and saw snow...yep...snow. Was not expecting that! We watched another movie, had dinner and then the power kept shutting off and turning back on and then shut off for a good hour. The hostel had [View Full Entry]

By Laurene
October 3rd 2009

Mount Doom Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Tongariro National Park

picture spot

Well my lovely brother decided to finally text me back but did it at 5 am and woke up everyone in my room haha. Packed up this morning and had breakfast. We weren't sure what time the stray bus was coming to get us so we stuck around the hostel and waited. Not so fun haha. It finally came at 10:30am. We stopped for some lunch and a picture stop on the other side of lake Taupo and then drove into Tongariro Park. There are 3 volcanoes in the area, one of them is Mount Doom from the Lord of the [View Full Entry]

By Ferdi and Talita
September 17th 2009

Day 232-235: Karamea to Ohakune, New Zealand Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Tongariro National Park

Sunset over Karamea

Tuesday, September 15th Today our lives changed forever. We set off from Westport, heading for Karamea, 100km north. Karamea isn't on a road that leads anywhere. Our sole reason for going up there was to meet with Bruce Smith, the guy who teaches people to build log houses during a six day course. While in Fox Glacier Talita had phoned him to see when we could meet up. He wasn't in Karamea at the time which was lucky for us. There's no Vodafone reception in Karamea so he's almost always out of contact. We were very very lucky to get hold [View Full Entry]

By LMT
August 31st 2009

Skiwis - Whakapapa Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Tongariro National Park

Skiwi

Whakapapa August 2009 What a great girls weekend to the snow! I once more drive down to the Tongariro National Park, past beautiful Lake Taupo to the snowy peaks of Ruapehu and Nghuarahoe to hit the slopes. It was the usual brunch (french toast, bacon and maple syrup yummmmmmmmmmmmm) in Cambridge then to Whakapapa to brush up on my carving. Lisa enjoyed her first ever lesson and I think she may have caught the snow bug - Rachel was determined to go a bit Eddie the Eagle with her dashing new ski helmet!! I had a lesson too and actually [View Full Entry]

By Ferdi and Talita
August 17th 2009

Day 200-202: Auckland to Tongariro National Park, New Zealand Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Tongariro National Park

A river runs through it

Friday, August 14th Happy birthday boeda Konrad! We wish we could be there to share your 30th with you! May God bless you and grant you happiness and peace on this special day, and also in the years to come. We got up early, packed our van, had a quick breakfast, said goodbye to Nicol, Mel and little Keira, and then braved the morning traffic into Auckland city. It wasn't as bad as we’d expected (not to say that it was great). Emily took us right to our destination in Mt Eden where Ferdi had a meeting set up. We arrived [View Full Entry]

By mrandmrsbb
August 5th 2009

Tongariro Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Tongariro National Park

15 Aug 056

After Wanaka we headed north up the west coast of the South Island to get the ferry back to Wellington. From Wellington we headed straight up to Auckland via Tongariro National Park which was used as Mount Doom in LOTR so you can see the pictures we took! We spent a couple of nights in Auckland before saying goodbye to NZ and flying off to Hawaii! [View Full Entry]

By Podgyboy
July 28th 2009

extreme adventures in New Zealand Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Tongariro National Park

BWR2-21-07-09-11am-Corin-Brydie 001

New Zealand is the self proclaimed adrenaline sports capital of the world & it's not hard to see why. Everywhere you go there is something adventurous to do, whether it be throwing yourself off a bridge/plane/tall building or taking a mountain hike. I'd love to do them all but money restrictions apply to me so i had to be more selective. that being said I've still managed to do quite a lot, & plan to do a bungy in Queenstown (but don't tell my mum ok!). First up, after the diving of the previous blog, was seeing the caves at Waitomo. [View Full Entry]

By LMT
July 1st 2009

Snow Mardi Gras (Ohakune) Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Tongariro National Park

Pro

Friday 26th - Sunday 28th June 2009 Ohakune - Tongariro National Park WELL I have to say last weekend when I checked out the snow at Mount Ruapehu was an experience. One which I may not dwell on here. It was a bit crazy and I shall gloss over the most part BUT Ishbel - a girl from work and I headed off at lunchtime Friday for the 5 hour drive South past lake Taupo to the Tongariro National Park area to ski Turoa and Whakapapa (pronounced something that sounds rude so I won't elaborate). Both these ski fields are on [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Tongariro National Park